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“A Litany for Survival” Introduction
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"Litany for Survival" was written by the American poet and civil rights activist Audre Lorde, and first published in Lorde's 1978 collection The Black Unicorn. The poem describes the constant fear that marginalized communities experience in a prejudiced society and the way such relentless fear can silence any dissenting voices. Vulnerable people have learned to keep their heads down in the hope of protecting themselves and their loved ones, the speaker argues, yet such silence only serves to maintain their oppression. The speaker thus encourages the marginalized to speak up against a world they "were never meant to survive."
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“A Litany for Survival” Summary
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The speaker addresses those people who live on the shifting edges of society, constantly having to make tough decisions alone; those who can't afford to entertain fleeting dreams; those who express their love in doorways in the middle of the night, who are always the lookout, trying to survive the present and nourish the dreams of their children rather than their own.
Such people, the speaker continues, were born with fear, which is like a pale mark in the middle of their foreheads. They learned to be afraid even as their mothers nursed them because the dominant members of society used fear as a weapon, peddling the false narrative that staying quiet would keep oppressed people safe. The speaker is talking to all of those people who were never meant to live through this moment and this victory.
The speaker describes ways in which these people can never feel comfortable and secure, even in moments of good fortune: when the sun comes up they fear that it won't stay, and when the sun goes down they fear that it won't come back up; when they eat they fear getting stomach aches and when they haven't eaten they fear they'll go hungry; when they love they worry it won't last and when they've lost love they fear it'll never come back; they fear that no one will listen to them when they speak up, but the fear doesn't go away when they stay quiet.
As such, the speaker concludes, it's better to just speak up, knowing they weren't supposed to survive this world in the first place.
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“A Litany for Survival” Themes
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Fear, Marginalization, and Silence
“Litany for Survival” reads like a prayer, or even an anthem, for the marginalized and oppressed. Such people, the speaker says, live in a state of constant fear and have been pushed to stay silent in order to get by in a world they were "never meant to survive." Yet the poem also makes clear that such fear and silence won't actually protect or help these people. Instead, the poem suggests, it only upholds the very systems that oppress them. For this reason, the speaker argues that ultimately it is "better to speak" up: if marginalized people are going to be subject to fear either way, then they don’t really have anything to lose by breaking their silence—and, in fact, they just might have something to gain.
The poem starts by illustrating how vulnerable members of society can't live freely and openly in the way that other, non-marginalized people can. Instead, they're endlessly having to adapt to the oppressive forces around them. The speaker mentions having to “love in doorways” at night, for example, which is likely an allusion to LGBTQ people who are unable to express their love in public out of fear for their safety (Lorde herself was a lesbian who spent much of her life fighting for LGBTQ rights).
Regardless of whether times are good or bad, the poem implies, marginalized people still live in fear because the future isn’t promised to them. They can’t fully embrace joy or happiness because they are always on alert. Marginalized people are thus also unable to “indulge / the passing dreams of choice” and must instead focus on the "now." This implies a link between fear and oppression: not being able to think about the future keeps marginalized people stuck in their present, terrified of speaking up or fighting for change.
The speaker also argues that marginalized people are taught that they can protect themselves and their loved ones by remaining quiet about the oppression they face. And yet, the speaker insists, this silence hasn’t actually resulted in their being any safer; no amount of being quiet and keeping their heads down is going to save them. In fact, the speaker says that “the illusion of [...] safety” is a “weapon” that is used against marginalized communities by “the heavy-footed” (that is, by those who have something to gain by these people’s continued oppression). In other words, silence is a tool of oppression rather than protection.
Understanding that oppression means marginalized people are going to be afraid no matter what, the speaker encourages them to consider that they have nothing to lose by speaking up. Ultimately, the poem argues that it is better to speak knowing they “were never meant to survive” than to silently accept the way things are.
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-44
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “A Litany for Survival”
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Lines 1-3
For those of ...
... crucial and aloneThe speaker begins by declaring who this poem is for: "those of us who live at the shoreline." The "us" here signals that the speaker is part of this group and is speaking from a place of personal experience.
That metaphorical shoreline, meanwhile, suggests that the people the speaker is addressing don't have the luxury of getting to be still and put down real roots: they're too busy dealing with the pressures of living a marginalized existence, of occupying the thin, shifting line between ocean and land.
The speaker describes these people as "standing upon the constant edges of decision." In other words, these aren't people who can relax or take things for granted. Every choice is "crucial," or of great importance, and they feel "alone" in making these choices because society doesn't care what happens to them.
These lines feature a loud mix of consonance, sibilance, and alliteration. All these noisy sounds might evoke a rocky or unsteady shoreline, in turn suggesting the unforgiving landscape of these people's lives:
standing upon the constant edges of decision
The hard alliteration of "constant" and "crucial" in particular evokes the crashing of waves against the shoreline, a sound that hints at the overwhelming violence faced by marginalized communities.
