Paul Knobel: English Homosexual Poetry

English, an *Indo–European language, is the main spoken language in Great Britain. Via British colonization it has spread to be the spoken language in the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and other overseas former British colonies; in India, which was formerly a British colony, it is one of the fifteen official languages. Material of relevance dates from ca. 725.

Old and middle English. *Male bonding is strong in the poetry of *Old English (ca. 725–1066) as in the *epic poem *Beowulf, the first English poem (ca. 725). In *Middle English (from 1066) *Chaucer's pardoner in The Canterbury Tales is a recognizable homosexual.

The Elizabethan period. However, it is in the *Elizabethan period, the first great period of English language gay poetry, that homosexuality comes dramatically to the fore, in *Barnfield's Sonnets, the first extended gay work, and in *Shakespeare's Sonnets detailing a homosexual love affair (alongside a heterosexual one). *Marlowe and *Drayton are other outstanding poets of this period. In 1620 English spread to the United States with the *Puritan's immigration (see *Overview – English - United States); the rise of *censorship of published works dates from this time. English was first spoken in India with the beginnings of British colonisation in 1612 and reached Canada in 1670. Homosexual *bawdry” may date from the Elizabethan period and gay *broadsheets date from 1698. Male homosexual behavior was forbidden by law, in various degrees, from this time until 1967 when consenting homosexual acts were legalized for males over twenty one; even affectional behavior between males has been proscribed (though it was never illegal for women). In this way the *law has severely inhibited the writing of gay poetry.

The seventeenth and *eighteenth centuries. The bisexual *Rochester is the outstanding poet of the *seventeenth century while in the *eighteenth century, *satires against homosexuals proliferated. *Thomas Gray's Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard is perhaps the outstanding gay poem of the eighteenth century. Identifiably homosexual *publishers date from Gray's close friend *Horace Walpole.

The nineteenth century. In 1788 English reached Australia (see *Overview – English -Australia), in 1806 South Africa and in 1814 New Zealand with the beginnings of British colonisation in these countries. The *bisexual *Byron is the outstanding poet of the *Romantic period beginning in the 1790s and continuing to around 1820. In the *Victorian period, the poet *Tennyson's In Memoriam *sequence (1850) shocked with its portrayal of strong feelings of grief at the death of a man, the poet's friend *Arthur Hallam: the British monarch of the time, Queen Victoria, even thought it was written by a woman when she read it. In the United States *Whitman, the originator of *free verse, is the outstanding English language homopoet of the *nineteenth century; his Calamus poems, a section of his long sequence Leaves of Grass, published in the second edition of this work in 1860, were openly gay. In Great Britain, *Edward Fitzgerald's translation of the *Rubaiyat of *Omar Khayyam revealed the Persian homosexual tradition in a guarded way to English readers and became cultish, spreading in translation around the world.

The eighteen-nineties. *John Addington Symonds and *Havelock Ellis commenced the tradition of the serious study of gay culture in English in the *eighteen-nineties, the richest decade of the nineteenth century for gay poetry.*Oscar Wilde's Ballad of Reading Goal (1898) written after his imprisonment for homosexuality from 1985 to 1897 is the best known poem of this time. The *Uranian poets were a group writing ca. 1890–ca. 1910 who have been investigated by *Timothy d'arch Smith while in 1924 *Frederick E. Murray a *bookseller published the first English language literary gay *bibliography in 1924 based on their work; it is from this time that bookselling of gay books is recorded. The homosexual *A. E. Housman in A Shropshire Lad (1896) captured the mood of despair in English speaking countries and colonies where male homosexual sex was illegal after the Wilde trial, until 1967. It was only at this latter date that homosexual acts were decriminalized for males over 21 in Great Britain. Decriminalization followed in the other English speaking countries gradually though male homosexual acts are still illegal in many states of the United States; ages of consent vary, being as high as twenty-one in Western Australia. From the eighteen-nineties, Canadian entries are relevant (see *Overview—English—Canada.

