“Power” Introduction

• Read the full text of “Power”

“Power” Summary

“Power” Themes

• 

  Poetry vs. Rhetoric

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-4
  • Lines 16-18
  • Lines 43-48
• 

  The Pain and Burden of Racism

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Lines 5-55
• 

  Police Brutality and Racial Injustice

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Lines 5-20
  • Lines 21-28
  • Lines 29-33

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Power”

• Lines 1-4

  The difference between ...
  ... of your children.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-7

  I am trapped ...
  ... of my sleep

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 8-16

  blood from his ...
  ... I am lost

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 17-20

  without imagery or ...
  ... his bones quicker.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 21-24

  A policeman who ...
  ... At his trial

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 25-28

  this policeman said ...
  ... prove that, too.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 29-33

  Today that 37 ...
  ... had been done

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 34-42

  and one Black ...
  ... for our children.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 43-48

  I have not ...
  ... an unconnected wire

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 49-55

  and one day ...
  ... beasts they are.”

  

  

  

  

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“Power” Symbols

• 

  Motherhood

  Where this symbol appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-4: “The difference between poetry and rhetoric / is being ready to kill / yourself / instead of your children.”
  • Lines 19-20: “trying to heal my dying son with kisses / only the sun will bleach his bones quicker.”
  • Lines 39-42: “until she let go / the first real power she ever had / and lined her own womb with cement / to make a graveyard for our children.”
  • Lines 51-52: “raping an 85 year old white woman / who is somebody's mother”
• 

  The Desert

  Where this symbol appears in the poem:

  • Line 5: “I am trapped on a desert of raw gunshot wounds”
  • Lines 15-16: “as it sinks into the whiteness / of the desert where I am lost”
  • Line 20: “only the sun will bleach his bones quicker.”

“Power” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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  Where enjambment appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-2: “rhetoric / is”
  • Lines 2-4: “kill / yourself / instead”
  • Lines 5-6: “wounds / and”
  • Lines 6-7: “black / face”
  • Lines 7-8: “sleep / blood”
  • Lines 8-9: “shoulders / is”
  • Lines 9-10: “miles / and”
  • Lines 10-11: “stomach / churns”
  • Lines 11-12: “while / my”
  • Lines 12-13: “lips / without”
  • Lines 13-14: “reason / thirsting”
  • Lines 14-15: “blood / as”
  • Lines 15-16: “whiteness / of”
  • Lines 16-17: “lost / without”
  • Lines 17-18: “magic / trying”
  • Lines 18-19: “destruction / trying”
  • Lines 19-20: “kisses / only”
  • Lines 21-22: “Queens / stood”
  • Lines 22-23: “blood / and”
  • Lines 23-24: “and / there”
  • Lines 24-25: “trial / this”
  • Lines 25-26: “defense / “I”
  • Lines 26-27: “else / only”
  • Lines 27-28: “And / there”
  • Lines 29-30: “man / with”
  • Lines 30-31: “forcing / was”
  • Lines 31-32: “free / by”
  • Lines 32-33: “satisfied / justice”
  • Lines 33-34: “done / and”
  • Lines 34-35: “said / “They”
  • Lines 35-36: “meaning / they”
  • Lines 36-37: “frame / over”
  • Lines 37-38: “coals / of”
  • Lines 38-39: “approval / until”
  • Lines 39-40: “go / the”
  • Lines 40-41: “had / and”
  • Lines 41-42: “cement / to”
  • Lines 43-44: “destruction / within”
  • Lines 45-46: “use / the”
  • Lines 46-47: “rhetoric / my”
  • Lines 47-48: “mold / or”
  • Lines 48-49: “wire / and”
  • Lines 49-50: “plug / and”
  • Lines 50-51: “socket / raping”
  • Lines 51-52: “woman / who”
  • Lines 52-53: “mother / and”
  • Lines 53-54: “bed / a”
  • Lines 54-55: “time / “Poor”

• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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  Where caesura appears in the poem:

  • Line 24: “it. At”
  • Line 27: “color”. And”
  • Line 55: “thing. She,” “soul. What”

• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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  Where metaphor appears in the poem:

