Poetry is usually seen as a hobby or literature that teaches us about history. Most people wouldn’t see it as a necessity but as a luxury. Audre Lorde is a feminist poet that defies that kind of mind set and expresses how poetry is a necessity. One of her famous works “Poetry is not a Luxury” expresses exactly what Audre Lorde fought for. The purpose of this paper is to analyze how poetry is vital for the empowerment of women everywhere. Audre Lorde’s “Poetry Is Not a Luxury” is a famous piece by the poet that expresses the struggles women go through and how poetry is vital for their freedom. Audre talks about how women are constantly oppressed by male/white dominated society since women are perceived as being lesser than them. Women are continuously being judged when they try to express themselves and get accustomed to being silent. Through this women start to just follow the norms instead of making their own path. “The possibilities within ourselves are dark since they have been hidden for so long. Within the deep places, everyone holds an…show more content… Betty Fernan, author of “The Feminine Mystic, is an example of just how powerful literature is. Her writing inspired women to break away from the social norms during the era. Yosano Akiko, a famous poet and writer in early modern Japan, is also another example of how vital poetry is to women. Her popular poem “The Day the Mountains Move” uses imagery by comparing women to volcanoes. She says “For a time the mountains have been asleep” meaning that women have been silent just like a dormant volcano (McCann and Kim 32). Although the volcano is silent, eventually it will erupt and cover the entire land. Yasano and many women everywhere “are now awake and moving” by fighting back and voicing their minds (McCann and Kim 32). Once women speak, just like the volcano, their inner creativity and intelligence will spread all over the entire