The twentieth century. In 1902, *IolŠus, the first indigenous English language gay anthology, edited by the British gay political activist *Edward Carpenter, appeared and in 1908 the United States writer *E. I. P. Stevenson, using the pseudonym *Xavier Mayne, published a major survey of gay culture—including poetry—which is still to this day outstanding in every way. Outstanding, too, as a poet, was the exponent of *magic, *Aleister Crowley, but his poems only circulated surreptitiously at this time. *Wilfred Owen wrote homoerotic verse in the First World War; *Siegfried Sassoon was another war poet. The *Georgians, a group of poets who wrote mainly about the country had a homoerotic side. The anthology *Lads (1989) is the outstanding anthology of first world war poets and a subtle reading of the poetry in gay terms; this is perhaps the finest anthology in English of a particular period.

In the United States, *Hart Crane was a major poet of modernism in the 1920s. The British poet *W. H. Auden, who started publishing from the 1930s when *surrealism was a dominant style, emigrated to the States in 1939. His poem The *Platonic Blow (published in 1965 but written in 1948) shows another side of him: of conscious but mainly suppressed eroticism.

English has a rich *translation tradition in the twentieth century. For instance, the translation of *Cavafy into English from 1951 revealed a major Greek homopoet to English readers. *Allen Ginsberg and the *Beats in the United States brought homosexuality into the open from the fifties. The *New York School prominent from the 1950s—including *Frank O'Hara, *James Schuyler and *John Ashbery—had a strong *camp tone and has produced enduring poetry. *Los Angeles (see *Dennis Cooper), *Boston (see *John Wieners) and *San Francisco (*Robert Duncan) have also been centers of gay poetry. Gay *archives, which are especially strong in the United States, have preserved gay books, *journals and *manuscripts.

Law changes from 1967 encouraged openly gay writing in Great Britain: both the partial repeal of sodomy laws in 1967 and the lessening of censorship from 1970. Many *biographies and *autobiographies have appeared in this period which openly discuss the homosexuality of poets, starting with the biography of *Lytton Strachey by *Michael Holroyd, first published in two volumes in 1967–68.

Gay liberation period from 1969. From 1969 when *gay liberation began, English has had the greatest number of openly gay poets ever to write in any language and this period is the finest period of gay verse in the language. Outstanding in Great Britain are *James Kirkup (who, however, lived extensively abroad, mainly in Japan) and *Ivor Treby; in the United States, *Harold Norse, *James Merrill, *Allen Ginsberg, *Jonathan Williams aand *Tom Meyer have all produced an extensive body of work; in Canada, *E. A. Lacey lived mostly in foreign countries and died in tragic circumstances; in Australia, *David Malouf and *David Herkt are outstanding. *Edwin Morgan and *Stephen Gray are important gay poets in Scotland and South Africa respectively, while *James K. Baxter, possibly New Zealand's finest English language poet, had a strong homosexual side (see *Overview—English in New Zealand). In India *Vikram Seth, a novelist as well as poet, wrote the first gay poem in modern Indian English. Paradoxically, the first English language anthology of gay poems was actually published in India in 1881 and was a translation from Persian of an anthology of poets from the court of the Mughal emperor Akbar by *H. S. Jarrett; for India see *Overview—English in the Indian subcontinent.

The period from 1969 has also seen an outpouring of *anthologies—for instance, those of *Winston Leyland and *Ian Young are outstanding. There has also been a proliferation of *journals while several outstanding bibliographies have revealed gay literature in increasing depth (see *Annotated Bibliography of Homosexuality, *Male Homosexual in Literature); these bibliographies have made the English language gay poetry heritage more widely known to readers. The finest known anthology in any language is in English: *The Eternal Flame compiled by *Anthony Reid, of which volume 1 was published in 1992; the author worked on it for over forty years.

Today. An outstanding contemporary journal of new poetry and reviews is the United States published *The James White Review (1983+); *The Harvard Gay and Lesbian Review (1994+) is outstanding for critical comment, as is the *Lambda Book Report (1990+). The sexually transmitted disease *Aids, which has had a huge impact since 1983, has produced a masterpiece by *Paul Monette, who unfortunately succumbed to the disease. The Australian anthology of poetry and prose *Love and Death (1987) was the world's first Aids anthology. Black gay poets are proliferating, especially in the United States: see, for example, the anthology *The Road Before Us.

