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Following is a short "read and respond" paper I had to do for a low-level English course. The teacher's pretty laid back, so I though I'd have fun with it. For those of you who might be unfamiliar with the works cited, I will include them at the end. (Click
here to see the full-length term-paper I wrote and
turned in a week later.)
--Scott
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"Wild Nights -- Wild Nights" is often touted as Emily Dickinson's lone erotic piece, but this is an error. Ironically, this oversight has happened not because critics have set their sights too high -- but too low. Those who think the virgin spinster incapable of so much as a PG-13 thought may argue on and on about whether "Wild Nights" is an erotic poem or not -- but by failing to look at the possibility that dear, sweet, retiring Emily might be even naughtier than they are, they have missed the obvious: Emily Dickinson was an aficionado of what is in modern parlance called BD/SM: sado-masochism.
In her poem "I like a Look of Agony" Dickinson says it plainly: She likes the look of
agony, finds appeal in the face of a man in pain. This is a common thought in the BD/SM community, that in some cases true beauty only comes to the surface when the masochist, or "bottom," is in bondage, or being spanked, or whipped. Dickinson says it is the only unfeigned expression a human has. Obviously she is at least conceptually a Dominatrix, or "top."
In her poem "My Life stood -- a Loaded Gun" Dickinson shows herself to be what those in the know would call a "switch:" someone who can be both Top and Bottom. In this poem she describes herself as needing to be owned and used -- typical thoughts of the masochist.
Whether Dickinson ever acted out these fantasies we shall never know, but modern BD/SM apologists would say that this in no way lessens he claim on the lifestyle. It was in her blood, and virgin though she may have been, she was in attitude and in her heart both a dominatrix and a submissive. This double nature within her fantasy life was also expressed quite succinctly in her "I felt a cleaving in my mind," and had she the resources of the modern kinky woman, she could have had a much more fulfilling fantasy life, instead of having to shut herself up and live vicariously through her poetry. It's a pity, really, that she was born in such a Puritan time -- judging by her portrait, she probably would have looked quite fetching with her hair tied back severely and wearing a leather corset and fishnet hose. A riding crop, I think, would be the preferred accessory, and stiletto heels. Much more appealing than her famed white dresses.
Ah, well, such is the human condition that we must sometimes suffer simply through an accident of being born into the wrong era, or region, or family. Perhaps we can hop that she has been reincarnated into modern-day Los Angeles, where she could be truly happy in a dungeon of her own.
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Wild Nights -- Wild Nights!
Were I with thee
Wild Nights should be
Our luxury!
Futile -- the Winds --
To a Heart in Port --
Done with the Compass --
Done with the Chart!
Rowing in Eden --
Ah, the Sea!
Might I but moor -- Tonight --
In Thee!
(1861)
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I like a look of Agony
Because I know it's true --
Men do not sham Convulsion,
Nor simulate, a Throe --
The Eyes glaze once -- and that is Death --
Impossible to feign
The Beads upon the Forehead
By homely Anguish strung.
(1861)
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[sorry, "My Life stood -- a Loaded Gun" is unavailable at this time]
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I felt a Cleaving in my Mind --
As if my Brain had split --
I tried to match it -- Seam by Seam --
But could not make them fit.
The thought behind, I strove to join
Unto the thought before --
But Sequence ravelled out of Sound
Like Balls -- upon a Floor.
(1864)
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PS: that last line is obviously a CBT reference!
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