I don’t read a lot of poetry, but I came across a few poems by Emily Dickinson a while ago and loved them. So I decided to take a chance and read her entire collection written over the course of Dickinson’s life. Although it was A LOT to go through (took me a couple of months!), it was definitely worth it. I found a bunch of new poems that I absolutely loved.
Emily Dickinson has a unique and cryptic poetic style, known for her unconventional punctuation and capitalization. The collection covers a wide range of subjects, my edition has 3 main sections with each section subdivided into 4 different subjects: Life, Love, Nature, and Time & Eternity. All the poems are full of reflections and ideas that have a unique and often original perspective on all the subjects.
My favorite poem remains, “The Chariot”, but I also discovered breathtaking new ones like “Hope”, “Remorse”, “The Journey”, “Ghosts”, “Void”, “Parting” and “I Had a Guinea Golden”. I definitely enjoy her existential and morose poems more than the cheerful ones.
If you’re an Emily Dickinson fan, I recommend giving this massive body of work a chance. But take your time with it, your enjoyment and appreciation will be much better.