The Literature Network - Melville's 'Bridegroom Dick.' (Herman Melville)

Melville's 'Bridegroom Dick.' (Herman Melville)

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From: The Explicator
Date: 19940322
Author:Yoder, Jonathan

Herman Melville used the term 'gay' to refer to homosexuality in 'Bridegroom Dick' written in 1876, long before the first reference to such usage in 1935, as cited by the 'Oxford English Dictionary.' The poem describes a sailor's life at sea with humorous references to the dangers of sodomy on a ship whose sailors have dysentery. The poem presents a positive view of both heterosexual and homosexual love, ending with the sailor assuring his wife of his eternal devotion when she rejects homosexual love.

The troublous colic o' intestine war It sets the bowels o' affection ajar. But, lord, old ...

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