Description
Book SynopsisExplore the essence of life, love, nature, and time in exquisite verse with this elegantly designed edition of Emily Dickinson’s finest poems.
Born in 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts, to a prominent New England family and educated at Amherst Academy and Mt. Holyoke Female Seminary, Emily Elizabeth Dickinson lived most of her life in seclusion, devoted to writing. She scarcely left home, nor did she have many visitors. Only ten of her poems were published in her lifetime, submitted without her permission by friends. It was only after her death in 1886 that the scope of her work as a poet came to light—over 1,700 poems were discovered in a dresser drawer by her sister, Lavinia.
Emily Dickinson’s poems reflect her loneliness, as well as her love of nature, the influence of the Metaphysical poets of seventeenth century England, and her strong Puritan religious beliefs. Yet, it is her use of language, form, and the deceptive simplicity of her verse that categorize her as an important force in nineteenth century American letters and, along with Walt Whitman, a founder of a distinctly American voice in modern poetry.
PRELUDE
THIS is my letter to the world,
That never wrote to me,—
That simple news that Nature told,
With tender majesty.
Her message is committed
To hands I cannot see;
For love of her, sweet countrymen,
Judge tenderly of me!
The Timeless Classics series from Rock Point brings together the works of classic authors from around the world. Complete and unabridged, these elegantly designed gift editions feature luxe, patterned endpapers, ribbon markers, and foil and deboss details on vibrantly colored cases. Celebrate these beloved works of literature as true standouts in your personal library collection.
Table of ContentsContents
introduction xxvii
poems.
1890.
prelude
book i.
life.
success
“our share of the night to bear. . .”
rouge et noir
rouge gagne
“glee! the great storm is over. . .”
“if i can stop one heart from
breaking. . .”
almost!
“a wounded dear leaps highest. . .”
“the heart asks pleasure first. . .”
in a library
“much madness is divinest sense. . .”
“i asked no other thing. . .”
exclusion
the secret
the lonely house
“to fight aloud is very brave. . .”
dawn
the book of martyrs
the mystery of pain
“i taste a liquor never brewed. . .”
a book
“i had no time to hate, because. . .”
unreturning
“whether my bark went down at sea. . .”
“belshazzar had a letter. . .”
“the brain within its groove. . .”
book ii.
love.
mine
bequest
“alter? when the hills do. . .”
suspense
surrender
“if you were coming in the fall. . .”
with a flower
proof
“have you got a brook in your
little heart?”
transplanted
the outlet
in vain
renunciation
love’s baptism
resurrection
apocalypse
the wife
apotheosis
book iii.
nature.
“new feet within my garden go. . .”
may-flower
why?
“perhaps you’d like to buy a flower. . .”
“the pedigree of honey. . .”
a service of song
“the bee is not afraid of me. . .”
summer’s armies
the grass
“a little road not made of man. . .”
summer shower
psalm of the day
the sea of sunset
purple clover
the bee
“presentiment is that long shadow on
the lawn. . .”
“as children bid the guest good-night. . .”
“angels in the early morning. . .”
“so bashful when i spied her. . .”
two worlds
the mountain
a day
“the butterfly’s assumption-gown. . .”
the wind
death and life
“’twas later when the summer went. . .”
indian summer
autumn
beclouded
the hemlock
“there’s a certain slant of light. . .”
book iv.
time and eternity.
“one dignity delays for all. . .”
too late
astra castra
“safe in their alabaster chambers. . .”
“on this long storm the
rainbow rose. . .”
from the chrysalis
setting sail
“look back on time with kindly eyes. . .”
“a train went through a burial gate. . .”
“i died for beauty, but was scarce. . .”
troubled about many things
real
the funeral
“i went to thank her. . .”
“i’ve seen a dying eye. . .”
refuge
“i never saw a moor. . .”
playmates
“to know just how he suffered would
be dear. . .”
“the last night that she lived. . .”
the first lesson
“the bustle in a house. . .”
“i reason, earth is short. . .”
“afraid? of whom am i afraid?”
dying
“two swimmers wrestled on the spar. . .”
the chariot
“she went as quiet as the dew. . .”
resurgam
“except to heaven she is nought. . .”
“death is a dialogue between. . .”
