Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)

Valuable, as is the entire series. The pictures are unfortunately, imo, *too* pretty: suitable for nursery decor, they trivialize the poetry.

Also unfortunate is that the poems described as riddles are illustrated by the answers....
No mention is made of her (supposed?) reluctance to publish the poems. The dash at the end of each line is omitted, making for a smoother read, no explanation given for why it sometimes included.

In this volume the introduction serves; each poem stands alone except for the illustrations.

Not my favorite Dickinson collection, nor my favorite of this series, by far.… (more)

This is no [b:Poetry for Young People: Emily Dickinson|598596|Poetry for Young People Emily Dickinson|Emily Dickinson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1344693949l/598596._SX50_.jpg|471778]. I much prefer that series. But this is definitely interesting, if one remembers that there are clues to the meanings of the poems in the back. So many of the poems included here are like riddles, in that the reader is expected to figure out the subject referenced. Definitions of particular words are on the same page, fortunately.

I wonder why the editor left out the poet's famous dashes, though?… (more)

It feels almost like sacrilege to give the great Emily Dickinson anything less than five stars. She is definitely a 5-star poet, but unfortunately, this particular collection doesn't do her justice. I want to know how the poems were selected, first of all. It seems like most of these were fairly obscure as Dickinson poems go; that is, they are not the really really popular ones, not the ones typically featured in "Best of" collections. Why were they picked? Why these? Why only these?

Secondly, while the poems were read very nicely by four different actresses, there was not a lot of time in between poems. The CD went from one to the next rather quickly, and given how short some of these poems are to begin with, it became difficult to absorb them. I wound up pausing a lot in between, or backing up the disc to re-hear certain portions. Possibly this is simply a side effect of the audio format. I'll probably stick to printed poetry from here on in. I also had a hard time understanding all the words, although adjusting the settings on the CD player helped some. With four different readers alternating, each with distinctly different timbres, ranges, and styles, things became difficult. There was no ideal setting on the player to accommodate them all. Finally, I know I'm getting picky now, but I would have liked to know which reader was reading which poem.

The good things: 1) the poems, of course; 2) the readers; 3) the background music, which was wonderful, and which lent a touch of elegance and angst.… (more)