Poetry Is Not a Luxury- Lorde’s Vocabulary Inspires Inclusiveness, Value, and Hope - Rachel

In Audre Lorde’s essay Poetry is Not a Luxury, she uses specific terms to define her audience and present an appealing and convincing argument. Lorde’s essay, about how important poetry is in the life of women, defines her audience as other women by defining her authority as one of the women; she uses “we” when making claims and statements. This use of “we” gives her voice more authority, the reader automatically assumes that she is not alone in her belief; “we” adds more voices to Lorde’s own, and claims that this is a widely held theory. Lorde also categorizes any that disagree as “they” which automatically separates “them” from the reader. This clear distinguish between the reader, “us,” and everyone else, “they,” draws us in and makes us feel included.

To further shape her theoretical argument, Lorde relies on imagery and metaphors to engage and persuade readers. She describes “poetry as illumination” and calls the “quality of light by which we scrutinize our lives” a deciding factor in we act and think, and in the end relate to poetry. Lorde describes our inner voices as “deep,” “dark,” and “ancient.” Using these words Lorde describes something that is valuable, something that everyone has, something that must be reckoned with and something that must be listened to. Why doesn’t Lorde just say this? Why doesn’t she say that everyone has an inner voice and this voice is very important? Because that would be too simple and that would be undervaluing her claim. By describing our need for poetry in poetic, elemental, and more natural terms, we are able to value Lorde’s claim just as much as she does, which is very highly.

By using words such as “births,” “flourish,” “possibility,” “light,” “dreams,” and “horizons” Lorde chooses to create an environment of hope for readers. She says that poetry “is a vital necessity,” which to some seems daunting, but Lorde over rides this fear by trying to inspire not a fear that we have not listened to our inner voices and are therefore doomed, but that our inner voice of poetry will always be there to be called upon and counted on in times of need. Lorde says “possibility is neither forever nor instant,” that poetry is what allows us to face the hardships of each day and it is what allows us to continue to fight and to survive. In order for Lorde to have created such a hopeful and inspiring message she chose specific words that would set the essay’s tone as one of hopefulness and not as one of despair. By choosing words that are relatable and understandable to the average, mainstream reader, those women readers Lorde is seeking to inspire, she makes her essay appealing to a specific audience and this makes for a successful essay.

Lorde’s last paragraph is a perfect example of all of this; she describes those scenes that women of all kinds are a part of every day. She uses “we” to create a sense of inclusiveness, describes scenes women would be familiar with and would value, and ends with the hope of “new possibilities and strengths.”