Homosexual References In Emily Dickinson's Work

The Victorian Female Friendship and Homosexual References in Emily Dickinson's Work

While some might believe that Dickinson is a chaste and eclectic hermit from New England, I found her work to be saturated in oblique (by today's standards) sexual references, many of which would be referred to today as lesbian. Homosexual imagery is not what typically comes to mind when thinking of works by Emily Dickinson, but I found that element to be present while reading select poetry and letters from her repertoire.

Ongoing debate seems to be centered on the nature and commonality of romantic friendships, and the extent to which female interrelations must progress before acquiring the nomenclature of "lesbian." I tend to agree with Lillian

Dickinson writes in a letter to Susan:

"when he said 'Our Heavenly Father,' I said 'Oh Darling Sue'; when he read the 100th Psalm, I kept saying your precious letter all over to myself, and Susie, when they sang—it would have made you laugh to hear one little voice, piping to the departed. I made up words and kept singing how I loved you, and you had gone while all the rest of the choir were singing Hallelujahs. I presume nobody heard me, because I sang so small, but it was a kind of comfort to think I might put them out, singing of you. (Dickinson 2936)

Reciting a letter from Sue within her heart inappropriately during religious worship, singing quietly words of praise and worship to Susan during the same service, not only rank Susan above all others as far as preference, it places her as a deity above Dickinson's god. Dickinson furthers this by the grammatical comparison of "Our Heavenly Father" and "Oh Darling Sue," the former of the two commonly capitalized, the later punctuated and emphasized by capitalization and implied

This is probably because female sexuality was a vice, not a virtue, and was considered low and debasing (Faderman 151). Dickinson sees this secretive "burden" (line 13) as necessary, but painful, associating it with religious significance as a crown of "Thorns". She distinguishes herself by being proud of her affections nonetheless, by a "Diadem" of royal standing. This also bears religious significance, as Christ is often symbolized with regal adornments post resurrection--"sunset" in Dickinson's case. Dickinson's work and her "Secret" are subject to conjecture mainly because the changing sensibilities concerning sexuality and the popularization of Freudian principles that stigmatized these intense relations between women, made the subject of her poetry scandalous at the time when her niece, and Gilbert's daughter, Martha Dickinson Bianchi sought to publish them (Faderman 174). This convergence led to a slash and burn style of editing that replaced pronouns and names with ambiguities and masculine references where there they other wise may not have