was Emily Dickinson a lesbian?

[WriterDom]

all those dusty poems in a shoe box.

 

[pinksateendream]

Yes! I have found this to be true after completing much research for a class on gender and sexuality. A book you should read is "Homosexual Verse". Here are some examples of Emily's work...

Poetry

Her sweet weight on my Heart a Night
Had scarcely deigned to lie -
When, stirring, for Beliefs delight,
My bride had slipped away - If `twas a Dream - made solid - just
The Heaven to confirm -
Or if Myself were dreamed of Her -
The power to presume - With Him remain - who unto Me -
Gave - even as to All -
A Fiction superseding Faith -
By so much - as `twas real -

A letter to a lover

It's a sorrowful morning Susie--the wind blows and it rains; "into each life some rain must fall," and I hardly know which falls fastest, the rain without, or within--Oh Susie, I would nestle close to your warm heart, and never hear the wind blow, or the storm beat, again. I sthere any room there for me, darling, and will you "love me more if ever you come home"?--it is enough, dear Susie, I know I shall be satisfied. But what can I do towards you?--dearer you cannot be, for I love you so already, that it almost breaks my heart--perhaps I can love you anew, every day of my life, every morning and evening--Oh if you will let me, how happy I shall be!

The precious billet, Susie, I am wearing the paper out, reading it over and o'er, but the dear thoughts cant wear out if they try, Thanks to Our Father, Susie! Vinnie and I talked of you all last evening long, and went to sleep mourning for you, and pretty soon I waked up saying "Precious treasure, thou art mine," and there you were all right, my Susie, and I hardly dared to sleep lest someone steal you away. Never mind the letter, Susie; you have so much to do; just write me every week one line, and let it be, "Emily, I love you," and I will be satisfied!


Your own Emily


From my research, I've personally cocluded that their relationship is beyond "romantic friendship". That is my opinion.... but check out that book and the above and decide for yourself. Have a great day.

 

[Etoile]

Here's an excerpt from the book The Queerest Places:

Emily Dickinson home
280 Main Street
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), preeminent nineteenth-century American poet, rarely left her stately yellow clapboard house in the sleepy town of Amherst. Literary history has portrayed her as a recluse, a pathologically shy spinster, when, in fact, she suffered from Graves' disease, which caused frequent urination and quite possibly the need to stay close to home. A dedicated artist, she enjoyed a full life writing in her second-floor bedroom, where she composed reams of poems that she sewed together into handmade books. When Dickinson died, her sister discovered the books in a bureau drawer and unwittingly took apart the stitching, so the poet's original intent in ordering her manuscripts has been lost.
Dickinson's home is now owned by Amherst College and is open only by appointment. The caretakers of the Dickinson Homestead seem a tad nervous about the suggestion that the great poet was a lesbian - in affectional orientation, if not in actual sexual practice. During the tour, visitors are shown the famous photograph of Emily at age eighteen (the only one in existence), in which she looks ever inch the serious poet. But they also see a retouched photo, in which Emily is burdened with elaborately curled hair and a frilly lace color - a painstaking attempt on the part of the curators to "femme" her up. This is probably how she looked in later life, the guide contends, not as "plain" as in the early photo.
On the tour, there is much discussion about the men in Emily's life - her alleged "gentlemen callers" - and almost nothing about Sue Gilbert, the sister-in-law with whom she shared an ardent daily correspondence via a clothesline connecting their adjacent homes. "If you were here - and Oh that you were, my Susie, we need not talk at all, our eyes would whisper for us, and your hand fast in mine, we would not ask for language." Beloved "Susie" may also have been the subject of some of Emily's passionate poetry. One of Emily's bedroom windows wistfully faces the home Sue shared with Austin Dickinson. Describing Emily's room, your guide will tell you, "There were no closets in the nineteenth century" - ironic, considering how careful the Dickinson caretakers are to "straighten out" Emily!
"Susie, will you indeed come home next Saturday, and be my own again, and kiss me as you used to? ... I hope for you so much and I feel so eager for you, feel that I cannot wait, feel that now I must have you - that the expectation once more to see your face again, makes me hot and feverish." - Emily Dickinson to her sister-in-law, Sue Gilbert Dickinson

It's worth noting that the author of the book (Paula Martinac) has a tendency to stretch a lot, reaching for homosexuality that probably wasn't there. Still, I thought this was an interesting piece on Emily Dickinson.

 

[Queersetti]

I am always hesitant to ascribe sexuality identification to historical figures, particularly those who lived prior to the late 19th century, because our classifications of "homosexual", "heterosexual" and "bisexual" did not exist during their lifetimes, and so, we are often pushing them into a box that they themselves may not have recognized.

For example, every list of famous historic gays is always loaded with the ancient Greeks. This is based on the fact that it was a common custom for the upper classes to have young boys for lovers. However, most of those men also were married and many had female concubines as well. In addition, for an adult man to take the "female" role with another man was considered a great disgrace.

And yet, these men are proclaimed as "gay", when obviously, a more accurate definition of there sexuality would be bisexual, and even that would be in a form different from how we define the term today.

I understand the desire to find antecedants in whom we can take pride, but historical accuracy sometimes suffers in the attempt.

(And I am not saying Emily Dickinson was not a lesbian, merely that we don't know what her sexuality really was, or more importantly, how she would have defined it herself.)

 

[Etoile]

I agree with you competely, Queersetti. There are some that certainly were gay - Oscar Wilde, Walt Whitman - but beyond those who openly acknowledged that they loved the same gender, it's too hard to tell.