Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)

I have a confession, though I am embarrassed to make it: I did not realize these poems are wrong.

I have been reading this all month, 10-15 pages at a time, building my own little index of favorite poems, and thinking many thoughts about Emily, and how few poems she published in her life, and what she would think of us continuing to read her 150 year later, and how she would have presented these poems had she chosen to...

When finally, about 2/3 of the way through, I looked up her Wikipedia show more page for just some basic biographical information and learned that THIS EDITION PRE-DATES THE RESTORATION OF HER POEMS TO THEIR ORIGINAL FORMS — EM-DASHES AND CAPITALIZATIONS AND ALL.

Now, being a girl of em-dashes and non-standard capitalizations myself, YOU THINK I WOULD HAVE NOTICED that these poems had been "cleaned up," leaving vanishingly few of either. Have I not read poems by Dickinson before? Am I not at least pop-culture familiar with her whole thing? I guess I was just thinking of other things — of her use of meter, of how many more nature poems were here than I expected. Of why she didn't publish more in her life. And I was distracted?

Listen, you don't need me to tell you about Dickinson, because clearly, I don't know enough. Now I am just left with mixed feelings about this volume, and whether I want to keep it for "historical" value and its beautiful little Modern Library edition, or if I should sell or donate this and find a restored version for my shelves. show less

As there are
Apartments in our
own Minds that -
we never enter without Apology -
we should respect
the seals of
others -

I'm glad the editors of this volume didn't heed this particularly aphoristic poem. Dickinson in fragmentary form is cryptic, capturing a quality that many future poets would strive for (i.e., Anne Carson). Also interesting is the incredible glimpse into a master poet's creative process—alternative words, phrases crossed out, poems re-written on facing pages. The facsimiles show more are clear and the transcriptions true. show less

⭐ Poetry | Classics | Life

Thank you to Gemini Books Group for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Emily Dickinson: Over 100 Poems on Life and Love was my first real introduction to Dickinson beyond simply knowing her name as a famous poet. This collection not only presents her poetry, but also offers insight into who she was as a person, something I truly appreciated as a first-time reader of her work.

Through this book, I learned that Emily Dickinson was a recluse who largely show more ignored the social conventions of her time, just as she ignored traditional poetic rules. Her poems are often short and concise, with the longest spanning only about two pages, yet they manage to hold immense emotional and philosophical weight. Despite remaining single her entire life, she wrote extensively about love, longing, and intimacy. She also wrote poignantly about loss, drawing from the many deaths and hardships she experienced within her family.

One poem that stood out to me in particular was:
“There is no frigate like a book
To take us lands away,
Nor any coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry-
this traverse may the poorest take
without oppress of toll-
how frugal is the chariot
that bears the human soul”

Learning the meaning behind her word choices deepened my appreciation of the poem. A frigate, being a ship, reminds us that no vessel can take us farther than imagination, and coursers, horses, cannot move as swiftly as the thoughts sparked by words on a page. Dickinson’s message feels timeless: imagination is accessible to everyone, and books are humble, frugal vehicles that carry the human soul without restriction.

Overall, this collection is a way to experience Emily Dickinson’s poetry while also learning about her life, beliefs, and quiet rebellion against societal norms. It’s a meaningful read for poetry lovers, students, or anyone curious about how deeply words can move us, even centuries later. show less

I was so excited to see Emily Dickinson's poetry featuring birds collected in a single volume, I failed to see that it is a whopping 66 pages. That's it. Alas, a brief collection!

I have never been to Emily Dickinson's home or any further Northeast than Pennsylvania but I am fascinated by the idea that there are birds there now that she never saw out her window (of course there are birds there NOW that I have never seen). She died in 1886, decades before House Finches were introduced to the show more East Coast in the 1940s. Had House Sparrows made it to her walk? They were introduced throughout the 1850s and initially released in Boston in the late 1860s. European Starlings were not successfully introduced until after her death.

I wish I knew what birds she watched in her garden beyond the ones she names in her poems: Orioles, Bluebirds, Larks, and Robins, along with special consideration given to Blue Jays, Hummingbirds, and Woodpeckers.

Reading through these poems, I was reminded of a collection I abandoned by Graeme Gibson--The Bedside Book of Birds: An Avian Miscellany--which collects art, poetry, literature, and folklore featuring and depicting birds. I put the collection down because of how much writing it featured by other men. While I logically know that all of those fields are dominated by male voices because of the patriarchal society we live in that uplifts men's voices and beats down women's voices (or doesn't even give them an opportunity to rise by keeping them locked away), so Gibson cannot be blamed for the dominant male voices, I very much crave women's perspectives on the natural world throughout history.

Thus my excitement by this collection.

Of course, I own a nearly complete collection of Ms. Dickinson's poetry--I did not need to own this singular collection. I also have a collection centered on birds by Mary Oliver despite also owning a copy of Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver. But I am a collector at heart and love a good thematic collection so while this was brief, I did enjoy the poetry and the art of Ernest Thompson Seton (although wouldn't it have been lovely to feature art by women with this collection?). show less