Born in Amherst, MA, Emily Dickinson is a major star of the poetic pantheon. She is a charter member in the Academy of the Immortals. There are many speculative biographies which try to parse her personhood -- but the important thing is her legacy -- of poems.
Dickinson defined poetry this way: “If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can warm me I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only way I know it. Is there any other way?"
Strangely, and wonderfully, we live in the Age of Project Gutenberg. Many of E.D.'s poems are available on P.G. and other online sites. If you are particularly taken with her, the best collection is The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson edited by Thomas H. Johnson. The editors of many of the other Dickinson collections change her quirky punctuation and capitalizations, and, imho, detract from the essence of the poems.
Perhaps, the best introduction to her poems was penned by E.D. ~ 1862:
This is my letter to the World,That never wrote to me, --
The 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
There are many editions you could get, however, I'd recommend "The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson edited by T.H. Johnson (1775 poems).
Here are some online resources:Project Gutenberg
Bartleby.com
Please go to "From an Ample Nation" for a few poems we may consider.
The Emily Dickinson Museum is around an hour from Williamstown.
The Emily Dickinson Electronic Archives are worth perusing.
Facsimilie and Poem
Wild Nights -- Wild Nights!
Were I with thee,
Wild Nights should be
Our luxury!
Futile -- the winds --
To a Heart in port —
Done with the ompass --
Done with the Chart!
Rowing in Eden --
Ah! the sea!
Might I but moor -- Tonight --
In Thee!
See Selected Emily Dickinson Poems.
For care givers, this is ineffably beautiful and True!
If I can stop one Heart from breaking
I shall not live in vain
If I can ease one Life the Aching
Or cool one Pain
Or help one fainting Robin
Unto his Nest again
I shall not live in Vain
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