Gifts for Emily Dickinson Fans

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The Poems of Emily Dickinson: Reading Edition

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The Poems of Emily Dickinson (Variorum Edition)

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Twelve Emily Dickinson Bookmarks

The World of Emily Dickinson blasts away the persistent idea that Emily Dickinson was a lonely recluse. In addition to many photographs, there are many facsimile reprints of letters written both by Emily Dickinson and of some notes and letters she received. Hardcover editions are also available.
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The World of Emily Dickinson

I can't resist cutting and pasting from Amazon a review by William Adams of Midland, Texas, because he has also written about Emily Dickinson and because he, too, knows Polly Longsworth. I am a much smaller fry than Adams, but I have found everything he says about Polly to be true, in the short time I've known her:

"You can never go wrong buying a book by Polly Longsworth. Especially if it is about enigmatic, obstinate Emily Dickinson. Ms. Longsworth knows her subject as well as, or better than, any other active Emily Dickinson author. She has a common-sense approach to the famous Emily Dickinson obscurities and mysteries, born of decades of study and the influence of Richard Benson Sewall, the Yale professor and creator of the Pulitzer-prize winning Life of Emily Dickinson in l974. That's the best biography of the poet we have or are ever likely to have.

"Polly writes well and this book shows off the Amherst of Emily Dickinson's era in ways that nicely complement the text and the poetry. She's also a nice person, kind to other Emily Dickinson researchers, both professional and amateur. Not everyone in that specialty qualifies for such a compliment.

"As a person who has written a play about Emily's survivors and how they struggled to get her poems published, I have had reason to correspond with lots of Dickinson buffs over a 20-year period. Polly and Sewall and William Luce, author of the play "Belle of Amherst," made room in their lives for letters from an unknown. Many others did not.

"This book is inexpensive, fortunately, but it is a grand addition to the library of any fan of Emily's. The fact that its creator is also a decent sort is just frosting on the cake."

By Gudrun Grabher, Roland Hagenbuchle and Cristanne Miller
"Here for the first time, students of Emily Dickinson can find a single source of accurate, up-to-date information on the poet's life and works, her letters and mauscripts, the cultural climate of her times, her reception and influence, and the current state of Dickinson scholarship" ~ from the dustjacket.
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The Emily Dickinson Handbook

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White Heat: The Friendship of Emily Dickinson and Thomas Wentworth Higginson, by Brenda Wineapple

Here's the poem from which Ms. Wineapple takes the title:
~ ~
Dare you see a Soul at the "White Heat"?
Then crouch within the door -
Red - is the Fire's common tint -
But when the vivid Ore

Has vanquished Flame's conditions,
It quivers from the Forge
Without a color, but the Light
Of unannointed Blaze.

Least Village boasts its Blacksmith
Whose Anvil's even ring
Stands symbol for the finer Forge
That soundless tugs - within -

Refining these impatient Ores
With Hammer, and with Blaze
Until the Designated Light
Repudiate the Forge -
~ ~

Incredulously -- Sadly, I think this book is out of print, but by going here, you should find some used copies. You'll be so glad you did!! The Undiscovered Continent: Emily Dickinson and the Space of the Mind, by Suzanne Juhasz

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*I was the slightest in the house. *Through Lane it lay--through bramble. *It troubled me as once I was. *The Child's faith is new. *Softened by Time's consummate plush. Papa above! *We talked as girls do. *They shut me up in Prose. *I cried at Pity--not at Pain. *Let Us play Yesterday. *A loss of something ever felt I. *Good Morning--Midnight. *A loss of something ever felt I. *Up Lilfe's hill my little Bundle. *I'm ceded--I've stopped being Theirs. *I was a Phoebe--nothing more. *The Bird her punctual music brings. *The earth has many Keys. *A train went through a burial gate. *The Bobolink is gone. *I cannot dance upon my Toes. *Upon his Saddle sprung a Bird. *Better than Music!--For I--who heard it. *Bind me--I still can sing. *Within my Garden, rides a Bird. *Heart, not so heavy as mine. *I shall keep singing!

White Diadem I reckon--when I count at all. White Diadem I dwell in Possibility. White Diadem The Martyr Poets--did not tell. White Diadem The Poets Light but Lamps. White Diadem I would not paint--a picture. White Diadem To pile Like Thunder to its close. White Diadem Me--come! My dazzed face.

All composed by Leo Smit with Rosalind Rees. Songs for voice & piano by Childe Emilie and Celestial Thrush.
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Leo Smit: 33 Songs on Poems of Emily Dickinson

This edition is an "editors' pick" of poems from the complete poetic work of Emily Dickinson, which are 1,789 poems, written from the time she was a young woman up to near the time of her death. Final Harvest is a wonderful introduction to any new reader.

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Final Harvest: Poems

I've also seen this gift for children presented as an "atta girl" or "atta boy" gift to recognize people who deserve an extra round of applause!
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Emily Dickinson Little Thinker 11" Plush Doll Toy

This is a well researched book of fiction for pre-teens and adolescents. Author Barbara Dana is an actress who sometimes performs the one-woman play, Belle of Amherst, by Henry Luce. In A Voice of Her Own, the "voice" is Dana's imaginary Emily Dickisnon, coming of age and discovering her uniqueness. Her theme is not only resonant with the intended readership, but Dana is especially qualified from having "acted the poet from New England" as a professional.

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A Voice of Her Own: Becoming Emily Dickinson

Oh, how I wish Poetry For Young People: Emily Dickinson had been available when I, or even my children, were small. I suggest it for ages 9 to 12. A child under that age may not enjoy the impact of the poetry. Author/editor, Frances Schoonmaker Bolin. Chi Chung, illustrator.

Adults, too, will like the introduction, with synopsis of the life of Emily Dickinson. Illustrations are detailed and add to children's understanding. In one section of the book are some Emily Dickinson poem-riddles. The drawings give you the answer to those riddles. Helpfully, uncommon words, which may make a poem seem more difficult, are defined. For example, if you don't know offhand that a frigate is a medium-sized warship with sails, or that coursers were graceful, swift horses or runners, you'll find those definitions at the bottom of the page.

Parents and teachers can use this book to bolster their efforts to make reading and poetry essential to their children. The poem below (on page 44 in the book) does just that.

~ ~ ~

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Poetry for Young People: Emily Dickinson

~ ~ ~

There is no Frigate like a Book
To take us Lands away,
Nor any Coursers like a Page
Of prancing Poetry -
This Traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of Toll
How frugal is the Chariot
That bears a Human Soul!

~ ~ ~

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Sighin-Lion plush toy with "My friends are my estate" quote of Emily Dickinson on the little t-shirt