Rupi Kaur – Steeped in Feminism

I have been reading Rupi Kaur’s poetry since the fad started in 2014. Whether it was because I was a freshman in college and everything was exciting, or because I never really liked poetry but found hers accessible, I continued to find myself buying her books and really connecting with them. So when I saw she was on the schedule this week, I was excited to learn why that is. I found an article that explores just that – the popularity and goal of poetry like Kaur’s, and how her writing and themes are considered through a feminist lens. 

I found an article titled “Unraveling Milk and Honey: Women’s Voice, Patriarchy, and Sexuality” by Renidia Audinia Siva, Ida Rosida, and Muhammad Azwar, which outlines Rupi Kaur’s first book and breaks down the different sections with a feminist lens. For brevity, I will be referring to the authors as “Siva et al.” One of the topics that Kaur writes about is in fact feminism and her life experiences in patriarchal constructs, where she recognizes she is being abused both by a relationship as well as her own inherent thoughts on what she should be or how she should act. 

Using feminist criticism to analyze Kaur’s book seemed a little on the nose for me, since her writing is centered around female perspectives on sexuality, relationships to men and the world, and an overall struggle with her feminine identity in a world run by patriarchs. But I liked how the authors broke down the chapters individually, noting the specific instances where Kaur’s voice is suppressed and how her instance relates back to the whole of feminist studies. 

The authors discuss the strength and popularity of imagery in this era of “instagram poets” but give a more positive spin on this particular brand of contemporary poetry that can often be dismissed. Silva et al. argue the poets like Kaur who use drawings and illustrations alongside their poetry are actually creating more accessible Poetry, and changing definitions of contemporary poetry and what can be considered “literary”. 

I found the following sentences surprising: 

“Using illustrations in conjunction with poetry highlights connections to patriarchy and sexuality. Other than being a form of poetic expression, illustration emphasizes the visual qualities of poetry and its connections to everyday life.” (Silva et al., 2)

Though I have always liked Kaur’s poetry, I did believe the illustrations were more so for readability, and found they almost weakened the poetry to be less on the same level as that of other contemporary or older, more classic poets. But after reading this sentence and realizing how wrong I was, I’m almost embarrassed – after hearing the viewpoint that the illustrations strengthen her words and the commentary on femininity and sexuality, the poems have another layer of genius and overall strength to them. 

Stylistically, I really appreciated the way the authors framed their thesis statement, setting it apart from the other paragraphs and making sure it stood out from the rest of the background text. Their thesis is as follows:

With the appeal of this poetry collection, this study intends to analyze the practices of patriarchy, sexuality, and its construction in society based on the speaker’s experiences. It is also necessary to investigate these patriarchal values in the poem through a feminist lens and how the speaker conforms to these patriarchal values as a social construction.

Silva et al. definitely achieved their goal, and I found this was mainly through the specific poems and illustrations they included throughout the paper. The first poem they used was the poem with a dining table illustration, quoting a scene where the speaker says, “my father shoves the word hush/between her lips and tells her to/ never speak with her mouth full/ this is how the women in my family/learned to live with their mouths closed” (Siva et al. 4, Kaur 35). They highlight the use of the dining room table, a typical symbol of a family relationship and norm. Drawing attention to the generational suppression of a woman’s voice provides context for Kaur’s particular situation and one of the reasons why she felt her voice shouldn’t be heard due to both societal and familial expectations. Another example I found strengthened their thesis was one with the illustration of a woman with a man’s hand over her mouth. This image is striking, and before reading the poem you are immediately made uncomfortable by this woman’s situation. The poem is a short one, where Kaur says “you were so afraid/of my voice/I decided to be/afraid of it too”, and we are left with a sad feeling where the speaker feels her voice doesn’t matter (Siva et al. 5, Kaur 15). Through a feminist lens, this poem can symbolize the opposite of the initial reading; though the speaker’s partner (read as a man based on a man’s hand covering the mouth) is causing her to want to hide a piece of herself, it is also noted this is because he is afraid. In that context, the poem is a symbol of the woman’s strength, because her voice and words are so strong that someone would want to silence them because they are afraid. 

Overall, I liked how this article highlighted the strengths of the feminist aspects of Kaur’s poetry, and gave me a newfound perspective and appreciation for poetry I already loved. 

*Also, I’m including some funny imitation Rupi Kaur poems I saw on Instagram. Please enjoy 🙂

Siva, Renidia Audinia; Rosida, Ida; and Azwar, Muhammad (2023) “Unraveling Milk and Honey: Women’s Voice, Patriarchy, and Sexuality,” Journal of International Women’s Studies: Vol. 25: Iss. 1, Article 17. Available at: https://vc.bridgew.edu/jiws/vol25/iss1/17