From Ancient Greece to the modern day, here are some of the greatest LGBTQIA minds in literature
BY AMY CHAPPEL, IMAGES BY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
From the sensual lyrics of ancient Greek poet Sappho to the empowering verses of Audre Lorde, sapphic poets throughout the centuries have used the written word to give voice to the sapphic experience.
In honour of LGBT+ History Month, we celebrate 10 pioneering sapphic poets who pushed boundaries and sparked change through their intimate writings on identity, desire, relationships, and the intricacies of queer love.
Sappho (c. 630 – c. 570 BC)
Sappho was an influential ancient Greek poet from the island of Lesbos whose passionate, emotional lyric poetry about intimacy between women led to the term “sapphic” and the island itself becoming associated with female homoeroticism. Though there is no definitive proof regarding her sexuality, she has been widely believed to have been a lesbian.
“How is a woman making love to another woman any different than a woman making love to a man?”
Sappho
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1651-1695)
The 17th-century Mexican nun and poet Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, known as “The Tenth Muse,” pushed gender boundaries, writing romantic, homoerotic poems to women under pseudonyms. Seeking intellectual freedom, Juana quit the court and, like many lesbians, became a nun. When the new vicereine Maria Luisa arrived in town, Juana became utterly infatuated, writing her numerous ardent, lyrical poems exalting her qualities.
“That you’re a woman far away is no hindrance to my love: for the soul, as you well know, distance and sex don’t count.”
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
Emily Dickinson, a renowned American poet, was extremely prolific, producing over 1,800 poems, though only 10 were published during her lifetime. She had a lifelong intimate relationship with her childhood friend Susan Gilbert, who later married Dickinson’s brother. Scholars question the poet’s sexuality, theorising that the numerous letters and poems that were dedicated to Susan indicate a lesbian romance.
“To own a Susan of my own is of itself a Bliss — Whatever realm I forfeit, Lord, Continue me in this!”
Emily Dickinson
Amy Lowell (1874-1925)
Amy Lowell was an American imagist poet who led the movement. As an openly lesbian writer, she normalised sapphic themes through acclaimed works on female relationships and sexuality in the 1910s, including her erotic poems about her partner, the actress Ada Dwyer Russell. Lowell expressed her love for Russell in one of her books, and most of their romantic correspondence was destroyed at Lowell’s request, leaving their relationship largely unknown.
“…Tell me, was Venus more beautiful, than you are, when she topped the crinkled waves.”
Amy Lowell
Gertrude Stein (1874-1946)
Gertrude Stein was an influential modernist American poet, writer, and art collector based in Paris, where she hosted a notable salon of avant-garde artists. She was in an open lesbian relationship with Alice B. Toklas from 1910 until her death in 1946. Stein’s experimental writings with repetitive language explored lesbian themes, and she promoted many LGBTQIA artists.
“… I think very well of Susan but I do not know her name. I think very well of Ellen but which is not the same.”
Gertrude Stein
Audre Lorde (1934-1992)
Audre Lorde was an influential Black American poet and civil rights activist who tackled racial and social injustice and oppression through raw, defiant verses. A self-described “black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet,” Lorde empowered marginalised voices and articulated intersections of race, gender and sexuality. After working various jobs, she studied in Mexico where she grew confident in her identity as both a lesbian and a poet.
“…honey flowed from the split cup…”
Audre Lorde
Mary Oliver (1935-2019)
Beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning American poet Mary Oliver subtly expressed lesbian themes of intimacy and desire in her revered, mystical nature poetry. Although Mary kept her personal life private, she wrote many poems about her long-term partner Molly Malone Cook, a photographer who became Mary’s literary agent, in her poetry. The pair met in the late 1950s and remained together until Cook’s death in 2005.
“I want to say: all my life I was a bride married to amazement. I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.”
Mary Oliver
Paula Gunn Allen (1939-2008)
Paula Gunn Allen, who identified with the Laguna Pueblo tribe of her mother, was a Native American poet, critic, activist, and UCLA professor who wrote about Native American and feminist themes. Allen, who married and divorced twice, identified as a lesbian earlier in life, and later as a “serial bisexual”, recognising Native American traditions of gender fluidity. Her scholarship on Native American “two-spirits” is considered pioneering.
“Dykes remind me of Indians like Indians dykes are supposed to die out or forget or drink all the time or shatter go away to nowhere to remember what will happen if they don’t…”
Paula Gunn Allen
Suniti Namjoshi (1941-)
Born in Mumbai, Suniti Namjoshi is an important contemporary Indian writer and poet publishing widely in multiple genres. Namjoshi’s inclusive, often fabulist work challenges prejudices while spotlighting women’s and LGBTQIA issues from a lesbian feminist perspective. Now living in Devon, England with her partner, writer Gillian Hanscombe, Namjoshi’s intellectual yet accessible writing educates and entertains while questioning the status quo.
“…The curve of your breast is like the curve of a wave: look, held, caught, each instant caught, the wave tipping over and we in our bower, the two of us sheltered, my hands on your thighs, your body, your back, my mouth on your mouth and in the hollows of your jaws and your head nuzzling my breasts…”
Suniti Namjoshi
Pat Parker (1944-1989)
Pat Parker was an African-American lesbian poet and activist who drew from her difficult experiences with poverty, sexual assault, and her sister’s murder. After two heterosexual marriages, she embraced her sexuality, pioneered lesbian poetry readings, published five collections, directed the Feminist Women’s Health Center, founded revolutionary councils, and pursued activism even testifying before the UN on women’s rights before dying of breast cancer in 1989.
“…never feel my father turn in his grave, never hear my mother cry, Lord, what kind of child is this?”
Pat Parker
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