Wild Nights Wild Nights

The American poet Emily Dickinson is the author of the 1861 poem “Wild nights - Wild nights!” Like with most of her poems, it was published after her death. Dickinson organized her work into tiny booklets that were discovered by her family after her passing. Posthumously, Dickinson became one of the most famous Western poets, and critics view her as one of the two originators of American poetry, the other being Walt Whitman. As Dickinson curtailed her social interactions and stayed in her family home in Amherst, Massachusetts, a stereotype developed: She was oppressed and reclusive. Contemporary critics challenge the myth and depict Dickinson as an empowered individual who chose the spiritual realm of literature over the material world.

Despite this spiritual interpretation of her lifestyle, it’s known that she corresponded with many people and had close relationships with her family, including her sister-in-law, Susan Huntingdon Dickinson. Scholars and readers debate whether the relationship between the two was platonic or romantic. Read in a sapphic context, “Wild nights - Wild nights!” turns into an erotic lyric addressed to Susan. As with Dickinson’s other poems, it features jarring dashes and idiosyncratic punctuation.