Is This Poem About Same-Sex Love? And Who’s Asking (Or Answering) The Question?

In a blog post on Tennyson’s “In Memoriam” and the nature of the poet’s feelings toward the man for whom he grieves, Ta-Nehisi Coates wonders “how identity changes what we see. In that vein, I’d like to ask some of our gay commenters to weigh in here. On Tennyson particularly, and more broadly on the realm of artists beautifully expressing affection for humans of the same gender.” (And weigh in they do.)