Maggie M.’s CS for March 25

The selection of poems that we were assigned to read today show some interesting themes in Emily Dickinson’s poetry. Among the various Death-centered and religious (despite her agnostic beliefs) ones, I started to notice that many of Dickinson’s poems hinted at her theorized homosexuality- especially with her relationship to Sue. Along with this, many of her works question women’s gender roles, both in domestic and societal respects; this further suggests that her preference for female company may have less to do with platonic friendships than we may have initially thought.

To begin with, in poem 185, which begins, “A Wife – at Daybreak – I shall be – / Sunrise – Hast Thou a Flag for me?” (lines 1-2), Dickinson creates what some interpret as the narrative of a woman to be wed in the morning against her own volition. This is suggested by the “Flag” that could be a white flag of surrender. But who is surrendering to whom? Is the speaker surrendering to daybreak and her imminent wedding, or is the sunrise surrendering to the speaker’s wishes (which could suggest a whole other direction of the poem- *ahem* Death)? Now, we know that Dickinson herself was never married, nor did she want to be, which begs the question: Why did she write this poem? Was she writing it during a time in her life where she felt trapped within society’s demands to marry because she fit their description of a woman (which basically equates to “wife and mother” in her time)? Maybe she was writing in the perspective of one of her friends, such as Sue, since we know her marriage to Austin wasn’t the happiest. This could also be supported in letter 93, where Emily tells Sue, “How dull our lives must seem to the bride, and the plighted maiden…but to the wife, Susie, sometimes the wife forgotten, our lives perhaps seem dearer than all others in the world” (L93), in reference to their freedom and independence as single women at the time. Regardless, poem 185’s unorthodox approach to marriage seems to suggest its constricting and even tortuous nature, where the speaker of the poem wishes for her wedding day to never come. The speaker appears to be most anxious about the consummation of the wedding, suggested in both stanzas, where in the first, “At Midnight – I am yet a Maid – / How short it takes to make it Bride – ” (lines 3-4), while in the second, “I fumble at my Childhood’s Prayer – / So soon to be a Child – no more – ”  (lines 9-10). This second pair of lines suggests that the time of making the marriage “official” is drawing near, ridding the speaker of her innocence and purity despite her desires to remain as such. One reason for her uninterest in this moment, and the marriage could be due to her homosexuality and desire to be with a woman instead of a man.

Another poem in which Dickinson’s sexuality is brought into question, alongside gender roles, would be poem 194, “Title divine, is mine”,  where the speaker’s role as wife is put into a religious context to further make the point. The beginning four lines suggest that the speaker could be married to an important religious figure, as she is, “The Wife without the Sign- ” with “Acute Degree conferred on me – ” (lines 2-3), meaning she feels great pressure to live up to the expectations placed on her due to her station in society. Dickinson’s sexuality similarly comes into play as she states, “Betrothed, without the Swoon / God gives us Women – / When You hold Garnet to Garnet – ” (lines 5-7), further implying that her love and affection for women, symbolized by garnets, is more rewarding for her than being in a marriage she seems to have been forced into. Lastly, this poem ends with mentioning, “‘My Husband’ – Women say / … Is this the way – ” (lines 13-15), which, to me, feels more like a rhetorical question in which the speaker asks if the heteronormative way of society (and the Bible) that tells her women must love only men is the right and only option.

As I mentioned before, most of the other poems that were assigned to us for last class mention wives, women, and femininely domestic roles in some way or another. Knowing that Dickinson’s sexuality is still debated today, a lot of these poems also show us a more intimate side to her relationship with other women, which could point to some homosexual interpretations. But maybe that’s just me! What do you guys think? Who do you think the speakers of these poems are, Dickinson, or some other persona she created? Do you think there are clues to her views on gender norms and/or homosexuality?