The Poetry of Emily Dickinson

by Arcturus Publishing

Sensitive and extraordinary, thoughtful yet emotional, Emily Dickinson's unique poems are a treasure not to be missed. Defying the conventions of the time, they were truly innovative. Featuring meditations on everyday life, love, nature, and society, the genius of her creativity is hard to ignore.

Short, yet keenly observed, her poems pack a powerful punch. This carefully chosen selection covers a range of her most loved verses and brings you face to face with the private world of one of America's greatest poets.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Adult, 19th Century

192 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2018

Reviews

[Molly Masters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found out that Emily and I share a likeness— we'll stick a damn em dash anywhere.

Seriously, though, the uses of her dashes... like I was dancing with her words.

Hats off to my parents for naming my sister after her.

[Heenee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't really read any poetry before this, but I like how she uses the hyphens to help with the pacing. Maybe that's a normal thing with poetry, but I thought it helpful. I loved this one!

"Long years apart - can make no breach a second cannot heal - The absence of the witch does not invalidate the spell -

The embers of a thousand years
Uncovered by the hand
That fondled them when they were fire
Will stir and understand -

[Camilla (Fabulouslybooks)]

Not it for me

[sofy (Jane Austen’s version)]

‘The daisy follows soft the sun,
And when his golden walk is done,
Sits shyly at his feet.
He, walking, finds the flower near.
"Wherefore, marauder, art thou here?
"Because, sir, love is sweet!"
We are the flower, Thou the sun!
Forgive us, if as days decline,
We nearer steal to Thee, —
Enamoured of the parting west,
The peace, the flight, the amethyst,
Night's possibility!’

‘Unable are the Loved to die
For Love is Immortality,
Nay, it is Deity —
Unable they that love — to die
For Love reforms Vitality
Into Divinity.’

‘I Came to buy a smile — today —
But just a single smile —
The smallest one upon your face
Will suit me just as well —‘

‘If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.’ (!!!)

[julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 Stars.

I hear such great things about Emily Dickinson, but I haven’t been able to relate to her poems as many people seem to. I find her frequent use of the themes of God and nature a little tiring and repetitive; I was also always waiting for the feelings that I thought (or hoped) her poetry would evoke in me. The collection wasn’t a bad read, just nothing ground-breaking and earth-shattering either.

[Maryclymene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not the best collection. But as a bargain bin grab on the road, it worked just fine.

[Marinela Florea · Rating 5 out of 5]

FROM THE CHRYSALIS.
My cocoon tightens, colors tease,
I’m feeling for the air;
A dim capacity for wings
Degrades the dress I wear.
A power of butterfly must be
The aptitude to fly,
Meadows of majesty concedes
And easy sweeps of sky.
So I must baffle at the hint
And cipher at the sign,
And make much blunder,
if at last I take the clew divine.


A DAY.
I’ll tell you how the sun rose,
— A ribbon at a time.
The steeples swam in amethyst,
The news like squirrels ran.
The hills untied their bonnets,
The bobolinks begun.
Then I said softly to myself,
“That must have been the sun!”
* * *
But how he set, I know not.
There seemed a purple stile
Which little yellow boys and girls
Were climbing all the while
Till when they reached the other side,
A dominie in gray
Put gently up the evening bars,
And led the flock away.


VI. If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.


WITH A FLOWER.
I hide myself within my flower,
That wearing on your breast,
You, unsuspecting, wear me too —
And angels know the rest.
I hide myself within my flower,
That, fading from your vase,
You, unsuspecting, feel for me
Almost a loneliness.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you, Miss Dickinson,
For your several Balms--
Words like water, Vitamins
Now Lodged within my Heart.

And though your Book has finished,
The Words will never leave--
And though you are so long gone,
You still Live and Love and Grieve.


I wrote a poem in her style because I have been trying to emulate it lately, just for fun. I did really enjoy several of her poems, although I did get a bit bogged down by some of them. I much prefer her rhyming poems to her non-rhyming poems and her short poems to her long poems. My favorite is still "tell all the truth but tell it slant" BUT I also greatly enjoyed reading "Not knowing when they dawn may come" (big desperate quarantine energy) and "One need not be a Chamber to be Haunted". I think I'll continue to reflect upon these poems for a while, and revisit them.

