My Life Had Stood a Loaded Gun

3.5 stars because she’s so real for this

"My life had stood a loaded gun
In corners, till a day
The owner passed — identified
And carried me away"

I used to think I'm not much of a poetry-kind-of-person, but now I reckon that's up to the writer (and writing, of course). That's my first time reading Emily Dickinson, and I'm in absolute awe! She's just so raw and pure in her thoughts (maybe due to the fact that she wrote for herself and not for others to see) that I could actually feel related to some passages without even knowing the reason why!

Though I than he may longer live,
He longer must than I,
For I have but the art to kill—
Without the power to die

There's so much anger held back to the point it detonates in her creations RIGHT ON MY FACE—and I loved it. The thing is that not all poems were understandable to me. Some I needed to research the context or what she meant, others I found nothing to be discussed or just didn't catch my eye.

this was an interesting introduction to her writing i didn’t realize she loved death so much

because i could not stop for death is so beautiful

Insgesamt befürchte ich, nicht den richtigen Zugang oder Zeitpunkt zum Lesen der Gedichte gewählt zu haben. Vielleicht liegt mein fehlendes Verständnis bzw. Meine fehlende Begeisterung auch an den Gedichten selbst, aber ich kann mir vorstellen, dass sie illustriert oder rezitiert besser rübergekommen wären. So aber, fand ich nur eine handvoll an Versen wirklich gut. Die zwei Spitzenreiter dabei waren 'I felt a funeral in my brain' und 'How dreary to be somebody! How public, like a frog'.

Some of the poems that appear in this edition are different than the ones I remember from uni (missing stanzas and changed words) what the heck gorgeous poems tho!

To-day or this noon She dwelt so close I almost touched her; Tonight she lies Past neighbourhood - And bough and steeple - Now past surmise That’s kinda gay

'Was it Goliath was too large, or only I too small?': I feel this every single day. The doubt that comes when you use your power and energy and all the courage, but it's you who fall: was it the problem too hard to pass through, or is it just me who don't really have what it takes? She's crazy lyrical and would be a great rapper. Didn't get all the references, so I think I need to read this more times, more calmly.