was Emily Dickison really a lesbian?

[tan man]

was Emily Dickinson really a lesbian? why are the critics trying to link her with homosexuality? was she not homosexual? how can we interpret her poems of such implicatons like e.g. (To have a Susan of my own)?in which she states,"To have a Susan of my own
Is in itself a bliss."
are there any possibly different interpetations?
CAN ANYBODY,PLEASE, SAY YES OR NO OR SOMETHING?

[Logos]

Maybe you could provide some sources for this theory?

[FirecrackerX]

(Ahem, before I start I want to apologize in advance for any mistake in my writing, because I'm spanish and sometimes I tend to do crap with english. I'll try my best. Have mercy on me).

It's awfully difficult to answer to your question. I've been sinking my nose
almost everyday in Emily Dickinson's work, biographies, essays, etc. for some years now.
It's complicated to decide if she should be called a lesbian, given that the word 'lesbian' did not even exist at her time. What she had with Susan Gilbert was called a 'passionate friendship', and it was quite frequent at the time. It seems pretty obvious that Emily had feelings (of the romantic and sexual kind) towards Susan, thought we do not know (and probably never will) if they were lovers of the physical kind. The only thing we know for sure is that Emily's poems and letters to Susan were passionate (even a little more passionate than a normal 'passionate friendship').
If you need more information or further explanation on the Emily/Susan relationship (because, yes, that's plain, there was a relationship, indeed) you can contact me. Talk about Emily it will always be my pleasure :)

[godhelpme2]

I don't know exactly Dickinson's love toward Susan though they had always keeping in touch with each other through affectionate letters full of passion and emotion. Dickinson herself may be bewilded by this question also. But i really think critics don't have to interprete this private relationship but rather focus on her exquisite works and find more valuable things.

[FirecrackerX]

I do totally agree with godhelpme2, but I think sometimes it's important to understand the life and feelings of the authors to fully enjoy their works, and to me, Emily is one of those.

[Logos]

Actually the word lesbian did exist in Dickinison's time.

From the Online Eymology Dictionary:
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?l=l&p=5

lesbian (adj.)
1591, from L. Lesbius, from Gk. lesbios "of Lesbos," Gk. island in northeastern Aegean Sea, home of Sappho, great lyric poet whose erotic and romantic verse embraced women as well as men, hence meaning "relating to homosexual relations between women" (1890; lesbianism in this sense is attested from 1870) and the noun, first recorded 1925.....

[FirecrackerX]

Sorry, you're right, the word did exist. I just meant that it was not of popular use to refer to homosexual women. The word got popular use with the first feminist wave, if I do recall correctly. It was no usual to hear the word 'lesbian' applied to sapphist in Dickinson's time, that's all ^^U

[Virgil]

Is there any evidence for this? I have heard many 19th century writers who supposedly had homosexual desires. Melville, Thoreu and even Abraham Lincoln. Now come on. I think the nature of friendship was expressed differently in the 19th century and some people see homoerotic in that expression. One can look at Twain's Huck Finn and Nigger Jim's relationship and suspect homosexuality. But that's wrong. I suspect the same misinterpretation is going around on Emily Dickenson's friendship. The only 19th century writer who I would agree was probably homosexual is Walt Whitman. And even there it's not clear cut.

[Sin of Red]

Well, we don't have actual truth of homosexuality, but neither do we have facts on heterosexuality, it may just be another rumor started by somone somwhere. We have notes here an there that she had "relations" with somone of the opposite sex, it says so on her biography, but perhaps theres no truth. We may never know! Sorry, here it is: No, I don't think she was, she might of "experimented" but I don't beleive it was anything long term.

[hellsapoppin]

Miss Emily supposedly had some romantic aspirations for a pastor named Wadsworth who moved West after he married.


Therafter. she wore white for much of her later adult life symbolizing unfulfilled matrimonial aspirations. At least this is the interpretation made by some commentators of her actions based on past readings that I have made.

I dont recall any specific references in her poems which denote Sapphic experiences or desires.

[ScribbleScribe]

Wikipedia has a section on Emily Dickinson and Sue Gilbert if you look up Romantic Friendship:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romantic_friendship#Emily_Dickinson_and_Sue_Gilber t

[signelect]

In my opinion, think it was more admiration than anything else; Susan was just someone Emily seem to be comfortable with. Writing her hundreds of letters, allowing Susan in her seclusive life.

[Jassy Melson]

I think a lot of people have too much time on their hands. What would it signify if it became known that Dickinson had lesbian experiences? The answer is it would signify nothing.

[OrphanPip]

From reading Emily Dickinson's letters, I get the impression that this was a person who probably wasn't totally capable of carrying on healthy social relationships of any kind. Her letters are so bizarre that it's hard to think of her as anything other than a strange woman suffering from some severe social anxiety.

[Ecurb]

I just started a new biography of Dickinson called "Lives like Loaded Guns", by Lyndall Gordon. I'm only a couple of chapters in -- but already it's clear that Dickinson's life was influenced by her brother's wife, Susan, and her brother's lover, Mabel Todd. Susan apparently had good literary taste and encouraged Dickinson's genius. Emily and her sister Livonia (?) lived in the Dickinson family home and her Brother Austen and Susan lived next door.

In addition, Dickinson was epileptic, which may have been one reason for her reclusive life. I'll report back when I read further (half of the book is apparently about the family feud that continued after Emily's death). The title of the biography, by the way quotes from this poem:

“My Life had stood — a Loaded Gun —
In Corners — till a Day
The Owner passed — identified —
And carried Me away"