Piety and the Agnostic Gay Poet

Abstract

Thorn Gunn has relied on biblical stories throughout his writing career to carry gay-themed poems. Although he characterizes himself agnostic, it is difficult to reconcile this self-definition with the tenderness evident in his biblical poems, a tenderness that many would identify with a kind of piety. Two of these poems reflect Gunn's reaction to paintings by Caravaggio, “The Sacrifice of Isaac” and “The Conversion of St. Paul.” For the former, Gunn seems to have intuited Caravaggio's fascination with the naked figure of Isaac who appears about to be sodomized by Abraham. For the Paul poem, Gunn chooses one of two Caravaggio paintings on the subject, the one which emphasizes Paul in a recumbent and vulnerable sexual position. Gunn has also written tenderly of the Virgin Mary and Christ. His poem “Lazarus Not Raised” is an unusual look at the New Testament Lazarus story from Lazarus's point of view as a dead man who is not particularly interested in coming back to life even though he is encouraged to do so by a bevy of male friends. In recent years Gunn has continued to use biblical flavors in his verse, maintaining all the time his agnosticism.