| Title | : | Poetry Is Not a Luxury |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Format Type | : | Kindle , Hardcover , Paperback , Audiobook & More |
| Number of Pages | : | - |
| Publication | : | Published January 1, 1977 |
Poetry Is Not a Luxury Reviews
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This is a perfect read for Black History Month. A brief essay (just three pages) by Audre Lorde on the power of poetry.
“The white fathers told us, I think therefore I am; and the black mothers in each of us - the poet - whispers in our dreams, I feel therefore I can be free. Poetry coins the language to express and charter this revolutionary awareness and demand, the implementation of that freedom.”
“Poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity of our existence. It forms the quality of the light within which we predicate our hopes and dreams toward survival and change, first made into language, then into idea, then into more tangible action. Poetry is the way we help give name to the nameless so it can be thought. The farthest horizons of our hopes and fears are cobbled by our poems, carved from the rock experiences of our daily lives.” -
"For within living structures defined by profit, by linear power, by institutional dehumanisation, our feelings were not meant to survive. Kept around as unavoidable adjuncts or pleasant pastimes, feelings were expected to kneel to thought as women were expected to kneel to men. But women have survived. As poets."
I'm crying. -
I feel, therefore I can be free
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3.5
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annotated the everloving fuck out of this and my brain is never going to be the same again. dont regret a thing, audre lorde's writing is living, breathing force leaving wrecked remains of everything that is conformist (exclusively so) and unjust in its wake
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My shadow, finally inked on earth.
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In this masterpiece, Lorde sang about poetry and feminist theory together. Which made me amazed and confused at the same time!
Yes, I have my own voice, and with it, not only I can change myself, but also I can change the world itself! I really like how I feel after I read something made by Lorde.
Lorde described the woman's place of power as "The woman's place of power within each of us is neither white nor surface, it is dark, it is ancient, and it is deep."
It's amazing that I was agreeing with Lorde in each word she wrote, but when she said:"The white fathers told us, I think therefore I am; and the black mothers in each of us-the poet-whispers in our dreams, I feel therefore I can be free. Poetry coins the language to express and charter this revolutionary awareness and demand, the implementation of that freedom." she turned up the table.
Thi powerful woman is my new idol. -
3/5 Stars (%65/100)
Audre Lorde was an extremely important woman during the feminist movement, especially for African-American women. Since I am a fan of poetry, this was very interesting to read. Lorde talks about the necessity of literature, poetry specifically, for women. Women should use poetry to express themselves and make people listen to them. Great essay about poetry and women's movement. -
"We can train ourselves to respect our feelings, and to discipline (transpose) them into a language that matches those feelings so they can be shared. And where that language does not yet exist, it is our poetry which helps to fashion it. Poetry is not only dream or vision, it is the skeleton architecture of our lives."
I highly recommend this essay as a companion to Natasha Trethewey, Claudia Rankine, and all other Women Poets of Color. -
— "I speak here of poetry as a revelatory distillation of experience, not the sterile word play that, too often, the white fathers distorted the word poetry to mean"
— "Poetry is the way we help give name to the nameless so it can be thought"
— "The white fathers told us: I think, therefore I am. The Black mother within each of us—the poet—whispers in our dreams: I feel, therefore I can be free." -
"The quality of light by which we scrutinize our lives has direct bearing upon the product which we live, and upon the changes which we hope to bring about through those lives. It is within this light that we form those ideas by which we pursue our magic and make it realized. This is poetry as illumination, for it is through poetry that we give name to those ideas which are — until the poem — nameless and formless, about to be birthed, but already felt."
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As someone who has evolved with poetry, this essay resonated with me, however I wish it was a little longer and incorporated some examples of women revolutionaries and dissed the white fathers a little more. The language is sometimes repetitive but it makes her points clear.
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I cried reading this.
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This short essay explains everything! It’s 3-6 pages long, so you could go read it in less time than it would take me to write a proper review. It is in _Sister Outsider_.
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(essay)
this made me FEEL. SERIOUSLY A WORK OF ART I LOVE WOMEN SO MUCH I LOVE LITERATURE SO MUCH JESUS CHRIST THIS!!!!! THIS!! -
"Sometimes we drug ourselves with dreams of new ideas."
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“The white fathers told us: I think, therefore I am. The Black mother within each of us - the poet - whispers in our dreams: I feel therefore I can be free.”
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one of my favorite essays ever.
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“Poetry is not only a dream and vision; it is the skeleton architecture of our lives. It lays the foundations for a future of change, a bridge across our fears of what has never been before.”
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Who is poetry for? How can poetry be used? This essay is only two pages and available online but it was so good it deserved a Goodreads review. Well paired with the On Being podcast episode with Ocean Vuong, in which Ocean discusses how the teaching of language can be a colonial force but we can reclaim English for our own through poetry.
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"As we learn to bear the intimacy of scrutiny, and to flourish within it, as we learn to use the products of that scrutiny for power within our living, those fears which rule our lives and form our silences begin to lose their control over us."
