Natalie Barney Born October 31st

Natalie Barney was born October 31st, 1876 in Dayton, OH. Her access to her family's wealth afforded her the ability to live the life of a doyenne in Paris where she had her own salon and wrote poetry when she wasn't busy seducing women.

Learn more about Barney here

August Von Platen Born October 24th

German poet and dramatist Karl August Georg Maximilian Graf von Platen-Hallermünde was born October 24th, 1796.

Would I were As Free As My Dreams

Would I were free as are my dreams,
Sequestered from the garish crowd
To glide by banks of quiet streams
Cooled by the shadow-drifting cloud!

Free to shake off this weary weight
Of human sin, and rest instead
On nature's heart inviolate--
All summer singing o'er my head!

There would I never disembark,
Nay, only graze the flowery shore
To pluck a rose beneath the lark,
Then go my liquid way once more,

And watch, far off, the drowsy lines
Of herded cattle crop and pass,
The vintagers among the vines,
The mowers in the dewy grass;

And nothing would I drink or eat
Save heaven's clear sunlight and the spring
Of earth's own welling waters sweet,
That never make the pulses sting.

From Poem Hunter

Read more about this German  poet at GLBTQ.

Lord Alfred Douglas Born October 22nd

Alfred Bruce Douglas, the third son of John Douglas, the 9th Marquess of Queensbury, was born on October 22, 1870 in Worcestershire, England. Douglas, or Bosie as he was nicknamed, met Wilde in 1881. The two men began having an affair despite Wilde being married and with two sons. Bosie's father began to suspect there was more to his son's relationship with Wilde and would divorce his wife over Bosie's defiance at his orders. When rumors of a homosexual scandal surrounded the death of the eldest Douglas son, the Marquess went on the offensive against Wilde, setting into motion events that would lead to the infamous trial. Bosie and Wilde would reunite briefly after Wilde's prison sentence finished, but personal differences and pressures ended the affair.


Letters from Wilde to Douglas

Radclyffe Hall Born August 12th

Maguerite Radclyffe Hall, or John as she preferred to be called, was born August 12th, 1880 in Bournemouth, Hampshire, England, whose father left her mother before she was even born. Thankfully, at age 21 she inherited an enormous fortune from her paternal grandfather which allowed her the  means to do whatever she wanted. Part of what she wwanted was beautiful women, inclulding Lady Una Troubridge and Evgguenia Souline. In her forties Hall became recognizable by her closely cut hair, tailored jackets, flamboyant tops, wide-brimmed hats, and ties. Hall is best remembered for her novel, The Well of Loneliness, and its undisguised lesbian characters and themes.

Learn more about Radclyffe Hall at GLBTQ.

Charles Warren Stoddard Born August 7th

American writer Charles Warren Stoddard was born August 7th, 1843 in Rochester, NY. Mostly forgotten today, Stoddard was a part of San Francisco's bohemian circle circa the 1860s along with Ambrose Bierce and Samuel Clemens and friends with Robert Louis Stevenson an Jack London. Stoddard was inspired by Whitman's Calamus poems and traveled to the  South Sea Islands where he wrote short stories collected in South-Sea Idyls and The Island of Tranquil Delights. Turing to Venice, Stoddard also formed a relationship with the American painter Francis Millet.

Learn more about Stoddard at GLBTQ and The Closet Professor.

Salvador Novo Born July 30th

Referred to as Mexico's Oscar Wilde, Salvador Novo was born July 30th. Sadly, little about Novo seems to be written in English. There is the obligatory Wikipedia entry.

Hart Crane Born July 21st

Harold (Hart) Crane was born July 21st 1899 in Garrettsville, Ohio. Crane was drawn into the emotional and psychological dramas of his parents which only intensified after their divorce. Despite these and personal issues, Crane was optimistic in his poetry. As was common for gay men of his time, Crane on occasion sought sexual encounters with sailors and other "trade". Crane committed suicide by jumping off a steam ship into the Gulf of Mexico, presumably after his advances toward a crew member were rejected. Consider Crane the successor to Walt Whitman.







Learn more about Crane at the Poetry Foundation and  American  Poems.

Jean Cocteau Born July 5th

Poet, playwright, author, and filmmaker, Cocteau was born July 5th, 1889 in Maison-Lafitte just outside of Paris. Cocteau was equally welcomed in aristocratic drawing rooms and seedy taverns.

Learn more about Cocteau at Gay For Today.

Jean Lorraine Born June 29th

Jean Lorrain (born Paul Duval) may have been the equivalent of Oscar Wilde in terms of writing that cut to the bone in fin de siècle France.

“It is the sheer ugliness and banality of everyday life which turns my blood to ice and makes me cringe in terror.”

Learn more about Lorrain at GLBTQ.

