When I was still quite young, a friend gave me a book of poems that I must confess I struggled with. The poems, written by a woman called Emily Dickinson, were not what I was used to. They did not rhyme and flow easily off the tongue, and they had strange punctuation. It was only many years later, when I was a teen, that I learned about Emily's life and came to appreciate her poetry.
The poems in today's poetry book tell the story of Emily Dickinson's extraordinary life, and I highly recommend it for readers who enjoy poetry and who are drawn to stories about remarkable people.
Jane Yolen
Illustrated by Gary Kelley
Poetry Picture Book
For ages 8 and up
Creative Editions, 2012, 978-1-56846-215-8
Poet Jane Yolen
has long loved the poems written by Emily Dickinson. and she feels a closeness
to Emily even though they live “two towns and slightly more than fifty years
apart.” In this unique book, Jane Yolen tells Emily’s story from six points of
view. We hear the ‘voices’ of Emily, her sister Vinnie, her niece Mattie, her
friend Thomas, an unknown critic, and Jane Yolen herself.
The tale begins
with Emily telling us how “cold as winter’s core” her mother was and how close
Emily was to her older brother and her younger sister. Both her brother, who
“stove so hard my life to save / From drowning in that icy wave,” and her
sister seemed to recognize Emily’s sensitive personality.
From Vinnie we
hear about how Emily scribbles poetry on “chance slips” of paper. In these
poems, “Her perceptions all drawn line by line,” Emily reveals little parts of
herself, but she does not choose to share them with the world.
To Emily’s niece
Mattie, Emily is “Like Queen Mab who endless reigns, / Upon the hillside.” She
is a magical being who is neither an adult nor a child. Emily is the one who
spends time with Mattie and the other children, who gives them treats and takes
their side.
Vinnie is the
one who, when Emily is gone, finds Emily’s poems and decides that they must be
saved and “published for the ages.”
Adults and
children alike will be moved by the power and beauty in these poems. Jane Yolen
captures how Emily felt about her own life, and how others felt about her and
her incredible gift. We see how Emily chose to live a quiet life without a
husband or children, and how much she was loved and admired by those who knew
her. We also appreciate why, to so many, her words are a gift, “a fine
embrace.”
At the back of
the book Jane Yolen provides her readers with further information about Emily
Dickinson’s life, her work, and her legacy.
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