My Life Had Stood A Loaded Gun Essay

Another poem that everyone naturally seems to translate as about a woman is Emily Dickinson’s “My Life had stood…a Loaded Gun.” Quite honestly, this analysis seems to be completely based upon the fact that it was written by a woman. However, Emily Dickinson was a bit of a recluse and her poetry was not discovered till after her death. “Giving rise to much ambiguity, both homosexual and heterosexual elements pervade her work. In numerous poems, it is impossible to determine the genders and sexual identities of Dickinson's speakers and addressees” (Henneberg, 1995). In that respect perchance this poem is not just about a woman and her anger, perhaps this poem represents every gender and sexual identity when they experience anger. Since homosexuality …show more content…
A gun tends to be a masculine image while “a loaded gun” (1) would give the image an even stronger masculine phallus in the image of a young man, primed and ready with youth. “If cultural participation can shape sexuality, as Foucault among other post-structuralist thinkers has argued, then Dickinson exposes how sexuality can shape our cultural participation” (O’Malley, 2012). He is waiting through his life in the corner because he has no interest in being the center of attention. He is content is stand there till he is noticed by another who, like him, bears the identity of one who is hidden and off they go to live happily ever after. Not every gay man is willing to lead a false life by dating women or getting married and having a family. Perhaps even the other man in this poem is already married, older so they roam the “Sovereign Woods” (5) searching for a place for their private tryst. They “hunt the Doe” (6) by finding trinkets and baubles the wife might enjoy to keep her happy and silent. Still, if someone does speak against them or their love, his anger answers them defiantly in “straight reply.” (8) He is quick to defend his Owner and lashes out at any who would condemn their