The Grief of a Mind Giving Way

What was it like to be morphine addicted woman who was committed to an insane asylum in North Carolina in the late 1800s? Sylvia Hoffert has transcribed and edited the poems of Sophia Turner, a Hillsborough housewife, whose husband Josiah Turner, Jr., placed her in the North Carolina Asylum for the Insane in 1878 hoping that the doctors there could cure her addiction. Neglected by Josiah, who virtually abandoned her, Sophia spent many hours before her grated window composing poems that allowed her to explore and reflect on her distressing situation. A sensitive, intelligent, well-educated woman capable of profound introspection, she used the act of creating poetry as an opportunity to discipline her mind, indulge her sensibilities, and engage her imagination.