- Title: Selected Poems & Letters of Emily Dickinson
- Editor: Robert N. Linscott
- Year Published: First edition:1959/This edition: ???? (An Anchor Book)
- Year Purchased: 2001/2002
- Source: This was a hand-me-down from a long-time friend.
- About: If Emily Dickinson was alive and writing today, she would probably blog her poetry under a pseudonym. Since she was born in 1830, she composed reams of golden verse and hoarded them away in dark bureau corners. After she confined herself to home-a situation that was gradual, and not a fierce, sudden statement-she kept up with the outside world via the epistolary arts. Letters make the best (auto)biographies. They are a time capsule, a locus for self-mythology and the only genuine source of a person’s thoughts, feelings and actual opinions. For these reasons, I have long loved volumes with the chutzpah and heart (not to mention access to original material) to combine professional output with personal words. This book is a winner all around.
- Motivation: Emily Dickinson is one of my preferred poets. Neruda is always and ever in the top spot, but she holds a place of honour in the court.
- Times Read: Cover-to-cover:2/Random poems: countless
- Random Excerpt/Page 288: “You wonder why I write so. Because I cannot help. I like to have you know some care-so when your life gets faint for its other life, you can lean on us. We won’t break, Mary. We look very small, but the reed can carry weight.”
- Happiness Scale: 10+++
Ubiquitous Emily Dickinson photo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
A Small Press Life: Books. Art. Writing. Life. Tea.
Not just a blog, a philosophy
A Small Press Life: Books. Art. Writing. Life. Tea. 
10+++!!! I love Dickinson. I sorta believe she had an anxiety disorder. It would explain the agoraphobia.
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I love her, too. She obviously had issues, in the plural. I wouldn’t be surprised if anxiety was part of the mix, although not the only ingredient. Different time, different place, different expectations and circumstances. Still, that isn’t enough to explain away her gradual shrinking from the world…
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