Customer Reviews

The Complete Poems of Emily Jane Bronte

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Emily Bronte's poetry is wild and beautiful. Ranging between gentle melancholy to fierce pride, her poems successfully capture human emotion. Many of her poems are about, or written from the viewpoint of the inhabitants of, the fictional kingdom of Gondal. Although these are set in an imaginary land, the Gondal poems stand well alongside the more personal verse. This particular volume is valuable because it includes a description and history of the Gondal saga Emily and her sister Anne created. It is often hard, in other collections, to tell which is personal and which is fictional, but here the Gondal poems are listed. This is very useful to those who wish to study this creation of the Bronte imagination. Also useful is the the chronological order of the poems (as far as can be determined), which makes it easy to follow her development as a poet. I recommend it highly.

Few who read Emily Bronte's poems and magnificent novel, Wuthering Heights, can fail to be moved by the sheer power of her language and insight. Though her tragic early death robbed the world of countless literary treasures, EJB's poetry here provides plenty of beautiful poetry (some of it foreshadowing WH) for those who love her to enjoy and study. Read it and savor it.

I recommend this volume of poetry to any Emily Bronte fan. I own a copy of this collection of poetry. I can certainly see traces of Wuthering Heights in these poems. My favorite poem (besides the Gondal poems) is a chilling account of a dark young man coming to a family's home for dinner. I'm not sure if the young man is human, ghost, or demon, but if you read this poem in this amazing collection you can judge for yourself. Also at the begining is an informative essay on the Gondal poems. I suggest that one should read that before beginning the poems because it is most helpful. Again this is a must-read book.

C.W. Hatfield clearly did his homework--he picked through private collections and sorted through letters to discover which poems were Emily's and which were Charlotte's re-writes. Although a bit confusing at first, once one understands the system, it is an enlightening read.

its just so beautiful! i imagine if everyone could embrace the power that we see in this book, would be a better wworld!! the wild, the life (another one), the love and care is just some words that keep us close to emily's poems. if you dont have, need to!

Excellent timing, the book was for my sister and her 24th birthday. She was an English major in college and loves the writer.