Wild Nights: Heart Wisdom from Five Women Poets is a lovely collection of poetry from some well-known female poets of the recent (and distant) past, including some of my favorites. This collection focuses on feelings, romance, heartbreak, and other things to do with love and life. In order, the poets included here are:

Sappho: I'd heard the name before, but knew nothing of this most famous Greek poet from more than two thousand years ago. While Sappho's "voice" often varies based on the translator, she still speaks and influences poets and readers after all this time. I wasn't able to get into all of her poetry, but still appreciated the opportunity to read and learn some culture.

Emily Dickinson: I have enjoyed Dickinson's poetry since I was first introduced to it. I really like her penchant for using slant rhymes, and for being short and to the point in her writing. Not all of my favorites were included here, but it's always good to read her again. 

Amy Lowell: Lowell was a poet I have probably heard of but had not been introduced to yet. I don't tend to enjoy free verse as much as form, but I still found some poems that I enjoyed, especially "Fireworks." 

Sara Teasdale: I was introduced to Teasdale's poetry in my poetry writing class in college, and she became one of my favorite poets. This collection included some of my favorites of hers as well as some I hadn't read yet. I love her ability to communicate complicated feelings so clearly, and also the way she often uses aspects of nature to do so. 

Edna St. Vincent Millay: As a fellow Mainer, I was familiar with some of her work and glad to read it again. Much of it struck me as more cynical than I'd noticed before, but maybe it was just these particular selections. There is much here about loss of love as well as a general noncommittal attitude at times. But she expresses feelings so beautifully, whether in sonnets or freer forms. 

The end includes biographies of the poets (or at least what little is known of them, in the case of Sappho). It was interesting to note how Sappho influenced so many of these poets, and even though their styles are different, their "heart wisdom" is very similar.

(Thanks to NetGalley for the review copy.)

Scrounged From: NetGalley

Format: Kindle
Authors: Sappho, Emily Dickinson, Amy Lowell, Sara Teasdale, and Edna St. Vincent Millay, with Lisa Locascio
Pages: 144
Content Advisory: Some poems are romantic/erotic in nature, but not explicit.

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