One day is there of the series

Emily Dickinson was born in 1830 and died in 1886. She lived most of her life in Amherst, Massachusetts, in a quiet household, and wrote nearly eighteen hundred poems, only a few of which appeared in print while she was alive. After her death, her sister discovered the manuscripts, and selections were published in several volumes during the 1890s.

Dickinson’s poems are short, often built from four-line stanzas, and marked by dashes, unexpected capital letters and daring leaps of thought. Her subjects are large, such as time, death, nature and faith, but they are approached through small and exact images. She has become one of the most admired American poets, and her strangeness is now seen as a great strength.

This recording is part of the LibriVox weekly poetry project for the week of 25 November 2007, in which volunteers each record the same poem. There are six readings here, one for each chapter, and the whole takes about six minutes. It is perhaps the shortest way to spend time with Dickinson, and a good opportunity to notice how much depends on the reader’s breath and pace. You can hear all six in order, or return to the one that suits you best. If you are new to her work, it makes a pleasant first meeting, and for long-time readers it offers a new set of voices. The poem’s brevity does not make it simple. Each of the six readers finds a slightly different meaning in its few lines, and the contrasts are a reminder that Dickinson’s poetry leaves room for the listener’s own thoughts. It is a modest but rewarding use of a few minutes.