Educational Media Reviews Online

More than anything else, Words Like Blades: The Life and Work of Emily Dickinson provides a brief introduction to the "feel" of Emily Dickinson's work. The program offers a creative approach to Dickinson's writings by combining short readings from her poetry and letters, various biographical points, and historical photographs interspersed with original visual effects. The final product is an interesting, but confusing, exercise. The information regarding Dickinson's writings is too brief and too incomplete to benefit the viewer academically. Sometimes it is difficult to know what is being read, and whether we are hearing it in total. Although some of the visual effects, particularly the historical photos, can be interesting and informative, they are at times distracting and superfluous.

Perhaps of greatest interest in this program is the biographical information regarding Emily Dickinson. The viewer does get some indication of the isolation in her life, and her solitary commitment to writing. However, the information relayed about her is too abbreviated to provide any significant understand of Dickinson's influences or motivations.

The program reflects high production standards in terms of the audio and video quality. While this reviewer did not find the creative aspects of the visual effects to be particularly interesting, the historic photographs were excellent. The container indicates that the audience level is junior high school through adult. In terms of content complexity this would be accurate.

It is difficult to determine exactly the purpose of the video. The container notes state that "this program is a tribute to Emily Dickinson, a celebration of her perseverance, a testimony to her resolve...the program goes well beyond a historical recounting of her life-from optimistic childhood to resigned adulthood, and allows viewers to truly experience Emily Dickinson..." These remarks could be reflective of the program's intended content, although they are slightly overstated. The program seems too brief and sketchy to offer any kind of academic use, and too narrow and fragmented in its coverage for general interest. Given these considerations, unless the library collection has a strong emphasis on Emily Dickinson, this video is not recommended.