The Complete Poems (Classics)
£6.14
Wild, melancholy, elevating - When Charlotte Bronte accidentally discovered Emily s poems in 1845 she recalled that she thought them condensed and terse, vigorous and genuine. To my ear, they had also a peculiar music - wild, melancholy and elevating. That s still the best criticism of Emily s poetry. There are great rewards here, even though many poems belong to the lost Gondal saga and many more are mere fragments. The notes are informative too, but the poems survive without them. I found some of the editorial decisions odd. The poem Often rebuked is attributed to Charlotte as no manuscript survives of it and it is written in iambic pentameter and Emily only wrote six poems in iambic pentameter. Which seems like a daft conclusion - is she only allowed a quota of six poems in iambic pentameter? Yet it is that poem that provides the best statement of Emily s vision: Often rebuked, yet always back returning/To those first feelings that were born with me.. If the modern world overwhelms you and you want to return to that vision of a purer self you think once existed, tune in to Emily s peculiar music and see where it takes you.
A True Poet - Emily Bronte was the most poetic of the four Bronte siblings who survived their teens. Wuthering Heights is poetic in the intensity of its language, and her poetry is the finest of the four. Frequently melancholy in tone, the emotional content is presented both directly, and through scenic description. The language and content reflect both her upbringing in a pastor s family, and the pathos which began with the loss of her mother at a young age, followed by the loss of the two eldest daughters in their teens. Out of this comes poetry of breathtaking intensity and feeling, coupled with a true poet s skill with language. This edition is painstakingly and lovingly edited and annotated, and the introduction is excellent and the notes are informative. Most of the poems can, however, be read without recourse to the latter. Faber and Faber may rule the roost for 20 century poets, but for older works Penguin rivals Oxford UP for scholarship and Everyman for accessibility.