In her poem “Borderland,” Amy Levy is writing about a night in bed with her love, whose very presence brings her immense amounts of joy. It is not until about three-quarters of the way through the poem that the gender of Levy’s love is revealed. “It is she,” (11) Barnfield thinks in her dreamlike trance, realizing that her beloved is there with her. In her hazy state between “waking” and “sleeping” (1), Levy becomes aware of her love’s presence. “Half in a swoon,/[she] spread[s] [her] arms in slow delight” (11-12) to reach for her love and likely embrace her and hold her close as they sleep.  At the end of the poem, Levy laments that “the nights are short in June,” (14) giving her less time to spend in this lovely, dreamy haze with her beloved. It is important to note that this poem, which is celebratory of Levy’s love for the woman sleeping next to her, is written as a sonnet.   Its rhyme scheme, AABCBDEDEFGGF, does not necessarily mirror that of a Shakespearean or Petrarchan sonnet, but it still has fourteen lines and a prominent theme of love throughout the entire piece.

When learning about the Victorian era (or any pre-modern era for that matter) in history and English classes alike, there is definitely a suppression of queer content, to a point where it can be considered erasure. Prior to coming to college and taking more open, liberal classes, I was not aware of many queer figures in history or queer literature that’s been produced. This project was really interesting and enlightening, though. It was really fantastic to look at so many openly queer poems written in a time where societal standards were very rigid and prominently heteronormative. Hopefully, queer poets and literature with queer content will gain a permanent place in classrooms and the canon alike, so its importance can be celebrated accordingly.