Status
Available
Genres
Publication
Barnes & Noble Classics (2003), Edition: First Edition, 400 pages
Description
The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson, by Emily Dickinson, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics: New introductions commissioned from today's top writers and scholars Biographies of the authors Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events Footnotes and endnotes Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work Comments by other famous authors Study questions to challenge the reader's viewpoints and expectations Bibliographies for further reading Indices & Glossaries, when appropriate All editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influences--biographical, historical, and literary--to enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works. Born in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1830, Dickinson began life as an energetic, outgoing young woman who excelled as a student. However, in her mid-twenties she began to grow reclusive, and eventually she rarely descended from her room in her father’s house. She spent most of her time working on her poetry, largely without encouragement or real interest from her family and peers, and died at age fifty-five. Only a handful of her 1,775 poems had been published during her lifetime. When her poems finally appeared after her death, readers immediately recognized an artist whose immense depth and stylistic complexities would one day make her the most widely recognized female poet to write in the English language. Dickinson’s poetry is remarkable for its tightly controlled emotional and intellectual energy. The longest poem covers less than two pages. Yet in theme and tone her writing reaches for the sublime as it charts the landscape of the human soul. A true innovator, Dickinson experimented freely with conventional rhythm and meter, and often used dashes, off rhymes, and unusual metaphors--techniques that strongly influenced modern poetry. Dickinson’s idiosyncratic style, along with her deep resonance of thought and her observations about life and death, love and nature, and solitude and society, have firmly established her as one of America’s true poetic geniuses. Includes an index of first lines.… (more)
Similar in this library
User reviews
LibraryThing member nmhale
I am deplorably little read in poetry. I have ambitions to read more of this highly visual and emotional literary art form, one with amazing precedents and history, but I rarely do. I bought this collection of poems by one of my country's esteemed poets many years back, and have finally taken the
Despite my limited expertise, I enjoyed her work. The poems were evocative of nature and eternity, and expressed intense emotions. They felt very intimate, but appealed to universal feelings. Her poems about nature were lush and full of awe, and revealed her deep love of the outdoors. Many of the natural elements described also functioned as metaphors for her feelings or ideas about life and love. My particular favorites were the poems that explored death and life and the mysteries of eternity. I have analyzed much more fiction and novels than poetry, and I know I am lacking in terminology, but I felt the rhythm of her meters (according to others she often used tetrameter rather than pentameter) and the effect of her abrupt breaks and pauses. According to one writer I unearthed online, Dickinson used "diamond hard language", and I find that a beautiful descriptor that accurately captures a sense of her words.
The book I own is a complete collection of her poetry. I would love to examine these poems more deeply someday, with other people who are interested in delving into intricacies of subject and form. Whether I will actually do so is unknown; in the meantime, I am delighted that I finally acquainted myself with the work of an amazing poet. She has inspired me to read more poetry. I heard a speaker say once that people get too worked up about poetry, that they view it as a chore when it is an experience that should be felt and enjoyed. I am trying to drop my apprehensions and enjoy poetry, even if it means that I don't understand or get everything out of it that I can. Emily Dickinson was a lovely starting point.
Show More
time to read her poetry. Despite my limited expertise, I enjoyed her work. The poems were evocative of nature and eternity, and expressed intense emotions. They felt very intimate, but appealed to universal feelings. Her poems about nature were lush and full of awe, and revealed her deep love of the outdoors. Many of the natural elements described also functioned as metaphors for her feelings or ideas about life and love. My particular favorites were the poems that explored death and life and the mysteries of eternity. I have analyzed much more fiction and novels than poetry, and I know I am lacking in terminology, but I felt the rhythm of her meters (according to others she often used tetrameter rather than pentameter) and the effect of her abrupt breaks and pauses. According to one writer I unearthed online, Dickinson used "diamond hard language", and I find that a beautiful descriptor that accurately captures a sense of her words.
The book I own is a complete collection of her poetry. I would love to examine these poems more deeply someday, with other people who are interested in delving into intricacies of subject and form. Whether I will actually do so is unknown; in the meantime, I am delighted that I finally acquainted myself with the work of an amazing poet. She has inspired me to read more poetry. I heard a speaker say once that people get too worked up about poetry, that they view it as a chore when it is an experience that should be felt and enjoyed. I am trying to drop my apprehensions and enjoy poetry, even if it means that I don't understand or get everything out of it that I can. Emily Dickinson was a lovely starting point.
Show Less
LibraryThing member crazyjerseygirl
Lovely dark poetry, Sure, she was a bit mad, but the literary world benifited. Plus she made a smashing plum-cake
LibraryThing member melannen
This edition advertises itself as "The Orginal Published Version" - which means, of course, that it's the version that was edited all to heck by a couple of literary hacks in New York. Until I actually tried to sit down and read it, I hadn't realized just how much the changes did matter. Poor Emily.
