Poems

The verses of Emily Dickinson belong emphatically to what Emerson long since called "the Poetry of the Portfolio," — something produced absolutely without the thought of publication, and solely by way of expression of the writer's own mind. Such verse must inevitably forfeit whatever advantage lies in the discipline of public criticism and the enforced conformity to accepted ways. On the other hand, it may often gain something through the habit of freedom and the unconventional utterance of daring thoughts. In the case of the present author, there was absolutely no choice in the matter; she must write thus, or not at all. - T. W. Higginson After her death, friends of Emily’s compiled her poems and had them printed in three small volumes that sold and sold and sold. My parents, grandparents and great-grandparents loved these poems as presented by her friends. In the mid-20th century, two generations and two world wars after her death, the academic community declared that these friends of Emily did not know what they were doing, and proceeded to re-write her history and her poems to fit their pre-conceived ideas of her work. We present these poems as they originally appeared to the public who truly loved and admired her work. Her three books as presented between 1890-1896: Poems (1890) Poems Series Two (1891) Poems Series Three (1896)