  • Line 5: “a desert of raw gunshot wounds”
  • Lines 8-9: “blood from his punctured cheeks and shoulders / is the only liquid for miles”
  • Line 12: “my mouth splits into dry lips”
  • Lines 14-16: “thirsting for the wetness of his blood / as it sinks into the whiteness / of the desert where I am lost”
  • Line 20: “only the sun will bleach his bones quicker.”
  • Lines 41-42: “and lined her own womb with cement / to make a graveyard for our children.”
  • Lines 49-50: “and one day I will take my teenaged plug / and connect it to the nearest socket”

• Simile

  

  

  

  

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  Where simile appears in the poem:

  • Lines 47-49: “my power too will run corrupt as poisonous mold / or lie limp and useless as an unconnected wire / and one day I will take my teenaged plug”

• Imagery

  

  

  

  

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  Where imagery appears in the poem:

  • Lines 5-9: “I am trapped on a desert of raw gunshot wounds / and a dead child dragging his shattered black / face off the edge of my sleep / blood from his punctured cheeks and shoulders / is the only liquid for miles”
  • Line 12: “my mouth splits into dry lips”
  • Line 14: “thirsting for the wetness of his blood”
  • Line 20: “only the sun will bleach his bones quicker.”
  • Line 22: “stood over the boy with his cop shoes in childish blood”
  • Lines 36-37: “they had dragged her 4'10'' black Woman's frame / over the hot coals”
  • Line 41: “and lined her own womb with cement”
  • Line 53: “and as I beat her senseless and set a torch to her bed”

• Consonance

  

  

  

  

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  Where consonance appears in the poem:

  • Line 5: “desert”
  • Line 6: “dead child dragging”
  • Line 8: “punctured cheeks,” “shoulders”
  • Line 9: “only liquid,” “miles”
  • Line 12: “my mouth,” “splits into,” “lips”
  • Line 13: “loyalty”
  • Line 14: “thirsting,” “wetness”
  • Line 15: “sinks,” “whiteness”
  • Line 17: “imagery,” “magic”
  • Line 20: “bleach,” “bones”
  • Line 22: “shoes,” “childish”
  • Line 41: “womb with cement”
  • Line 45: “unless,” “learn”
  • Line 47: “power,” “run corrupt,” “poisonous mold”
  • Line 48: “lie limp,” “useless”
  • Line 49: “take,” “teenaged”
  • Line 50: “connect it to,” “nearest socket”
  • Line 51: “white woman”
  • Line 53: “senseless,” “set”
  • Line 54: “chorus,” “3/4”

• Repetition

  

  

  

  

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  Where repetition appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “The difference between poetry and rhetoric”
  • Line 18: “trying to”
  • Line 19: “trying to”
  • Lines 23-24: “and / there are tapes to prove it”
  • Lines 27-28: “And / there are tapes to prove that, too.”
  • Line 46: “the difference between poetry and rhetoric”

• Asyndeton

  

  

  

  

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  Where asyndeton appears in the poem:

  • Lines 7-8: “sleep / blood”
  • Lines 18-19: “destruction / trying”

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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  Where alliteration appears in the poem:

  • Line 5: “desert”
  • Line 6: “dead,” “dragging”
  • Line 12: “my mouth”
  • Line 14: “wetness”
  • Line 15: “whiteness”
  • Line 19: “son,” “kisses”
  • Line 20: “sun,” “bleach,” “bones,” “quicker”
  • Line 48: “lie limp”
  • Line 49: “take,” “teenaged”
  • Line 51: “white woman”
  • Line 53: “senseless,” “set”

“Power” 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.

• Rhetoric
• Punctured
• Queens
• Hot coals
• Corrupt
• Greek chorus
• 3/4 time

• (Location in poem: Line 1: “The difference between poetry and rhetoric”; Line 46: “rhetoric”)

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Power”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Power” Speaker

“Power” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Power”

More “Power” Resources

• External Resources

  • "Jury Clears Shea in Killing of Boy" — Read The New York Times's article about Shea's acquittal from June 13, 1974.

  • "Echoing Since 1973" — Read a New York Times article written shortly after the murder of Walter Scott, who was shot in the back by a police officer in 2015. The author explores how the crime echoes Glover's killing many decades earlier.

  • Audre Lorde's Biography — Read about the poet's life and literary works.

  • "Power" Out Loud — Listen to "Power" read aloud.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Audre Lorde

  • A Litany for Survival

  • A Woman Speaks

  • Coal