In the opening lines of Lordes Power, "The difference between poetry and rhetoric/is being/ready to kill/yourself/instead of your children"(1-5), she immediately stresses the importance of putting your child before yourself. This is a metaphor for putting the needs of what is truly important before the needs of oneself. It is not only stated simply and bluntly, but the way the lines are broken up accent the idea. "Ready to kill"(3) is on its own line, while "yourself"(4) is on the next. This is the theme that is running throughout the entire poem.

In the next section of Lordes poem she describes a dreamlike situation. This is where her son has been shot, probably in the face. Although "blood from his punctured cheeks and shoulde

rs/is the only liquid for miles"(9-10), "my mouth splits into dry lips"(12). With the death of her boy she is willing to sacrifice her own need of any quenching of her lips. She is "thirsting for the wetness of his blood"(14) but it is more important to resist the temptation, "trying to make power out of hatred and destruction"(18).

Marie Curie was born in Poland and would become famous for her research into radioactivity. She died as a result of this research and the over-exposure to the element she was working with. In living with the knowledge that she was suffering from ailments due to her work Curie she became a more empowered and powerful person. The idea that "she must have known she suffered from radiation sickness"(7) yet continued on in the search proved that "her wounds came from the same source as her power"(17). The wounds were her power. Curie knew that she had suffered and did not back down or fall to the wayside, she was up for the challenge. "The element/she had purified"(9) was important for the greater good of mankind, and Curie put that before herself.

In looking at Adrienne Rich's Power one senses the same theme as in that of Lorde's Power. This is the tenet that one must put the good of a greater or another

Some common words found in the essay are:
Lordes Power, Marie Curie, Audre Lorde, Lorde's Power, Rich's Power, power women, lordes power, marie curie, section lordes, sense power, power hatred,
Approximate Word count = 855
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)