There is now an Emily Dickinson Digital Archive, where you can see extremely high resolution scans of the original cursive manuscripts of her complete works, published and unpublished, poems completed and poems abandoned. Emily is perhaps the finest lyrical poet in the English language, with the exception of Shakespeare. She shares his extraordinary and sublime ability to capture indelibly the essence of a fleeting mood, of a momentary, almost transcendental, inner state.
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For example below is the link to an early manuscript of one of her most stunningly powerful poems. Once on the page, notice that you can zoom in on the manuscript with such clarity you can almost see the fibers in the paper she used.
Link to Manuscript
In case you have trouble reading her handwriting, here is the printed text.
There's a certain Slant of light,
There's a certain Slant of light,
Winter Afternoons –
That oppresses, like the Heft
Of Cathedral Tunes –
Heavenly Hurt, it gives us –
We can find no scar,
But internal difference –
Where the Meanings, are –
None may teach it – Any –
'Tis the seal Despair –
An imperial affliction
Sent us of the Air –
When it comes, the Landscape listens –
Shadows – hold their breath –
When it goes, 'tis like the Distance
On the look of Death –
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