Frank O'Hara Born June 27th

Poet, playwright, art critic. Dead at the age of 40 in a freak accident after being hit by a man driving a speeding dune buggy on Fire Island in July 1966.

Read more about O'Hara at Gay For Today and GLBTQ.

Allen Ginsburg Born June 3rd

Allen Ginsburg was born une 3rd, 1926 in Paterson, NJ. Ginsburg's father, himself a modestly successful poet, recites poems to his two sons and Allen begins to write down his thoughts of life in 1937. One of the prominent figures of the Beat generation, Ginsburg is most well known for his poem Howl which contained images of gay sex. Obscenity charges were brought against Ginsburg's publisher for its inclusion of the poem. An important victory for free speech was won when the judge ruled in favor of the publisher and stated the Howl had "redeeming social importance".

Learn more about Ginsburg at allenginsburg.orghttp://www.allenginsberg.org/

Walt Whitman Born May 31st

Whitman was born May 31st, 1819 on Long Island. Whitman is the father of both American poetry and modern poetry, but more importantly, he is a gay icon in American history. His work, particularly Leaves of Grass, was controversial and described as obscene for its sexuality.

Read the Bilerico Project's entry and read a selection of Whitman's poems.

Theotricus Born May 10th

Theotricus was born May 10th, 320 BCE in Syracuse on the island of Sicily. The Greek poet developed a form of verse known as the pastoral, in which shepherds extol the virtues of love and friendship. Idyll 13 recounts how even mighty Hercules could not resist the beauty of golden haired Hylas.

Cavafy Born April 17th

Constantin Cavafy was born April 17th, 1863 in Alexandria, Egypt. Born to a well to do Greek family from Constantinople, Turkey. At the time Alexandria was an important city with upscale cafes whose patrons'fortunes were connected with  the stock exchange or busy port, which in turn required blue collar laborers who lived in poverty. Cavafy's family financial status changed after the death of his father, and Cavafy worked several jobs before becoming employed with the Irrigation Service of the Public Works Ministry for the next three decades.

Cavafy might well have remained unknown if he'd not begun writing poetry with historical or homoerotic themes, sometimes combining the two. Thanks to a fortuituous incident, British author E M Forster met Cavafy in Alexandria and became friends. Forster would help to arrange publication of Cavafy's poems in English. Cavafy's French translator, Marguerite Yourcenar said that "Cavafy's poems are like Near Eastern cafes - you never see a woman in them."

Read more about Cavafy at Circa Club, Gay.net and GLBTQ.

Paul Verlaine Born March 30th

Paul-Marie Verlaine was born March 30th, 1844 in Metz, France. Verlaine was educated in Paris and his firstwork was published at age 23. The poet fell in love with and married Mathilde Maute before casting her aside for fellow bad boy poet Arthur Rimbaud until uncontrolled jealousy and a shot brought their relationship to an end. Sadly, Verlaine's final years were filled with alcoholism and poverty.

Read more about Verlaine at Gay For Today.

Lionel Johnson Born On March 15th

Lionel Johnson was born on March 15th, 1867 in Kent, England. He was an influential literary critic and had the dubious honor of having his young lover, one Lord Alfred Douglas (AKA Bosie) stolen by one Oscar Wilde. Their friendship ended and the incident inspired Johnson's poem "The Destroyer of a Soul" (I hate you with a necessary hate...).

Read more at Gay For Today.

Count Stenbock Born On March 14th

Eric Stanislaus Stenbock was born on march 14th, 1860 in Estonia. Stenbock's father died when he was one year old and his inherited properties were held in trust by his paternal grandfather Magnus. A few years later his maternal grandfather died, also leaving a considerable trust. Stenbock attended but never graduated from Balliol College at Oxford, coming under the influence of artist Simeon Solomon. Upon Magnus' death he inherited the title of Count and the family estate in Estonia, to which he traveled to for a year and a half, though England remained his home, where he wrote macabre fiction and poetry. In his social circle, Stenbock was the only man who could out do Oscar Wilde.

Read more at Gay For Today and Wikipedia.

Vita Sackville-West Born On March 9th

Vita was born on March 9th, 1892 in Knole House, Kent, England. While attending Helen Wolff's School For Girls in Park Lane, Vita fell in love and had her first relationship with Rosmaund Grosvenor. By her eighteenth birthday she had written eight historical novels, five plays and many poems. She became the inspiration for Virginia Woolf's Orlando.

Read more at Spartacus and selected letters at Isle of Lesbos and recording of Vita reading her poem The Land.

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Born on February 22nd in Bangor, Maine. Millay's A Few Figs from Thistles in 1920 was considered controversial by many for its descriptions of female sexuality and feminism.

Read more about Millay at the Poetry Foundation and the Millay Society.