Audre Lorde Summary

The African American poet Audre Lorde (1934-1992) wrote poetry exploring the relationships between lovers, children and parents, and friends in both a very personal and a socially relevant manner. She... Read more

Critical Essay by Dudley Randall Audre Lorde's The First Cities … is a quiet, introspective book. You first notice the striking phrases: "the crash of passing sun," ... Read more

Critical Essay by Helen Vendler Misery, impatience, urgings, loneliness, refusals, love, and terror rise from the pages of Audre Lorde's From a Land Where Other People Live…. In Lorde&#... Read more

Critical Essay by Sandra M. Gilbert [Until] the recent awakening of interest in women's achievements [Lorde] seemed destined for an obscurity that rarely enfolds male poets of comparable talen... Read more

Critical Essay by Hayden Carruth I don't care much for [Audre Lorde's writing in The Black Unicorn], which seems far too close to the commonplace. (One wonders why contemporary Afro-Ame... Read more

Critical Essay by Andrea Benton Rushing In The Black Unicorn, Audre Lorde reaches across 300 years of black diaspora and reclaims African history and mythology as a basis for her imagery about women;... Read more

In the essay below, Hull conducts a broad appraisal of the themes and issues Lorde addresses in her poetry. In Audre Lorde's poem "A Meeting of Minds," a woman who "stan... Read more

In the excerpt below, Chinosole explores the ways in which Lorde's poetry celebrates Black and female differences from the dominant culture as sources of power and self-definition. The fulle... Read more

In the following review, Parson-Nesbitt traces the development of Lorde's poetry as evidenced by the selections in Undersong: Chosen Poems Old and New (Revised). Audre Lorde wrote, "P... Read more