The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson by Emily Dickinson - Edited by two of her friends Mabel Loomis Todd and T.W. Higginson - The verses of Emily Dickinson belong emphatically to what Emerson long since called "the Poetry of the Portfolio,"-something produced absolutely without the thought of publication, and solely by way of expression of the writer's own mind. Such verse must inevitably forfeit whatever advantage lies in the discipline of public criticism and the enforced conformity to accepted ways. On the other hand, ...
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The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson by Emily Dickinson - Edited by two of her friends Mabel Loomis Todd and T.W. Higginson - The verses of Emily Dickinson belong emphatically to what Emerson long since called "the Poetry of the Portfolio,"-something produced absolutely without the thought of publication, and solely by way of expression of the writer's own mind. Such verse must inevitably forfeit whatever advantage lies in the discipline of public criticism and the enforced conformity to accepted ways. On the other hand, it may often gain something through the habit of freedom and the unconventional utterance of daring thoughts. In the case of the present author, there was absolutely no choice in the matter; she must write thus, or not at all. A recluse by temperament and habit, literally spending years without setting her foot beyond the doorstep, and many more years during which her walks were strictly limited to her father's grounds, she habitually concealed her mind, like her person, from all but a very few friends; and it was with great difficulty that she was persuaded to print, during her lifetime, three or four poems. Yet she wrote verses in great abundance; and though brought curiously indifferent to all conventional rules, had yet a rigorous literary standard of her own, and often altered a word many times to suit an ear which had its own tenacious fastidiousness.
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I used to have a selected compilation of Miss Dickinson´s poems; This one I ordered for my daughter for she was really intrigued by this poetry!
I think she read page by page, poem by poem day by day and it was almost like a submersion in this beautiful hermetic language of this young, isolated and sensitive woman, to overcome her own adolescent hindrances...and imaginary roles.
Irrationality has a voice here!
V10let
Mar 4, 2010
Comprehensive Compendium
Used this book for a literary group's series of lectures. It is laid out in roughly chronological order and is what it says on the cover. If you want to do more than dip into Emily Dickinson, use this book.
Rosie1954
Jul 2, 2007
My Favorite Poet
Years ago I glanced through A school (Literature) textbook, and read the words, "Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul And sings the tune Without the words And never stops at all....." And that was all I needed to fall in love with Dickinson's poetry. I cannot be objective, only partial, I do appreciate and enjoy her work. It is timeless. It is direct, and often beautifully so. She is considered one of America's greatest poets and rightly so. I also appreciate and enjoy Robert Frost and Carl Sandburg, Poe (The Raven), Robert Louis Stevenson (A Child's Garden of Verses) and Walt Whitman (Leaves of Grass). I like variety. ALL great and remarkable poets.
