The title of Audre Lorde's essay "Poetry Is Not a Luxury" implies that there is an argument over the issue and that many see poetry as a luxury. She makes clear what she believes the power of poetry is in her opening sentence: "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" (307). She cites poetry as a form of this light, as an illumination that gives a name to ideas we have but that are nameless and formless until poetry brings them into focus. She thus uses the term poetry to mean more than the usual arrangement of words on a page and instead uses it to refer to the essence of a woman's inner life, a life that gives rise to written poetry but that can also be empowering in every act of life.
Lorde describes this impetus to poetry as something "ancient and hidden" in women. Poetry for her is the ability to fuse the European mode of living with the ancient, non-European consciousness common among black women in particular. Poetry brings the light that allows women to see the truth and to draw on inner reserves of power.
There are many examples of women who have done just this in some way, showing that the ability to get in touch with one's inner reserves and to fuse ancient and modern disciplines is an important part of being human and so a necessary element in a successful existence. What Lorde says cuts through the veneer of civilization to the emotional component that links us with our ancestors and our animal nature. The latter does not mean savagery but rather a closer tie with nature and with our spiritual being as well. Many women in literature have shown the ability to get in touch with this ancient nature in conjunction with their life in the modern world. Emily Dickinson expressed a rich and varied inner life while remaining largely in one town and one house. Maya Angelou became a...