A Litany for Survival

“A Litany for Survival” is written in free verse and divided into four stanzas. Lorde uses the collective first person throughout the poem. Lorde repeats the phrase “those of us” (Lines 1, 15), and the pronoun “we” (throughout Stanza 3) to describe a collective of marginalized peoples. Not only is the speaker part of marginalized groups (Lorde was a Black Marxist lesbian), but the audience for the poem is also marginalized people. The speaker addresses people who are similar to her about their shared experiences.

In the first stanza, marginalization is described in terms of existing in liminal spaces. Liminal means a boundary or a threshold, such as the “shoreline” (Line 1), a boundary between land and water, and “doorways” (Line 6), the boundaries between private residences and public spaces. The shoreline is used metaphorically to compare the literal liminal space where water meets land and “the constant edges of decision” (Line 2). People who are marginalized must decide which of their “crucial” (Line 3) basic needs they can meet and which they have to sacrifice, such as only being able to pay for rent or pay for