Emily Dickinson's most famous poems
The top 3 according to 33 votes from people: Because I could not stop for Death · "Hope" is the thing with feathers · I'm Nobody! Who are you?. (Updated Jul 21, 2020.)
The poems by the recluse of Amherst that anthologies and literature sites name again and again. They had no titles: each is known by its first line.
Top 17
-
1
Because I could not stop for Death
A carriage ride with Death as a polite gentleman.
-
2
"Hope" is the thing with feathers
Hope as a little bird that never stops singing.
-
3
I'm Nobody! Who are you?
A playful poem against fame.
-
4
I heard a Fly buzz – when I died
A deathbed scene interrupted by a fly.
-
5
A Bird, came down the Walk
A close look at a bird eating a worm.
-
6
Much Madness is divinest Sense
Society decides who is mad.
-
7
Wild nights – Wild nights!
Her most passionate poem.
-
8
I dwell in Possibility
Poetry as a house with more windows than prose.
-
9
I felt a Funeral, in my Brain
A breakdown described as a funeral.
-
10
Success is counted sweetest
One of the few poems published in her lifetime.
-
11
My Life had stood – a Loaded Gun
One of her most debated and mysterious poems.
-
12
A narrow Fellow in the Grass
An encounter with a snake.
-
13
Tell all the truth but tell it slant
On telling truth indirectly.
-
14
I taste a liquor never brewed
Getting drunk on nature and summer air.
-
15
There's a certain Slant of light
Winter light that weighs on the soul.
-
16
The Brain – is wider than the Sky
The mind as bigger than the universe.
-
17
After great pain, a formal feeling comes
The numbness that follows grief.
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
Is something missing?
Comments (2)
I felt a Funeral in my Brain is the most underrated one here
"Hope" is the thing with feathers was the first poem I ever memorized in school