The poems of Emily Dickinson

The poems of Emily Dickinson.— reading edition / edited by R.W. Franklin.— Cambridge : Harvard University Press, 1999.

692 p. ; 25 cm.

ISBN: 0-674-67624-6

Include index of first lines

1. Poetry, American – Nineteenth century.

811.4

Life is death we’re lengthy at,

Death the hinge of life.

This is the entire text of poem #502 in this edition, an edition gleaned from the editor’s three volume 2,500 sources variorum set of 1998. Dickinson’s poems are characteristically pithy and short, with idiosyncratic punctuation and grammar. Few were published in her lifetime. And due to the editorial changes made in them, she was very unhappy in those that were. American literature owes a great debt to her younger sister who, contrary to Emily’s instructions, chose to begin publishing them instead of destroying them after her death in 1886. The first full edition wasn’t published until 1960. The twentieth century was far more receptive to the poet’s sudden twists of grammar and thought than her own. As a result her fame and following have grown.

Resistant to the otherworldly evangelism of her family and friends, Dickinson staked all her hopes in the mundane. The poems are full of the delights of this world, sunrise, sunset, trees, birds, seasonal changes, insects, flowers, stars, and most of all in human love and friendship.

An excellent companion to a reader new to her writing is the aptly titled, The Cambridge introduction to Emily Dickinson / Wendy Martin.— Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2007.

x, 148 p. ; 24 cm.

(Cambridge introductions to literature)

ISBN: 9780521672702

1. Dickinson, Emily, 1830-1886.

811.4

This is a concise and readable introduction to the poet’s life, the world she lived in, her poems and letters, and their posthumous publication, editing, and scholarly reception and interpretations.