Scan barcode
A review by mlindner
Emily Dickinson Poems by Emily Dickinson
1.0
I am just past halfway and I really just want to give up on this for two reasons.
1. I don't particularly like Dickinson's poetry. Her nonstandard grammar makes it difficult to understand what she's on about. Out of 100s of poems, so far I have liked four. And one of those was only because it evoked ancient Chinese erotic poetry, if it was poorly translated, but then it is hard to write about bees visiting flowers without doing so [added: being erotic, that is].
2. The book itself. The book is clearly a cheap imprint. I got it for free as a donation. Physically--binding, paper, margins, type, etc.--it is pretty good. But intellectual content is where they skimped. There is no introduction to explain the dating and groupings of the poems, nor to explain her style, or anything else to contextualize and situate Dickinson's poetry. What little I do (now) know I found via Wikipedia. There are also typos and misspellings in the poems themselves. I have come across several "to"s which should have been "too"s. If that is, in fact, how Dickinson spelled them then, again, where is the contextual matter explaining that. I finally gave up--but for now have recanted--with "Fringed Gentian" where we have the line "And summer his her forehead,". I had to do an internet search to discover that it ought be "And summer hit her forehead,". Just a small difference. One which actually makes the poem intelligible. But it leaves me wondering how much else of my problem with Dickinson's poetry stems from the shoddy intellectual work done for this edition.
I had intended to simply give up for now and perhaps revisit Dickinson in the future when I might be readier to receive her and, also, with a proper edition of her work.
12 December 2011 - I have finally finished this book. I could complain again about the prolific number of typos, and lack of added intellectual content, situating of the poems and/or Dickinson, etc. but I think I'll let the above suffice.
1. I don't particularly like Dickinson's poetry. Her nonstandard grammar makes it difficult to understand what she's on about. Out of 100s of poems, so far I have liked four. And one of those was only because it evoked ancient Chinese erotic poetry, if it was poorly translated, but then it is hard to write about bees visiting flowers without doing so [added: being erotic, that is].
2. The book itself. The book is clearly a cheap imprint. I got it for free as a donation. Physically--binding, paper, margins, type, etc.--it is pretty good. But intellectual content is where they skimped. There is no introduction to explain the dating and groupings of the poems, nor to explain her style, or anything else to contextualize and situate Dickinson's poetry. What little I do (now) know I found via Wikipedia. There are also typos and misspellings in the poems themselves. I have come across several "to"s which should have been "too"s. If that is, in fact, how Dickinson spelled them then, again, where is the contextual matter explaining that. I finally gave up--but for now have recanted--with "Fringed Gentian" where we have the line "And summer his her forehead,". I had to do an internet search to discover that it ought be "And summer hit her forehead,". Just a small difference. One which actually makes the poem intelligible. But it leaves me wondering how much else of my problem with Dickinson's poetry stems from the shoddy intellectual work done for this edition.
I had intended to simply give up for now and perhaps revisit Dickinson in the future when I might be readier to receive her and, also, with a proper edition of her work.
12 December 2011 - I have finally finished this book. I could complain again about the prolific number of typos, and lack of added intellectual content, situating of the poems and/or Dickinson, etc. but I think I'll let the above suffice.