Poems of Emily Dickinson Book Review

Dickinson, Emily. Poems of Emily Dickinson. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1932.

Poems of Emily Dickinson is a collection of roughly 800 poems by Emily Dickinson, a U.S. poet who lived during the mid 1800s in Massachusetts. The book is 378 pages long. Her poems have long been loved and adored by many and few pass through their academic careers without encountering phrases like, "Hope is the thing with feathers," or "I shall not live in vain." By reading through the complete works of Dickinson, one gains a greater understanding of the sweet sensitivity that pervades her poetry.

I chose to read Poems of Emily Dickinson because I enjoy the emotion and sensitivity that she puts into her poems and I feel that I can relate with her outlook on life. As I read I really enjoyed seeing that others experience life in ways that are somewhat similar to mine. Dickinson's poems helped me in my own quest by giving me an example of writing. I often spend time pondering on the meaning of life (as most of us do) but I rarely take the time to put things into words, or better, poems. After reading Dickinson's poems, I feel a greater sense of desire to write more myself; particularly in the form i love most--poetry. In addition to these things, reading through her various different forms helps me not feel ashamed to try my own forms when I write.

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My favorite poem from the book was:

"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 chilliest land,

And on the strangest sea;

Yet, never, in extremity,

It asked a crumb of me.

Which I really enjoy because it not only describes hope, but makes you feel more hopeful! I also enjoyed another poem that I had not read before:

"Who court obtain

Within himself

Sees every man a king;

So poverty of monarchy

Is an interior thing.

No fate depose

Whom Fate ordain—

And who can add a crown

To him who doth continual

Repudiate his own?

I like this poem because it talks about how those who rule ought to reject praise and power and should see all men as kings and not just themselves. The phrase, "So poverty of monarchy/ Is an interior thing," seems to imply that those who are kings who aggrandize themselves are really the ones who are in poverty. I think it's interesting that she talks about this given that she was a women living in the 1800s.

Overall, I think Dickinson's poetry is powerful and penetrating, yet often sweet. She writes on many different themes including nature, love, death, religion, and war. Notwithstanding the great breadth of her poetry topics, there is still much depth an poignancy in the topics about which she writes. One of the reasons she seems to be able to cover so many themes is because of the many different of forms and rhyme schemes that she uses. For example, the two poems above: "Hope is a thing with feathers" has 6-8 syllables per line giving it a bouncier more hopeful feel to it; while the second poem has fewer syllables on each line, giving it a slightly more serious demeanor.

My only critique of Dickinson is that many of her poems are very short, some just 4-8 lines. Though this can make for poignant poetry, some of her poems weren't long enough for me to get a feel for what she was trying to convey when she wrote the poem.

The great breadth of topics in Dickinson's poems lends it to being widely appreciated by a variety of audiences. Whether it be someone at a difficult point in their life, or at one of the high time, someone looking for poems of love or poems of nature, Dickinson has something to offer. I believe all lovers of poetry will be able to gain enjoyment and inspiration from Dickinson's lyrics If you do not have an extensive vocabulary, I would recommend having a dictionary handy as you read. Also, I would recommend buying a copy of the book (as opposed to checking it out from the library), as you will likely want to mark and reread certain poems. Dickinson has a distinct spirit that she puts into her poetry that makes it unlike any other.