Important contemporary *critics include *Robert K. Martin and *Gregory Woods who has written a history of gay literature. English is especially rich in *translation of homopoems and poets from other languages and is the language which is richest in these translations. Anthologies continue to proliferate: *The Badboy Book of Erotic Poetry is an excellent survey of contemporary United States erotic gay verse; *The Name of Love and *The Art of Gay Love are concise surveys.

Gay Poetry Anthologies. Reid, Eternal Flame, volume 2, 19–184 and 461–560

2. English in the USA

With over 260 million inhabitants, the United States is the third largest country in the world after China and India. Spanish is spoken in California, which adjoins Mexico, and may become a majority language in California in years to come; there are also many introduced languages due to immigration, especially from Europe (e.g. Hebrew, Yiddish -see *Overview - Hebrew, - Yiddish) but latterly from east Asia (e.g., Cantonese Chinese). French was formerly spoken in the *Southern states. Relevant poets date from 1662.

After the Pilgrims arrived in 1620, English gradually became the dominant language over the whole of the country and, unfortunately, the anti-homosexual religious movement *Puritanism became a dominating ideology. *Censorship was strong until 1970. The first poet of interest is *Michael Wigglesworth whose 1662 poem The Day of Doom refers to homosexuality. The first known poem to deal directly with male homosexuality is the anonymous A *Present for the Sodomites (1808). *Friendship is a theme in poems by *Thoreau—who may have been gay though his exact sexuality may never be known; it is also a theme in *Ralph Waldo Emerson. Both writers were part of the movement called *Transcendentalism”.

*Walt Whitman was the first major homopoet of consequence: his Calamus poems from the 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass appeared in enlarged editions of Leaves of Grass to 1891 and are his best known works of relevance (though his Civil War poems are also important). His use of *free verse makes him a pioneer of *modernism. *R. M. Bucke, a disciple of Whitman, wrote the first notable *biography of the poet in 1883. *Stephen Wayne Foster has uncovered homosexual *tropes in many late nineteenth and early twentieth century poets and homosexuality in their lives. Even President *Abraham Lincoln, a much loved President who led the north in the American Civil War of 1861–1865, wrote a homopoem. *Harvard University in the *eighteen nineties had several homosexual poets, such as *George Santayana; many gay poets have subsequently attended the university.

Followers of Whitman in the late nineteenth century were called Calamites or *Uranians and were first documented in the first United States gay poetry anthology *Men and Boys, 1924, compiled by *Edward M. Slocum. On present knowledge *songs date from 1888 (see *Eugene Field).

The United States expatriate writer *E. I. P. Stevenson published the first extended literary survey of European and United States gay culture round 1911. The founders of English language *modernism were *T. S. Eliot and *Ezra Pound, both United States born citizens who later lived in Europe, and there is some homosexual interest in the poetry they wrote. Translations of gay poets emanating from the United States - e.g., *R. B. Cooke's translation of the sonnets of *Platen from German -have been excellent.

The homosexual *Hart Crane was an important modernist poet; his poetry has *surrealist overtones and his homosexuality was disclosed in *Philip Horton's 1937 biography. From 1910, *George Sylvester Viereck was the most notable United States poet writing in the *decadent manner.

The British poet *W. H. Auden lived in the United States from 1939, becoming a US citizen in 1946, and composed the famous erotic poem *The Platonic Blow” in 1948; it has had numerous reprintings from its first publication in 1965. Due to *homophobia, the homosexual critic *F. O. Matthiesson may have committed suicide in 1948; his pioneering book American Renaissance is notable for avoiding homosexuality in Whitman and others and its lack of positive comment shows the extent of social ostracism of homosexuals at the time.

The work of *Alfred Kinsey, who published the largest survey of male sexuality in 1948, saw the beginnings of more enlightened attitudes to homosexuality and the United States has been a leader in sex research; *psychology, which has done much to improve the life of gays, has also been a strong movement in the United States. *Vance Randolph collected *oral material from the 1940s and *Allen Ginsberg and the *Beats came to prominence in the the 1950s.

