The Essential Emily Dickinson: Poems

Lovely collection of Emily Dickinson s work

Good book needed for university

This book is a good introductory volume for students or someone who is attempting to interest a friend in reading poetry.I would normally never review a book on its literal size, but be aware that it is only slightly larger than a little token gift book often sold by a cashier's stand as a novelty item; it has just 79 pages of poetry.There is a moderately interesting prequel whereby Joyce Carol Oates offers up her rather idiosyncratic views, one of which is contrasting Dickinson's "anti-verse" inward looking verse to Whitman's effusive "robustly outwardly looking" persona while mentioning that neither Whitman nor Dickinson ever married; she ponders whether or not Whitman had any "progeny" , a strange denial of his homosexuality, and with the direct implication that both were "celibate" due to rigidity and shyness!

NOTE: Contents are from the edition edited by Thomas H. Johnson (Cira 1951) and not the first three volumes edited by Todd and Higginson in 1890, after her death. This is an important distinction to some, but not to me. Without the publication (and well meaning editing) of those first three volumes, Emily Dickinson may never have been discovered and become the beloved poet she is today.I would imagine it is difficult to try to select poems by universally loved poets that will please the majority of buyers. In my opinion, Joyce Carol Oates did a good job. While not all my personal favorites made the cut, enough did that I don’t regret my purchase.This slim book is perfect for slipping into a purse or backpack for reading when a few unexpected minutes become available away from home. So many of the Dickinson poems are relaxing and calming, the perfect antidote during a stressful day.

Every poem I remember liking by Dickinson except one ("I like to see it lap the miles") is here. The poems are arranged chronologically, with Dickinson's punctuation, no titles (Dickinson didn't give her poems titles). I think this little book is wonderful. And it's a nicely bound, pretty little paperback.