Told by William Sharpless Jackson, the surviving husband of Emily Dickinson's friend, Helen Hunt Jackson, this sensitive, luminous story reveals the life and secret love affair of America's most beloved poet. The narrative is set in late nineteenth century New England, the poet's home, and in San Francisco, the home of the narrator. Basing his thoughts on the diary entries, the correspondence and the miscellaneous notes gathered by H.H., as he calls his departed wife, Jackson continues her biographical efforts and pursues ...
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Told by William Sharpless Jackson, the surviving husband of Emily Dickinson's friend, Helen Hunt Jackson, this sensitive, luminous story reveals the life and secret love affair of America's most beloved poet. The narrative is set in late nineteenth century New England, the poet's home, and in San Francisco, the home of the narrator. Basing his thoughts on the diary entries, the correspondence and the miscellaneous notes gathered by H.H., as he calls his departed wife, Jackson continues her biographical efforts and pursues the elusive truth about this most secluded poet and her life of lonely introspection. With the sympathy of a friend, Jackson asks why Emily withdrew from society, why she refused to publish her poetry, why she insisted on dressing always in white. Was the "lover" in later poems a real man, a clergyman and important public figure? Or did Emily invent him as a poetic symbol for her unfulfilled longings? At the same time, he examines his own marriage and loss, striving to reconcile his own realities with Dickinson's ideals. Shurr, himself a Dickinson scholar, weaves a compelling tale of womanly passions and lyric spirituality. During the forbidden affair, during its painful denouement, after the devastating consequences, Emily funnels excitement, devotion, anger, bereavement, and finally, spiritual redemption and resolution into a flood of new poems--poems that remain hers alone until Jackson discovers them. He finds these secret poems and tells Emily's story to us. Shurr, the author, creates them here in perfect, reverential imitation of her style and voice. The result is vivid, tender, and astonishing.
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