*Frank O'Hara and the New York School (which included *James Schuyler and *John Ashbery) are notable from the fifties. *On the *west coast, Jack Spicer was a major poet of this time as was the openly gay *Robert Duncan from *San Francisco. The *gay liberation period from 1969 saw a flowering of poetry, much of which was published in the gay liberation *journals Gay Sunshine (1969–82) edited by *Winston Leyland (who has compiled several anthologies—most recently *Gay Roots which is a selection from Gay Sunshine), Fag Rag (1971+; edited by a collective which included the outstanding *Boston based poet and critic *Charley Shively), and the outstanding poetry journal *Mouth of the Dragon (1974–80) edited by *Andrew Bifrost. *Christopher Street journal under the guidance of the poet *Charles Ortleb, himself a fine poet, has published excellent poetry and the United States has produced the finest gay poetry journals in English in the period from 1969.

Centers of gay liberation included *San Francisco, *Boston, *New York and *Los Angeles. Outstanding *bibliographies were compiled by *Dorr Legg and *Vern L. Bullough in the 1970s thus contributing vastly to increased knowledge of gay culture. *Wayne Dynes, the editor of *The Encyclopedia of Homosexuality (1990), which contains much literary material, published the finest research guide to homosexuality to its date in 1987. *Robert K. Martin in The Homosexual Tradition in American Poetry (1979) wrote the first extended study of homosex in United States English poetry.

Outstanding openly gay poets of the period since 1969 (apart from those mentioned) include *Gavin Dillard, *Dennis Kelly, *James S. Holmes, *John Weiners, *James Broughton, *Felice Picano, *Dennis Cooper, *John Gill, *Thomas Meyer and *Harold Norse. Many major late twentieth century United States poets such as *John Ashbery and *James Merrill are regarded as amongst the finest United States poets of the time though gay poets have been unjustly neglected in recent general literary histories and criticism (almost all of which so far fail to mention recent gay poetry of the last thirty years since 1969). Harold Norse's gay poems, though written in the forties and fifties, were only published in 1976.

Recent *Black gay poets have been outstanding and a series of black gay *anthologies has been published of which *In the Life edited by *Jim Beam and *The Road Before Us, edited by *Asotto Saint (pseud.), stand out.

*Paul Monette and *Michael Lassell have written fine poems about *Aids, which has been prominent since 1983. Major gay biographies of recent date include *Barry Miles on Ginsberg and *Tom Clark on *Charles Olson—the leading poet of English language *Postmodernism. On the other hand, *Arnold Rampersand's recent life of *Langston Hughes reveals little of the subject's gay life.

The United States has outstanding *libraries and archives which have not yet been fully consulted by researchers on gay poetry; they contain many important *manuscripts (see for example *Horace Traubel). *Booksellers and *publishers of gay poetry books in the United States are outstanding and have greatly helped the present gay cultural renaissance (secondhand books can now be searched on the *Internet). The *nineteen seventies, *nineteen eighties and *nineteen nineties are the richest decades in English language gay poetry so far.

The *James White Review (1983+) is the leading periodical publishing poetry and reviews. *Queer literature is the latest movement in the United States. *Vladimir Nabokov the Russian and English language novelist and poet produced in Pale Fire an enduring work about about homosexuality, poetry and truth.

Dictionaries and Encyclopedias. The Encyclopedia of Homosexuality: "United States" (gives an historical overview). Summers, Gay and Lesbian Literary Heritage, 25–53: overview of gay literature. Gay Histories and Cultures: see "U.S. Literature" and "U.S. Literature: Contemporary Gay Writing". Gay Poetry Anthologies. Reid, Eternal Flame, volume 2, 461–67. Columbia Anthology of Gay Literature, 523–817: anthology of poetry and prose covering United States English from 1840. Criticism. Woods, History of Gay Literature, 151-66: "The American Renaissance" (of the mid nineteenth century).