“it was too late for man. . .”
along the potomac
“the daisy follows soft the sun. . .”
emancipation
lost
“if i shouldn’t be alive. . .”
“sleep is supposed to be. . .”
“i shall know why when time is over. . .”
“i never lost as much but twice. . .”
poems.
1891.
“my nosegays are for captives. . .”
book i.
life.
“i’m nobody! who are you?”
“i bring an unaccustomed wine. . .”
“the nearest dream recedes,
unrealized. . .”
“we play at paste. . .”
“i found the phrase to every thought. . .”
hope
the white heat
triumph
the test
escape
compensation
the martyrs
a prayer
“the thought beneath so slight a film. . .”
“the soul unto itself. . .”
“surgeons must be very careful. . .”
the railway train
the show
“delight becomes pictorial. . .”
“a thought went up my mind today. . .”
“is heaven a physician?”
the return
“a poor torn heart, a tattered heart. . .”
too much
shipwreck
“victory comes late. . .”
enough
“experiment to me. . .”
my country’s wardrobe
“faith is fine invention. . .”
“except the heaven had come so near. . .”
“portraits are to daily faces. . .”
the duel
“a shady friend for torrid days. . .”
the goal
sight
“talk with prudence to a beggar. . .”
the preacher
“good night! which put the candle out?”
“when i hoped i feared. . .”
deed
time’s lesson
remorse
the shelter
“undue significance a starving
man attaches. . .”
“heart not so heavy as mine. . .”
“i many times thought peace had come. . .”
“unto my books so good to turn. . .”
“this merit hath the worst. . .”
hunger
“i gained it so. . .”
“to learn the transport by the pain. . .”
returning
prayer
“i know that he exists. . .”
melodies unheard
called back
book ii.
love.
choice
“i have no life but this. . .”
“your riches taught me poverty. . .”
the contract
the letter
“the way i read a letter’s this. . .”
“wild nights! wild nights!”
at home 89
possession
“a charm invests a face. . .”
the lovers
“in lands i never saw, they say. . .”
“the moon is distant from the sea. . .”
“he put the belt around my life. . .”
the lost jewel
“what if i say i shall not wait?”
book iii.
nature.
mother nature
out of the morning
“at half-past three a single bird. . .”
day’s parlor
the sun’s wooing
the robin
the butterfly’s day
the bluebird
april
the sleeping flowers
my rose
the oriole’s secret
the oriole
in shadow
the humming-bird
secrets
“who robbed the woods. . .”
two voyagers
by the sea
old-fashioned
a tempest
the sea
in the garden
the snake
the mushroom
the storm
the spider
“i know a place where summer strives. . .”
“the one that could repeat the
summer day. . .”
the wind’s visit
“nature, rarer uses yellow. . .”
gossip
simplicity
storm
the rat
“frequently the woods are pink. . .”
a thunder-storm
with flowers
sunset
“she sweeps with many-colored brooms. . .”
“like mighty footlights burned the red. . .”
problems
the juggler of day
my cricket
“as imperceptibly as grief. . .”
“it can’t be summer,—that got through. . .”
summer’s obsequies
fringed gentian
november
the snow
the bluejay
book iv.
time and eternity.
“let down the bars, o death!”
“going to heaven!”
“at least to pray is left, is left. . .”
epitaph
“morns like these we parted. . .”
“a death-blow is a life-blow to some. . .”
“i read my sentence steadily. . .”
“i have not told my garden yet. . .”
the battle-field
“the only ghost i ever saw. . .”
“some, too fragile for winter winds. . .”
“as by the dead we love to sit. . .”
memorials
“i went to heaven. . .”
“their height in heaven comforts not. . .”
“there is a shame of nobleness. . .”
triumph
“pompless no life can pass away. . .”
“i noticed people disappeared. . .”
following
“if anybody’s friend be dead. . .”
the journey
a country burial
going
“essential oils are wrung. . .”
“i lived on dread; to those who know. . .”
“if i should die. . .”
at length
ghosts
vanished
precedence
gone
requiem
“what inn is this. . .”
“it was not death, for i stood up. . .”
till the end
void
“a throe upon the features. . .”
saved!
“i think just how my shape will rise. . .”
the forgotten grave
“lay this laurel on the one. . .”
poems.