LibraryThing member Whisper1
I stumbled upon this book at a sale. Emily is my favorite poet and this truly is an enjoyable publication.
LibraryThing member hermit_9
Dickinson is one of my favorite poets. I love the convenience of this collection.
LibraryThing member rikardh
A complete collection of Dickinson's work. It breaks the poems up into categories. There is a section for Life, Nature, Love, Time and Eternity, and The Single Hound. This will be helpful when searching for a certain poem and you want to find it without going through all of them.
LibraryThing member sweetiegherkin
This book is formatted well, like most of the Barnes & Noble classics. There’s a scholarly introduction, a brief biography with timeline, specific words defined on the page when necessary (sometimes there’s some overkill on this point, but it’s hard to know what audience will know what), and
However, I couldn’t rate this book any higher because as much as I thought I would love Emily Dickinson’s poetry, I didn’t. Her poems were too short for me to get into them or appreciate a deeper meaning in most cases. I found that I would start to get a bit into a poem and it didn’t last long enough to sustain interest or really tell a story. Out of this whole book of hundreds of her poems, I only truly enjoyed a handful. I didn’t find her style very interesting at all -- her words and descriptions were not vivid, lovely, or quite frankly, poetic. I don’t particularly care that she doesn’t follow a specific form or that she doesn’t always rhyme, but it would annoy me when she starts to rhyme but stops half way or does a half-hearted attempt at rhyming. It took me more than a year to finish this book and towards the end I just wanted it to be done already. Other people may love her, but Dickinson’s poetry is just not to my taste, and I much prefer my Edna St. Vincent Millay.
Show More
supplementary materials at the end, including questions for discussion or deeper contemplation. The poems themselves are divided into five sections based on theme (although for the life of me I’m still not sure what the final section “The Single Hound” is supposed to be about, and I think most of these poems found here could have easily fit into the earlier topics).However, I couldn’t rate this book any higher because as much as I thought I would love Emily Dickinson’s poetry, I didn’t. Her poems were too short for me to get into them or appreciate a deeper meaning in most cases. I found that I would start to get a bit into a poem and it didn’t last long enough to sustain interest or really tell a story. Out of this whole book of hundreds of her poems, I only truly enjoyed a handful. I didn’t find her style very interesting at all -- her words and descriptions were not vivid, lovely, or quite frankly, poetic. I don’t particularly care that she doesn’t follow a specific form or that she doesn’t always rhyme, but it would annoy me when she starts to rhyme but stops half way or does a half-hearted attempt at rhyming. It took me more than a year to finish this book and towards the end I just wanted it to be done already. Other people may love her, but Dickinson’s poetry is just not to my taste, and I much prefer my Edna St. Vincent Millay.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Devil_llama
A collection of the best of the best. Emily Dickinson is one of the most original poets of her time, and refused to follow the straight jacket rules often imposed on poets; as a result, she was not published widely in her lifetime (though she did have one or two poems in a magazine). Since that
Show More
time, her original style has become much more appreciated, and this book collects a small sampling of her work. A good starting point for anyone who isn't familiar with Dickinson, because it gives a wide range of her works, and many of her all time best are included. Show Less
LibraryThing member walkthemoon89
She wasn't appreciated by her family or the public of that day, but contrary to what I once assumed, this did not make her bitter. Poetry tends to be either traditional and soothing or modern and frayed, and Emily is definitely traditional and soothing. She bore no ill will to anybody, regardless
............
I mean, there can be, there can be a certain sadness there, but it is such a shy and tender sadness, that it isn't at all like the way people talk. These days we are used to people shouting, and sometimes you forget what a shy girl is really like.
Show More
of her social circumstances. They may not have liked her, but she liked them.............
I mean, there can be, there can be a certain sadness there, but it is such a shy and tender sadness, that it isn't at all like the way people talk. These days we are used to people shouting, and sometimes you forget what a shy girl is really like.
Show Less
LibraryThing member mattries37315
The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson contains a sizeable sample of the total works of the reclusive poet, who only came to prominence after her death. Containing 593 poems separated into five different themes, roughly a third of her overall productivity, this collection gives the reader a
Show More
wonderful look into the talent of a woman who hid her art not only from the world but also her own family. Besides nearly 600 poems of Dickinson’s work, the reader is given a 25 page introduction to the poet and an analysis of her work by Dr. Rachel Wetzsteon who helps reveal the mysterious artist as best as she can and help the reader understand her work better. Although neither Wetzsteon’s introduction and analysis nor Dickinson’s work is wanting, the fact that this collection gives only a sample of the poet’s work is its main and only flaw. Show Less
LibraryThing member leslie.98
I am marking this as finished but really I had to return it to the library before I was done. I read more than half and have read many of these poems before in other collections & anthologies so I feel comfortable with my rating.
