Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson

Rating:
Summary: Emily Dickinson never gets old
Review: She is one of the best poets I have ever read. I'm a student now and I'd almost lost my desire to write poetry. But after reading Dickinson again I'm inspired. Reading her poetry and reading her life story has given me a new view on writing. She's the best, read her!

Rating:
Summary: Emily Dickinson never gets old
Review: She is one of the best poets I have ever read. I'm a student now and I'd almost lost my desire to write poetry. But after reading Dickinson again I'm inspired. Reading her poetry and reading her life story has given me a new view on writing. She's the best, read her!

Rating:
Summary: Warning
Review: This book may be interesting to experts who want to see how the first "editors" Todd and Higginson, alterated Dickinson's poems, "by smoothing out the rhymes and meter, changing line arrangements, and rewriting the dialect of the local area", as the introduction plainly states.
Is it naivety, stupidity or cold deliberation that this book is still sold under the innocent title of "collected poems", as if it presented the original texts? It should come with a warning.

Rating:
Summary: A Crime Against Emily
Review: This collection of poems, tho representing a fine breadth of Dickenson's works, is in final assessment a crime against the poet's great talent. As is freely admitted in the introduction, the editor, Mr. Higginson, "worked on the mechanics of the poems by smoothing out the rhymes and meter, changing the line arrangements, and rewriting the dialect of the local area." This is a free admission of the book's guilt, having adulterated Dickenson's original poems in both content and form. Gone are the nuances and passions that make Dickenson one of the best American writers. Gone are the premeditated dashed and capitalizations that add depth and intensity to the poems' meanings. And, worst of all, gone or altered are many lines that contribute to the unique vision of the artist. As Thomas H. Johnson says in the Introduction to "The Complete Poems of Emily Dickenson," A representative mid-nineteenth century traditionalist was being asked to judge the work of a wholly new order of craftsman . . . which he was not equipped to estimate." Do yourself a favor and avoid this text. Instead, find one that is true to the original poems, one which preserves the intent and stylistic genius of the author, and one which will give you the full and lasting effect of Emily Dickenson.

Rating:
Summary: A Crime Against Emily
Review: This collection of poems, tho representing a fine breadth of Dickenson's works, is in final assessment a crime against the poet's great talent. As is freely admitted in the introduction, the editor, Mr. Higginson, "worked on the mechanics of the poems by smoothing out the rhymes and meter, changing the line arrangements, and rewriting the dialect of the local area." This is a free admission of the book's guilt, having adulterated Dickenson's original poems in both content and form. Gone are the nuances and passions that make Dickenson one of the best American writers. Gone are the premeditated dashed and capitalizations that add depth and intensity to the poems' meanings. And, worst of all, gone or altered are many lines that contribute to the unique vision of the artist. As Thomas H. Johnson says in the Introduction to "The Complete Poems of Emily Dickenson," A representative mid-nineteenth century traditionalist was being asked to judge the work of a wholly new order of craftsman . . . which he was not equipped to estimate." Do yourself a favor and avoid this text. Instead, find one that is true to the original poems, one which preserves the intent and stylistic genius of the author, and one which will give you the full and lasting effect of Emily Dickenson.

Rating:
Summary: She's not what you think!
Review: This selection of Dickinson's work provides a good
pathway into her complex poetic imagination.
She is too often thought of as a light poet of birds and bees and flowers and,yet imcompatibly, her greatest subject is Death. She perplexes us with her compressed language that seems to hint at so much meaning --meaning which tantalizes and expands our own thoughts and experiences. She teaches us a lesson in knowing when to accept that something is difficult and beautiful and not completely explainable. Well, then,what is it that keeps drawing us to her over a hundred years later? Reading the 450 poems in this book (of the 1775 she wrote) will give you an idea. But you have to have a tolerance for mystery and language that asks you to decipher it. Think of her poems as tightly-packed as a walnut, with the delicious parts inside well- worth cracking the shell for. She has been called by some America's greatest poet. So, perhaps you ought to spend some time with these poems, but be prepared to have the "top of your head" lifted off!(ED's personal test of what a true poem should do to its reader.)

Rating:
Summary: Emily Dickinson is the best poet I have ever known.
Review: When I read this book I couldn't put it down. She put such emotion into it it is stunning.