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Jul 1, 2016 · A list of the ten greatest poems by Emily Dickinson, the American poet who wrote over 1,700 poems in her lifetime. The poems explore themes of anonymity, death, hope, beauty, and madness, using images and symbols to create a unique and wonderful world.
- Who Is Emily Dickinson?
- Success Is Counted Sweetest
- I'm Nobody! Who Are You?
- “Hope” Is The Thing with Feathers
- I Felt A Funeral, in My Brain
- There’S A Certain Slant of Light
- Wild Nights – Wild Nights!
- This Is My Letter to The World
- I Dwell in Possibility
- I Heard A Fly Buzz– When I Died
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Born in 1830 as the middle child in a prosperous Massachusetts family, Dickinson dazzled her teachers early on with her brilliant mind and flowering imagination. She spent a year studying at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, now a women’s college. Known for her fierce originality of thought, she distinguished herself among her pious classmates for her...
Omni-disciplinary writer Joyce Carol Oates called Dickinson, one of her literary idols, the “poet of paradox.” This poem makes it clear how she earned that title. Victory, it argues, can only be grasped by the losers. Using militaristic imagery, the poem observes, in Dickinson’s usual unsentimental manner, that life is often a zero-sum game: succes...
This crowd-pleasing verse shows off the poet’s playful side. It’s proof that Dickinson’s insights on human psychology aren’t limited to heavy topics like grief, doubt, and the fear of death. Here, her speaker winkingly draws the reader into a friendly conspiracy of anonymity. You get the sense that this is someone who would’ve love binge-watching r...
With its sweet message and singable rhythm, this tribute to hope is arguably Dickinson’s best-known work. Prettier and somewhat more palatable than many of her later meditations on pain and death, it appears on plenty of greeting cards and posters you can buy online. The poem spins out a straightforward extended metaphor: hope as a bird — selfless,...
Opaque and viscerally disturbing, this poem combines two Dickinson-esque mainstays: funerary imagery and a forensic examination of psychological turmoil. The speaker, though suffering, remains keenly self-aware, observing their own pain with blade-sharp insight. This funeral in the brain eludes easy decoding. It could signify the death of reason — ...
This beautifully crafted poem speaks to anyone who feels a little out of sorts when the days start getting shorter, but you don’t have to suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder to understand it. It offers a somber meditation on the emotional weight of time’s passing, suffused with typical Dickinsonian images of light and faith. Here they take on a...
Short and potent as a shot of whiskey, this poem seems to offer something unusual: a portrait of the recluse in love — whether with man, woman, or God. Of course, it would be a mistake to treat any bit of verse as a straightforward autobiography with line breaks. But a poem as sexy as this one, in a bibliography as buttoned-up as Dickinson’s? The t...
Here’s another poem that makes it hard to separate Dickinson the writer from Emily the human being. The poet of paradoxes was herself a paradoxical person. She worked tirelessly, her huge oeuvre suggesting she never suffered from writer’s block. But she had to be cajoled into publishing anything, even without a byline. In light of Dickinson’s famou...
One of literature’s most celebrated homebodies, Dickinson pulls from an architectural lexicon — the language of chambers and gambrels, windows and doors — to express the boundlessness of imagination. Set against Prose, Possibility stands in a metonymic relation to poetry: it’s poetry that gives the speaker her feeling of sky-span limitlessness. Lik...
This death poem treads some of Dickinson’s favorite thematic ground, but with a considerably more caustic wit than many of her other pieces. After all, its speaker isn’t a soul shedding her cloak of mortality — it’s a corpse. Compared to some of her other works, this piece presents death in a way that feels irreverent, almost slapstick. Dying is a ...
Explore the ultimate guide to the most daring and original poet of American literature. From her famous hope poem to her witty self-portrait, discover the best of Emily Dickinson's verses.
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Apr 3, 2024 · 25 Famous Emily Dickinson Poems. “Hope” is the thing with feathers –. That perches in the soul –. And sings the tune without the words –. And never stops – at all –. This Emily Dickinson poem is among her most famous. It reads like a song (characteristic of Dickinson’s poetry).
By Emily Dickinson. Because I could not stop for Death –. He kindly stopped for me –. The Carriage held but just Ourselves –. And Immortality. We slowly drove – He knew no haste. And I had put away. My labor and my leisure too, For His Civility –.
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- A Word Made Flesh Is Seldom (1651) A Word made Flesh is seldom. And tremblingly partook. Nor then perhaps reported. But have I not mistook. Each one of us has tasted.
- Water Makes Many Beds (1428) Water makes many Beds. For those averse to sleep – Its awful chamber open stands – Its Curtains blandly sweep – Abhorrent is the Rest.
- Summer Laid Her Simple Hat (1363) Summer laid her simple Hat. On its boundless Shelf – Unobserved – a Ribbon slipt, Snatch it for yourself. Summer laid her supple Glove.
- As the Starved Maelstrom Laps the Navies (872) As the Starved Maelstrom laps the Navies. As the Vulture teased. Forces the Broods in lonely Valleys. As the Tiger eased.
Learn about the life and poetry of Emily Dickinson, one of America’s greatest and most original poets. Explore her themes, style, influences, and legacy through her biography and selected poems.
Dec 9, 2021 · A personal list of the top 15 poems by Emily Dickinson, based on their popularity and impact. Learn about the poet's life, style, themes, and some of her most famous lines.
