The Life of Emily Dickinson.

• Author: Kreyche, Gerald F.

THE LIFE OF EMILY DICKINSON BY ALFRED HABEGGER RANDOM HOUSE 2001, 765 PAGES, $35.00

The trials of a biographer are numerous, and they are multiplied when the subject of that work is a poet--especially one such as Emily Dickinson, who fits the Churchillian description of a "mystery wrapped in an enigma." Characterized as "an eccentric, a recluse, a romantic, and early feminist," she was each of those, but more. Alfred Habegger, a retired professor of literature from the University of Kansas, has produced an outstanding work on Dickinson, one of America's favorite poets. Experts will have to make the judgment, but the biography appears to be definitive.

Immediate problems faced by a biographer are how to interpret the metaphoric language used in poetry, which offers a wealth of possibilities. Are the passages autobiographical, and, if so, by accident or intent, or just the musings of a sensitive soul? Further, does the poet, perhaps like the writer, write for himself or herself or for the reader?

Emily Dickinson was born in Amherst, Mass., in 1830 and resided there most of her life. She attended the school of Amherst as well as that of Holyoke Female Seminary, and she experienced a case of severe homesickness at the latter. Most of the educational institutions of the time were religiously oriented and highly orthodox. Dickinson breathed in that air and the push and pull of religion. In fact, some of the passages of her poems almost read like the writings of religious women, such as St. Theresa of Avila. After Dickinson's education, she almost never...