LibraryThing member keylawk
Not sure how much "editing" Emily's friends and relatives contributed to this collection, virtually all of which are poems which Emily did not publish or even title before her death in 1886.
For example, the stark perplexity of "Going to Heaven!"
And it takes but little understanding to come to the
Finally, my readings largely concur with those who "see" that Emily Dickinson spoke robust and bold truth, with naked beauty, and unrelenting kindness.
Example for all who suffer curiosity and compassion:
Going to heaven!
I don't know when,
Pray do not ask me how,--
Indeed, I'm too astonished
To think of answering you!
Going to heaven!--
How dim it sounds!
And yet it will be done
As sure as flocks go home at night
Unto the shepherd's arm!
Perhaps you're going too!
Who knows?
If you should get there first,
Save just a little place for me
Close to the two I lost!
The smallest "robe" will fit me,
And just a bit of "crown";
For you know we do not mind our dress
When we are going home.
I'm glad I don't believe it,
For it would stop my breath,
And I'd like to look a little more
At such a curious earth!
I am glad they did believe it
Whom I have never found
Since the mighty autumn afternoon
I left them in the ground.
For example, the stark perplexity of "Going to Heaven!"
And it takes but little understanding to come to the
Show More
realization that Emily's decisions about publication were utterly compromised by the reversals, hypocrisies, and gravity of the Civil War. And the relentless fraud of the Churches who prayed through all the suffering on all sides.Finally, my readings largely concur with those who "see" that Emily Dickinson spoke robust and bold truth, with naked beauty, and unrelenting kindness.
Example for all who suffer curiosity and compassion:
Going to heaven!
I don't know when,
Pray do not ask me how,--
Indeed, I'm too astonished
To think of answering you!
Going to heaven!--
How dim it sounds!
And yet it will be done
As sure as flocks go home at night
Unto the shepherd's arm!
Perhaps you're going too!
Who knows?
If you should get there first,
Save just a little place for me
Close to the two I lost!
The smallest "robe" will fit me,
And just a bit of "crown";
For you know we do not mind our dress
When we are going home.
I'm glad I don't believe it,
For it would stop my breath,
And I'd like to look a little more
At such a curious earth!
I am glad they did believe it
Whom I have never found
Since the mighty autumn afternoon
I left them in the ground.
Show Less
LibraryThing member pivic
Utterly brilliant.
Although it's marked by time - and what really isn't? - in a way which isn't my marred, modern cup of tea, the sheer potency of Dickinson's language, rhythm, coinage of words and non-rhymes win me over completely, and take me to another level totally.
I shan't say more on the
While this collection does not contain all of her poems, it is annotated with short sentences on names, places and references, e.g. to passages from the christian bible and other poets.
This collection's only real flaw: it's too short.
Although it's marked by time - and what really isn't? - in a way which isn't my marred, modern cup of tea, the sheer potency of Dickinson's language, rhythm, coinage of words and non-rhymes win me over completely, and take me to another level totally.
I shan't say more on the
Show More
poetry itself, but the imagery painted is sharp, veering from "the usual" in a way that has lived for more than a hundred years and will continue living forever, I'm sure.While this collection does not contain all of her poems, it is annotated with short sentences on names, places and references, e.g. to passages from the christian bible and other poets.
This collection's only real flaw: it's too short.
Show Less
LibraryThing member LorisBook
I kindly received a gift certificate for a book store so I put it to good use. One of my purchases was The collected Poems of Emily Dickinson.
Emily is considered one of the most important figures in American poetry and this is not the only copy of her poetry that I own.
This volume is split into
What I like about her poetry is she was a recluse who wrote far ahead of her time. You recognize her appreciation for her garden and surroundings and much of her poetry is an expression of analyzing physical and natural science.
Her poetry is unconventional and she writes with the vision of a painter abroad though she spent the majority of her time in Amherst, Massachusetts. She uses a triad of essentials like abrupt line breaks and extended metaphors and readers obtain different angles due to different perspectives. She had an interest in life and death and wrote about it with honesty, and lack of pretension.
Emily is considered one of the most important figures in American poetry and this is not the only copy of her poetry that I own.
This volume is split into
Show More
four parts - Life, Love, Nature, and Time & Eternity. I tend to gravitate to her nature poetry. What I like about her poetry is she was a recluse who wrote far ahead of her time. You recognize her appreciation for her garden and surroundings and much of her poetry is an expression of analyzing physical and natural science.
Her poetry is unconventional and she writes with the vision of a painter abroad though she spent the majority of her time in Amherst, Massachusetts. She uses a triad of essentials like abrupt line breaks and extended metaphors and readers obtain different angles due to different perspectives. She had an interest in life and death and wrote about it with honesty, and lack of pretension.
Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
[1890, 1891, 1896]
Physical description
400 p.; 5.19 inches
ISBN
1593080506 / 9781593080501