Canal with Early Sun and Emily Dickinson

Yesterday I finished reading the biography of Emily Dickinson by Alfred Habegger, My Wars Are Laid Away in Books. Emily Dickinson was a remarkable person. In a way, she designed her life within its constraints to become a great poet. If she had lived a different life, she might not have written her poems. In one feverish, astonishing year, 1862, by one count, she wrote 356 poems! After she died her sister burned her letters, at Emily's request, and almost burned her poems. In 2000, another photograph of her emerged. You can see it on Wikipedia. The now two existing photographs of her do not reveal that her hair was red.

I am fascinated how she managed to create an independent life, and overcome what seems like an oppressive religious environment. Writing poetry was a means of salvation, maybe her only means.