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katherinechase's review
2.0
I was unimpressed with Vendler’s commentaries. They felt dull and hostile. Vendler does not allow the poems to speak for themselves, rather, she imposes a rather bleak outlook onto them. She also often states the ridiculously obvious. I would much rather read Dickinson herself than Vendler.
davidsteinsaltz's review
5.0
This may be the most wonderful book I’ve ever read. A master class in poetry with Emily Dickinson as the subject. 150 poems, each with a short essay. Each little essay is a gem: The utterly obscure poems have their compressed significance unpacked, and poems that seemed superficially comprehensible reveal new levels. And the cumulative effect is overwhelming.
seeyf's review against another edition
4.0
Dickinson’s poems rarely exceed a page, but an infinite wealth of experiences are packed into her terse, sometimes enigmatic lines (as suggested by her poem “Ashes denote that Fire was”). This is where Vendler comes in: her extensive knowledge and careful analysis expands Dickinson’s compressed wordplay and provides context to her sometimes obscure biblical or 19th century references. Vendler allows us to reconstruct the burning fires behind Dickinson’s writing. Her existentialist thoughts, her agnostic attitude towards Christianity, the search for truth, her frustration at the many confines that came with being a woman, her love of nature and her intensely emotional mental states from despair to desire and delight — the continued relevance of all these topics today showcase a writer ahead of her time.
tywissman's review against another edition
medium-paced
2.0
This is the score that I give when anyone cites a Freudian anecdote. Grow up.
davidsteinsaltz's review against another edition
5.0
This may be the most wonderful book I’ve ever read. A master class in poetry with Emily Dickinson as the subject. 150 poems, each with a short essay. Each little essay is a gem: The utterly obscure poems have their compressed significance unpacked, and poems that seemed superficially comprehensible reveal new levels. And the cumulative effect is overwhelming.
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