19 pages • 38 minutes read
Audre LordeA Litany for Survival
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1978A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
“Hanging Fire” by Audre Lorde (1978)
This poem was published in The Black Unicorn, along with “A Litany for Survival.” In “Hanging Fire,” Lorde discusses racism in the United States, as well as colorism within her family. Racism and colorism are some of the ways that the marginalized people in “A Litany for Survival” are oppressed.
“Power” by Audre Lorde (1978)
Lorde’s poem “Power” explores the deaths of young Black people in the United States. It specifically looks at the case of Clifford Glover, a 10-year-old who was killed by a racist cop. This is one fear of marginalized people, and could be listed alongside the other fears in “A Litany for Survival.”
“Coal” by Audre Lorde (1968)
This poem comes from an earlier collection of Lorde’s poetry. However, both poems discuss the power of speech.
Further Literary Resources
“The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action” by Audre Lorde (1978)
This is an essay by Lorde that was published around the same time as The Black Unicorn. She compares this essay with “A Litany for Survival” in an interview with Adrienne Rich—both discuss silence and speaking.
This is a documentary film that also uses Lorde’s poem title “A Litany for Survival.” While this documentary is hard to find, there is a Bomb Magazine article with excerpts from the film that can enrich analysis of its poetic inspiration.
Excerpts from Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde (2007)
This Evergreen College website includes several of Lorde’s important essays, including “Poetry is Not a Luxury.” This essay helps the reader understand the importance of marginalized people speaking out and creating art, which Lorde discusses in “A Litany for Survival.” Also, this essay inspired an Instagram poetry account.
“The Legacy of Audre Lorde” by Roxane Gay (2020)
This is a reprint of Gay’s introduction to a volume of collected work by Lorde. It offers context about Lorde’s legacy, which is a theme of “A Litany for Survival.”
Listen to Poem
This reading was recorded by Audre Lorde in the late 1970s, and was posted as part of the West Virginia University Library’s 2021 exhibition on the poet.
Related Titles
By Audre Lorde