[Kier Scrivener · Rating 3 out of 5]

Emily Dickinson can write poetry wonderfully - though I could do without her thing for hyphens. I did not find it as easy to connect to her work overall but the ones that focused on death and loneliness I found very potent. She also had some really beautiful individual lines which I found I liked much better to most of her complete poems.

[Pallavi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Emily Dickinson has written poems on varied subjects like nature , death, religion , feelings, war, life etc. What is remarkable is her unique interpretation of all the above and her courage to question and write about these sensitive topics , especially as a woman born during those times. She doesn’t hesitate to boldly express her skepticism against age old beliefs through her simple style of writing. Glad that this very talented poets prolific collection of poems were published ( even though she had passed away by then) and her work could be savoured by readers across the globe .

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Emily Dickinson is a whirlwind of whimsical, sometimes dark, other times delightful, musings on life, death, nature, love, and many more. She's one of those poets you have to read slowly and over and over again, drinking in every word to make sure you understand and even, not entirely sure if you do. She's a gem.

[Anoja · Rating 4 out of 5]

WOW. This was the first poetry book that I have read that really resonated with me! There were so many really great poems in here that I will definitely be reading over and over in the years to come. I need to pick up more poetry like this!

[Ben Coleman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not down to Emily Dickinson's poetry which is stunning at times, but this collection had barely half of Dickinson's iconic poems and was instead filled with essentially her filler and uncompleted poems. A real shame.

[Linda Stuckey · Rating 3 out of 5]

REREADING THE POEMS TO UNDERSTAND THEM MORE. I READ IT FAST THE FIRST TIME. I AM LIKING THE POEMS BETTER ON THE SECOND READING.

[ro]

an ode —
to the em dash

I’m glad to have gotten to read some of Dickinson’s work but the collection I read was not produced with a care so that bothered me

[Sheila · Rating 2 out of 5]

I expected to enjoy this way more than I did. Maybe poetry is just not for me after all 🤷🏽‍♀️

[ivi · Rating 5 out of 5]

eres perfecta!!!

[Pamela Mancilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pura belleza

[Daniel Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quality is 5 stars. But my ability to appreciate it is of course sometimes limited by the incomprehensibility of old timey poetry.

[Farnz · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Poetry of Emily Dickinson: 4⭐️

263 poems in total if I counted correctly.
It has many motifs of nature (birds, flowers, trees..). Love the cover. I have to preface this by saying that I’m not a huge poetry fan. It just doesn’t call to me like fantasy/fairytales. That being said, I appreciate the technicality of it. Poetry is subjective, but I can feel the quality of something by reading it. This was well written. I noticed that I especially loved the poems that started with “I”. I kept marking them in the book while noting faves. Also, completely unrelated to the content, but Austin Dickinson & Mabel Loomis are horrible & I wish them the worst lol😂

[Katie Beth Boggan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Emily Dickinson’s poetry is some of my very favorite, but I wasn’t crazy about the setup of this book by the publishers. There was also a misuse of “it’s” and I think that’s enough said. Also, where was “I heard a fly buzz when I died”?? My favorite Dickinson poem and it was left out of the collection. Sad day.

[laine · Rating 3 out of 5]

The poems themselves were the same classic poems Dickinson wrote. My issues are mainly with the layout of the book itself. The cover is soft and beautiful. But the pages are spreadsheets of stock photos that don't match the poems.

[Kendall McClain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Happy pride month to Emily and Sue<3

[Lexi Paulin · Rating 5 out of 5]

After visiting Emily Dickinson’s home in Amherst MA, I picked up this copy of her poems.

It seems like everyone knows who Emily Dickinson is. How could they not? I had read her poetry before and enjoyed it, but never went too in depth with it. I knew little about Emily and her life before my tour of her home, but now I greatly see the effects her life had on her choice of words and topic of her poems.

Emily often writes about love, death, nature, God, family life, history, and the unknown. I find her poetry to be beautiful and unique. She faced so much death around her while on this earth, that it almost haunted her; she was constantly pondering morality and life after death, while also finding ways to deal with grief.

