Me & Emily D.

Another reading response for my World Lit. class.

1129

Tell all the Truth but tell it slant —
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth's superb surprise

As Lightning to the Children eased
With explanation kind
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind —

            ~Emily Dickinson

I came across a “Bait/Rebait” argument published in 1982 by the National Council of Teachers of English. The statement debated was: “It is dishonest of English Teachers to ignore the homosexuality of literary figures whose works they teach” The con opinion is barely worth addressing as it quotes a letter to Ann Landers as defense and opens with the argument that “…we know that homosexuality is disapproved of by the majority of taxpayers who support the school.”  The pro opinion written by Richard Follett is based on the premise that “A taboo about the lesbian/gay identity of an author is as imbalanced as a neurotic focus on that single issue…Surrendering to deception so we will not be thought different from others negates the pursuit of truth embedded in teaching literature. The writers who have produced the literature we teach deserve to have the truth shared about their lives. We have no other moral option but to side with the truth openly” (Follett and Larson). That truth, however, even in 2016, “must dazzle gradually.”

In 1982, I was finishing my undergraduate degree, heading into a teaching career, and was about to finally come out of the closet. My first partner was an English teacher who introduced me to a canon of lesbian literature starting with Radclyffe Hall’s classic The Well of Loneliness. She, of course, did not offer this canon to her high school students anymore than she discussed Walt Whitman’s homosexual orientation in relation to his poetry or I discussed AIDS in my health classes. AlthoughThe Well of Loneliness, written in 1928, did not reflect my internal landscape (aka Butch/Femme paradigm or sexual invert), here was a character in a book who felt what I felt, experienced societal and familial rejection for those feelings just as I did. For the first time in my reading life I heard MY heart beat and break on the page. I found my people not only in the characters, but the author and her associates. I found MY history, MY culture, MY place, MY voice.

The LGBT voice is frequently silenced, particularly in the public schools. The political, literary, artistic, and social contributions of LGBT persons are often excluded, distorted, or censored from school texts/curriculum. This gap in history sends the message that the LGBT story is one of inferiority – it doesn’t count in the national narrative, leading LGBT youth to conclude they don't matter. Identity is formed from a shared narrative, a common history. Keeping this subject matter out of textbooks and discussions offends the dignity of LGBT children. Oregon school districts have made strides in the formation of Gay Straight Alliances and anti-discrimination practices. However, nationally, 64% of LGBT youth still feel unsafe at school due to sexual orientation or gender identity. Many report that the school made no effort to respond effectively to harassment.

While national acceptance of LGBT-identified people is on the rise, a study by The Human Rights Campaign reported 92% of LGBT youth still hear negative slurs about them at school, on the Internet, or from their peers. Additionally, 73% of LGBT youth say they are more honest online than in the real world - suggesting a need to remain anonymous in pursuit of self-expression. In an article in the Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide, author Henri Cole (Middle Earth) was asked what elements of his gay identity might contribute to his unique literary voice. He responded, “I think my love of simile is connected to homosexuality. Nothing is ever exactly itself, like me” (Hennessy). When I read that, I thought immediately of Emily D.’s line, “Tell all the Truth but tell it slant.” How many years did I circumloquaciously circumnavigate the truth of my identity, my voice? How fearful was I of the brightness of that voice, that truth?

Was Miss Emily gay? Her orientation will forever be a mystery to us all, but there is no question she had a Sapphic relationship with her neighbor and sister-in-law Susan Huntington. In 1998 I fell upon a collection of her letters and poems to Susan in a book titled Open Me Carefully. The work is classic Emily with its dashes and unconventional capitalization. It’s also filled with universal wisdom, social context of her day, and passion. Where would I be today if this poem was included in my English class along with all the other love poems of the traditional canon?

Sweet Sue,

There is
no first, or last,
in Forever —
It is Centre, there,
all the time —
To believe — is enough,
and the right of
supposing —
Take back that 
"Bee" and "Buttercup" —
I have no Field
for them, though
       for the Woman
whom I prefer,
Here is Festival —
When my Hands
are Cut, Her
fingers will be 
found inside —
Our beautiful Neigh-
bor "moved" in May —
It leaves an
Unimportance.
Take the Key to 
the Lily, now, and
I will lock the Rose — (Hart and Smith 130)

Works Cited

Follett, Richard J. and Larson, Rayna. “Bait/Rebait: It is Dishonest of English Teachers to Ignore the Homosexuality of Lierary Figures Who Works They Teach.” The English Journal Vol. 71. No. 4 (Apr., 1982): 18-21. Jstor. Web. 27 June 2016.

Hart, Ellen Louise and Smith, Martha Nell. (ed.) Open Me Carefully. Massachusettes: Paris Press, 1998. Print.

Hennessy, Christopher. “Ten Ways of Looking at Gay Poetry.” The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide12:5 (2005): 10. GenderWatch. Web. 26 June 2016.