“A – Not only those of most original thought, but expressed in the best form…B, those with striking ideas, but with too many of her peculiarities of construction to be used unaltered for the public, and C, those I considered too obscure or too irregular in form for public use, however brilliant and suggestive.”
Todd sorted the poems and sent them to Higginson for review.
“I can’t tell you how much I am enjoying the poems,” he wrote to Todd.
In particular, Higginson loved “Glee! The great storm is over.” Plus, in a short letter to Todd in December 1989, he wrote, “I am at work with many interruptions on those poems; have gone through B and transferred about 20 to A (we must have that burglary).”
That poem is “I know some lonely houses off the road.”
And so we come to 1890, the year the first edition of Dickinson’s poems was published (HERE) The book included 116 poems – and both of Higginson’s favorites were included.