While reading, I bookmarked my favorite poems and ones that touched me. Here is a poem I am very fond of,

"Hope" is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all

And sweetest in the Gale is heard
And sore must be the storm —
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm -

I've heard it in the chillest land —
And on the strangest Sea -
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb — of Me.

[Tyler Jenkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

After watching Apple TV+’s original show Dickinson, I got very into the poetry of Emily Dickinson so I decided to pick up a collection of her poetry I had laying around. So for the last two nights before bed I would crack open my copy of The Poetry of Emily Dickinson and blew through it. Dickinson has such a unique way of writing about a diverse array of topics. From her family to her suitors, nature to life and death. Dickinson beautiful explores the English language to craft masterpiece after masterpiece. It’s no wonder a lot of people consider her one of, if not the, best American poet. Her poems are mostly short and easy to go through and very easy to understand. I don’t really have a lot to say I just wanted to put this here to let you all know that if you haven’t already, you should read some Emily Dickinson. Clearing your mind and letting her words take over is very relaxing. I don’t want to rate some good old classic American poetry but if I have to it’s obviously a 10/10 (5/5 Stars). -Tyler.

[Bridget · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't read poetry too often. It's something I enjoy once in a while, though. I remember learning about Emily Dickinson in high school, and I was surprised to find I recognized some of the poems in this collection! I guess I was paying attention more than I thought...

Dickinson was certainly talented. And she had some interesting things to say too (some poems more than others). I marked the pages with my favorites so I can return to them later. I will say it was interesting reading the introduction and then the poems she wrote. Apparently she attended a girls' seminary, but then rejected Christianity. I don't think she ever came back to the faith she was taught. I noticed a pattern in her work of referencing biblical themes and events quite a bit, sometimes seeming to come from a place of faith. However, other poems clearly show her rejection of religion and her celebration of science as its replacement. Just a couple observations.

Also, I really like the cover of this edition.

[Pieter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating 3.75 stars

I enjoyed this volume of poetry more than the last two I read. It makes a lot more sense, though it feels slightly less profound. I suppose that's the needed balance for it to become digestible. I'm FINALLY seeing the sapphic vibes that everyone is talking about. I can see an awful lot about questioning her own belief in god. And a bunch of her interest in science -- but my GOD so much stuff about gardening.

Here's some of my favourite poems/lines:
- Hindering -- Haunting -- Perishing
- Had I a mighty gun / I think I'd shoot the human race
- Hope is the thing with feathers
- She delt her pretty words like blades

There's a few more but I've lost the piece of paper I wrote them down on :(

[Karen Butman]

Finished book 2 of the Essential Poetry Collection. Like books, movies or food, there were some poems I liked and some I thought, 'what the heck is the meaning here?'. Reading should be a pleasure and I am finding with this poet and the last that it has been a bit of a chore more than pleasure. The words are archaic, many references to Greek mythology or other things that needed to be looked up for understanding. Some where just out there for me. I think a poetry class on these last two poets might be interesting but for reading pleasure, they are just too much for me. I don't want to invest the time nor energy for the understanding needed, at this point. I would say both books were a mixed bag. I am moving onto the 3rd poet in the collection. Let's see if it gets better.

[Hanna Konnebäck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bok 27 på min fysiska TBR. Håller jag på att bli en poetry girlie? Antagligen inte men jag tyckte verkligen om Emily Dickinson. Jag älskade språket och hennes formuleringar. Jag gillade känsla av att hon lekte med orden och bilderna hon skapade. Som med all poesi fanns det såklart dikter jag inte kände så mycket för. Men det dikterna som var bäst vill jag (utan att låta allt för dramatisk här) ha in tatuerad på frontalloben. Det enda nackdelen med just min upplaga är att den är ett urval av dikter så några av mina tidigare favoriter fattades, bland annat "I Felt a Funeral, in my Brain". Men detta betyder ju bara att det finns mer poesi av Dickinson som jag ännu inte har läst.

[Bianca Dishmon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this poetry book greatly. The way a person is can often be reflected through their writing, and in this nature, you get the idea that Dickinson was a wildly curious person who often saw and picking up on things that an average person would not. I think her poems are deeply reflective especially with hard-hitting topics but still light-hearted and not depressing as poetry on serious topics can often be.