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Lines 4-9
for those of ...
... before and after
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Lines 10-14
seeking a now ...
... death of ours; -
Lines 15-18
For those of ...
... our mother’s milk -
Lines 19-24
for by this ...
... meant to survive. -
Lines 25-28
And when the ...
... in the morning -
Lines 29-32
when our stomachs ...
... never eat again -
Lines 33-36
when we are ...
... will never return -
Lines 37-41
and when we ...
... are still afraid -
Lines 42-44
So it is ...
... meant to survive.
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“A Litany for Survival” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Parallelism
Parallelism is one of several forms of repetition in this poem, all of which add to its sense of passion and forcefulness.
In the first stanza, for example, the speaker repeats the phrase "For those of us who" (which is also an example of anaphora), followed by a phrase describing something that defines the life of "those" whom the speaker is addressing. There's also parallelism in the phrases "coming and going," "inward and outward," "before and after." Together, all this parallelism builds up the first stanza's intensity, creating a steady, progressive rhythm that pulls readers forward through the poem.
But the strongest parallelism comes in the poem's third stanza, which features parallel phrase after parallel phrase. Every two lines mirror the two preceding lines. Take lines 25-28 for example:
And when the sun rises we are afraid
it might not remain
when the sun sets we are afraid
it might not rise in the morningThe repetition of sentence structures draws attention to the fact that regardless of what the sun does, these people feel afraid. Their fear isn't really dependent on the sun, even though that's what it seems like at first; their fear is constant, and nothing the sun does can assuage it.
The speaker repeats this format throughout the stanza, presenting two opposing states and insisting that people's fear exists in both. This device is also an example of antithesis, which hammers home the point that there's no safe place for the people the speaker addresses—that there's no escape from their fear.
In lines 37-41, the parallel grammatical structure is varied just slightly, but only enough to add further emphasis:
and when we speak we are afraid
our words will not be heard
nor welcomed
but when we are silent
we are still afraidThe addition of line 39 ("nor welcomed") breaks up the repetition a bit, just enough to draw out the feeling of what the speaker is saying: that even if these people's words were heard, they wouldn't be welcome. They are being "unheard" on purpose. By breaking up the final phrase ("but when we are silent / we are still afraid") into two lines, the weight of stanza three falls firmly upon that final admission: that no matter what happens, these people will be filled with fear.
Where parallelism appears in the poem:- Line 1: “For those of us who live at the shoreline”
- Line 4: “for those of us who cannot indulge”
- Line 6: “who love in doorways coming and going”
- Lines 8-9: “looking inward and outward / at once before and after”
- Lines 15-16: “For those of us / who were imprinted with fear”
- Line 22: “For all of us”
- Lines 25-41: “And when the sun rises we are afraid / it might not remain / when the sun sets we are afraid / it might not rise in the morning / when our stomachs are full we are afraid / of indigestion / when our stomachs are empty we are afraid / we may never eat again / when we are loved we are afraid / love will vanish / when we are alone we are afraid / love will never return / and when we speak we are afraid / our words will not be heard / nor welcomed / but when we are silent / we are still afraid”
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Anaphora
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Epistrophe
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Consonance
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Alliteration
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Metaphor
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Simile
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Enjambment
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“A Litany for Survival” 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.
- Shoreline
- Crucial
- Indulge
- Imprinted
- Illusion
- Indigestion
Shoreline-
(Location in poem: Line 1: “For those of us who live at the shoreline”)
The line along which a large body of water meets the land.
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “A Litany for Survival”
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Form
The poem doesn't follow a traditional form such as a sonnet or a sestina. Instead, its 44 lines are simply broken into four stanzas of varying lengths, which don't follow any set patterns. As a "litany," or a kind of repetitive prayer or list, the poem also uses lots of anaphora, epistrophe, and general parallelism to create a sense of rhythm and building momentum.
Beyond that, the free-flowing shape of the poem makes sense: the speaker is talking about breaking from a tradition of silence in marginalized communities, and the poem itself is free from strict structures.
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Meter
The poem is written in free verse, meaning it doesn't have a set meter. Instead of a strict, rigid meter, the poem uses direct, everyday language to keeps things conversational and approachable—fitting considering it's meant to mobilize people into standing up against oppression. The poem's frequent repetition (particularly its anaphora, parallelism, and epistrophe) also lends it a steady rhythm and sense of momentum that makes it sound like a rousing speech or call to action.
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Rhyme Scheme
As a free verse poem, "A Litany for Survival" doesn't have a set rhyme scheme. In fact, it steers clear of rhyme altogether, keeping its message straightforward and conversational. The poem uses direct, simple language and avoids pleasing rhythms, opting for other forms of emphasis (such as repetition).
