More Agoraphobia

Susan Howe (My Emily Dickinson) on Emily Dickinson and others:

"Jonathan Edwards, Emily Bronte, and Emily Dickinson looked into the core of eternal destruction. They greeted what they saw with affirmation and elation" (114).

"Dickinson was expert in standing in corners, expert in secret listening and silent understanding. Bristling with Yankee energy, chained to an increasingly demanding agoraphobia, she moved through that particular mole of nature in her--she studied Terror" (116).

Which explains why I like open spaces, long vistas, the room to breathe and maneuver. I, too, have stood in corners: but what interested me were the walls, not necessarily the actions contained within the walls.

So I misread Dickinson all the time: I am interested in misunderstanding her metaphors: the woods aren't "Sovreign" to me.