1896.
“’tis all i have to bring today. . .”
book i.
life.
real riches
superiority to fate
hope
forbidden fruit (i)
forbidden fruit (ii)
a word
“to venerate the simple days. . .”
life’s trades
“drowning is not so pitiful. . .”
“how still the bells in steeples stand. . .”
“if the foolish call them ‘flowers’. . .”
a syllable
parting
aspiration
the inevitable
a book
“who has not found the heaven below. . .”
a portrait
i had a guinea golden
saturday afternoon
“few get enough,—enough is one. . .”
“upon the gallows hung a wretch. . .”
the lost thought
reticence
with flowers
“the farthest thunder that i heard. . .”
“on the bleakness of my lot. . .”
contrast
friends
fire
a man
ventures
griefs
“i have a king who does not speak. . .”
disenchantment
lost faith
lost joy
“i worked for chaff, and earning wheat. . .”
“life, and death, and giants. . .”
alpine glow
remembrance
“to hang our head ostensibly. . .”
the brain
“the bone that has no marrow. . .”
the past
“to help our bleaker parts. . .”
“what soft, cherubic creatures. . .”
desire
philosophy
power
“a modest lot, a fame petite. . .”
“in bliss, then, such abyss. . .”
experience
thanksgiving day
childish griefs
book ii.
love.
consecration
love’s humility
love
satisfied
with a flower
song
loyalty
“to lose thee, sweeter than to gain. . .”
“poor little heart!”
forgotten
“i’ve got an arrow here. . .”
the master
“heart, we will forget him!”
“father, i bring thee not myself. . .”
“we outgrow love like other things. . .”
“not with a club the heart is broken. . .”
who?
“he touched me, so i live to know. . .”
dreams
numen lumen
longing
wedded
book iii.
nature.
nature’s changes
the tulip
“a light exists in spring. . .”
the waking year
to march
march
dawn
“a murmur in the trees to note. . .”
“morning is the place for dew. . .”
“to my quick ear the leaves conferred. . .”
a rose
“high from the earth i heard a bird. . .”
cobwebs
a well
“to make a prairie it takes a clover. . .”
the wind
“a dew sufficed itself. . .”
the woodpecker
a snake
“could i but ride indefinite. . .”
the moon
the bat
the balloon
evening
cocoon
sunset
aurora
the coming of night
aftermath
book iv.
time and eternity.
“this world is not conclusion. . .”
“we learn in the retreating. . .”
“they say that ‘time assuages’. . .”
“we cover thee, sweet face. . .”
“that is solemn we have ended. . .”
“the stimulus, beyond the grave. . .”
“given in marriage unto thee. . .”
“that such have died enables us. . .”
“they won’t frown always,—some
sweet day. . .”
immortality
“the distance that the dead have gone. . .”
“how dare the robins sing. . .”
death
unwarned
“each that we lose takes part of us. . .”
“not any higher stands the grave. . .”
asleep
the spirit
the monument
“bless god, he went as soldiers. . .”
“immortal is an ample word. . .”
“where every bird is bold to go. . .”
“the grave my little cottage is. . .”
“this was in the white of the year. . .”
“sweet hours have perished here. . .”
“me! come! my dazzled face. . .”
invisible
“i wish i knew that woman’s name. . .”
trying to forget
“i felt a funeral in my brain. . .”
“i meant to find her when i came. . .”
waiting
“a sickness of this world it most
occasions. . .”
“superfluous were the sun. . .”
“so proud she was to die. . .”
farewell
“the dying need but little, dear. . .”
dead
“the soul should always stand ajar. . .”
“three weeks passed since i had
seen her. . .
“i breathed enough to learn
the trick. . .”
“i wonder if the sepulchre. . .”
joy in death
“if i may have it when it’s dead. . .”
“before the ice is in the pools. . .”
dying
“adrift! a little boat adrift!”
“there’s been a death in the opposite
house. . .”
“we never know we go,—when we are
going. . .”
the soul’s storm
“water is taught by thirst. . .”
thirst
“a clock stopped—not the mantel’s. . .”
charlotte brontë’s grave
“a toad can die of light. . .”
“far from love the heavenly father. . .”
sleeping
retrospect
eternity
