American poet and activist Audre Lorde's "A Woman Speaks" celebrates the unique power of Black women's voices while also lamenting their underrepresentation. The poem argues that Black women have all too often been left out of the "futures" envisioned by both white feminist women and Black men fighting for racial justice. But the very fact that Black women have been marginalized both in terms of gender and race makes their voices powerful and their perspectives necessary. Lorde wrote "A Woman Speaks" in 1984; it was published posthumously in a 1997 book, Collected Works of Audre Lorde.

• Read the full text of “A Woman Speaks”

• “A Woman Speaks” Summary

• “A Woman Speaks” Themes

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    The Power and Marginalization of Black Women’s Voices

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-34

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “A Woman Speaks”

  • Lines 1-4

    Moon marked and ...
    ... my shape behind.  

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 5-9

    I seek no ...
    ... or my pride

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 10-15

    I do not ...
    ... restless oceans pound.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 16-20

    I do not ...
    ... my sisters

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 21-24

    witches in Dahomey ...
    ... mourning.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 25-34

    I have been ...
    ... and not white.

    

    

    

    

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• “A Woman Speaks” Symbols

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    Magic and Witches

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “my magic is unwritten”
    • Line 21: “witches in Dahomey”
    • Line 28: “I am treacherous with old magic ”

• “A Woman Speaks” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “Moon,” “marked”
    • Line 2: “my,” “magic”
    • Line 6: “untouched”
    • Line 7: “unrelenting”
    • Line 8: “permanent”
    • Line 9: “pride”
    • Line 16: “do,” “dwell”
    • Line 17: “divinities”
    • Line 19: “still,” “seeking”
    • Line 20: “sisters”
    • Line 21: “witches”
    • Line 22: “wear,” “coiled,” “cloths”
    • Line 23: “mother”
    • Line 24: “mourning”
    • Line 29: “noon's,” “new,” “fury”
    • Line 30: “futures”
    • Line 33: “woman”
    • Line 34: “white”

  • Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “my magic is unwritten”
    • Lines 16-17: “I do not dwell / within my birth nor my divinities   ”
    • Lines 20-24: “my sisters / witches in Dahomey / wear me inside their coiled cloths    / as our mother did / mourning.”
    • Lines 28-29: “I am treacherous with old magic    / and the noon's new fury”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 5-6: “favor / untouched”
    • Lines 8-9: “errors / or”
    • Lines 10-11: “mix / love”
    • Lines 16-17: “dwell / within”
    • Lines 18-19: “half-grown    / and”
    • Lines 19-20: “seeking / my”
    • Lines 21-22: “Dahomey / wear”
    • Lines 22-23: “cloths    / as”
    • Lines 25-26: “woman / for”
    • Lines 28-29: “old magic    / and”
    • Lines 30-31: “futures    / promised”
    • Lines 32-33: “am / woman”

  • Simile

    

    

    

    

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    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Lines 7-9: “unrelenting as the curse of love    / permanent as my errors / or my pride”

  • Allusion

    

    

    

    

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    Where allusion appears in the poem:

    • Lines 13-15: “and if you would know me / look into the entrails of Uranus    / where the restless oceans pound.”
    • Lines 20-21: “my sisters / witches in Dahomey”

  • Parallelism

    

    

    

    

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    Where parallelism appears in the poem:

    • Lines 6-8: “untouched by blood / unrelenting as the curse of love    / permanent as my errors”
    • Lines 10-12: “I do not mix / love with pity / nor hate with scorn”
    • Line 16: “I do not dwell”
    • Line 28: “I am”
    • Line 32: “I am”

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “touched,” “sun”
    • Line 2: “unwritten”
    • Line 3: “sea”
    • Line 4: “leave”
    • Line 5: “seek”
    • Line 6: “untouched,” “blood”
    • Line 7: “unrelenting,” “love”
    • Line 8: “permanent”
    • Line 9: “my pride”
    • Line 14: “into,” “entrails”
    • Line 26: “time”
    • Line 27: “smile”
    • Line 29: “noon's new”
    • Line 30: “futures”

• “A Woman Speaks” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Unrelenting
  • Entrails
  • Uranus
  • Dwell
  • Divinities
  • Half-grown
  • Coiled
  • Dahomey
  • (Location in poem: Line 7: “unrelenting as the curse of love   ”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “A Woman Speaks”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “A Woman Speaks” Speaker

• “A Woman Speaks” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “A Woman Speaks”

• More “A Woman Speaks” Resources

  • External Resources

    • An Introduction to the Poet — Read a biography of Lorde (and more of her poetry) at the Poetry Foundation's website.

    • The Poem Aloud — Watch a 1984 video recording of Lorde reading this poem. 

    • An Interview with Lorde — Watch an interview in which Lorde discusses her work.

    • Lorde's Intersectional Feminism — Read "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House," the famous essay in which Lorde advocates for a more intersectional feminism—that is, feminism that considers how intersecting identities (such as race, gender, sexual orientation, and class) shape women's lives.

    • Angela Davis on Audre Lorde — Watch a 2014 speech in which writer and activist Angela Davis discusses Lorde's influence.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Audre Lorde

    • A Litany for Survival

    • Coal

    • Power

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