'The inundation of the Spring
Enlarges every Soul -
It sweeps the - tenement - away
But leaves the Water whole -
In which the Soul at first estranged -
Seeks faintly for it's shore -
But acclimatised - pines no more
For that Peninsula.'
Emily Dickinson (No 1423)
One of my favourites and why have I only just noticed that perfectly placed apostrophe and the difference that makes to the meaning?
Just to let you know, early days but it's happening here in the Northern hemisphere because we've just been for a walk and spotted these...
Any early signs where you are?
And early signs on the reading front because you know that feeling when you realise you're reading a winner?
I am really, really, really enjoying the new biography of Emily Dickinson, Lives Like Loaded Guns, Emily Dickinson and Her Family's Feuds by Lyndall Gordon.
I knew only the basics but Lyndall Gordon has made this into something of a page-turner, an honest and astute, gradual delineation of Emily's character which allows me some room for manouevre too. Space to indulge in some of the might-Emily-have-been-like-this-because-of-that thinking and where the biographer has to defer to the evidence-based information and ration their guesses, I can guess and surmise to my heart's content and I am.
I'm sure Virago also realised that this beautiful hardback edition would match my beloved volume of The Poetry of Emily Dickinson to perfection; same size and weight, same superb paper quality, everything about it makes me want to sing, but I think I've done enough of that this weekend.
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