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“A Litany for Survival” Speaker
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The speaker identifies as a member of the group of people being addressed throughout the poem—one of "those who [...] were imprinted with fear" at birth, who "cannot indulge / the passing dreams of choice," and who "love in doorways." While the poem never specifics exactly who these people are, it's clear that they are vulnerable and marginalized by an oppressive society.
It's worth noting that Lorde herself was writing from the intersection of various marginalized identities: she was Black, a lesbian, and a woman. The speaker, then, can be read as representing Lorde herself. At the same time, in keeping the speaker vague the poem allows anyone who has been marginalized or oppressed by the dominant members of society to identify with the poem's message.
The speaker believes that people like this "were never meant to survive," and thus doesn't think they have anything to lose by speaking out against their oppression. In writing this poem, then, the speaker is doing exactly what the poem encourages its intended audience to do: speak up.
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“A Litany for Survival” Setting
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The poem has no literal setting, which keeps its message universal and urgent. The poem is deliberately broad in scope: it's not focused on the oppression of one single group of people in a specific time and place, but rather is calling out to the vulnerable and marginalized members of society in general—anywhere, anytime.
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Literary and Historical Context of “A Litany for Survival”
Literary Context
Audre Lorde (1934-1992) started writing as a young girl and found early inspiration in poets such as John Keats and Edna St. Vincent Millay. Over the course of her life, her writing came to be known for its direct language, its insistence on racial justice, and its bold (and, at the time she was writing, still controversial) representations of queerness.
"Litany for Survival" was first published in her 1978 collection, The Black Unicorn. Like much of her work, this collection dealt largely with issues of race, gender, sexuality, and politics. Many of Lorde's poems can be classified as "protest poems"—poems meant to incite social change.
Lorde was also an important figure of the Black Arts Movement, a Black-led cultural and artistic movement in the 1960s and '70s that rejected many European artistic standards and encouraged Black pride. Other poets from the Black Arts Movement include Amiri Baraka, Gwendolyn Brooks, Ishmael Reed, Nikki Giovanni, and Maya Angelou.
The Black Arts Movement had its roots in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and '30s, which saw many poets similarly rejecting European artistic forms, focusing on Black experiences, and incorporating blues and jazz rhythms into their writing. Like the artists of the Harlem Renaissance, Lorde and other figures of the Black Arts Movement resisted the marginalization they faced from mainstream white institutions and traditions by building their own.
As a woman and a lesbian, Lorde used her poetry to fight against the additional forms of marginalization she experienced. An example of this can be seen in her insistence on publishing “Love Poem” with feminine pronouns despite her editor urging her not to. She later broke with this press (Broadside Press), one of the most important and influential in the Black Arts Movement, over their unwillingness to embrace her as not just a Black mother and teacher, but a lesbian as well.
Historical Context
Lorde was born in Harlem, New York, in 1934, during the Great Depression, and came of age in the 1950s during the civil rights movement. At this time, Black Americans began organizing and protesting racial discrimination particularly in regards to voting. (Though Black men had technically had the right to vote since after the Civil War and women since 1920, states used various forms of voter suppression—anything from poll taxes to literacy tests—to prevent Black people from exercising that right.) Lorde was involved in the movement, and her literary career began to take off in the late 1960s (at which point she also came out as a lesbian).
Lorde found herself unsupported in the feminist spaces of her day, where white feminist academics often refused to acknowledge or address the additional ways in which Black and queer women were marginalized in society. In these spaces, Lorde was often perceived as an angry and overly-critical radical whose own words were not "welcomed." However, through her work, Lorde empowered many Black women (and queer Black women in particular) to embrace activism as a means to improving their lives.
In 1974, Lorde described herself in a magazine as “Black, Woman, Poet, Mother, Teacher, Friend, Lover, Fighter, Sister, Worker, Student, Dreamer, Artisan, Digger of the Earth. Secret: also Impatient, Beautiful, Uppity, and Fat.” She spent much of her life challenging racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia, all of which affected her personally. Though "Litany for Survival" doesn't name any of these systems of oppression outright, its message—to speak out against oppression—is applicable to any number of marginalized groups.
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More “A Litany for Survival” Resources
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External Resources
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The Poem Out Loud — Listen to a recording of Audre Lorde herself reading "A Litany for Survival."
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Interview with the Poet — Check out a 1982 interview with Audre Lorde, conducted by Blanche Cook.
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Lorde's Biography — Read more about Lorde's life and work via the Poetry Foundation.
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The Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism — Read a transcription of a keynote presentation Lorde gave to the National Women’s Studies Association Conference in Storrs, Connecticut in 1981.
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The Black Arts Movement — Learn more about the cultural and artistic movement of which Lorde was a part.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Audre Lorde
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