Hispanic Women Worker

Use Audre Lorde's "Poetry is Not a Luxury" and T. de Lauretis's "Desire in Narrative" to read May Sarton's poem "The Muse as Medusa." Expand May Sarton's project of remaking/retaking the gaze by examining what Audre Lorde and T. de Lauretis understand about the power of looking.

The power of looking resides in our agency. The supremacy of Ð''seeing; being seen' gives a sense of self, which enables us to encompass our power and identity as an individual. As humans, we obsess about how we look; our conventional femininity. All bodies are heavily disciplined and concerned of our individuality by others' gazes. The gaze allows us to be independent and create an image of ourselves, because we Ð''have been seen.' Medusa's agency is related to her power, which projects her superior image of femininity. Attaining someone's power of looking at your art, such as poetry and cinema, acknowledges their sense of being. Artists gain satisfaction by perceiving things in a different perspective. The worst thing for an artist is to be abandoned by their inspiration. Art and woman are comparable, because both require the capacity Ð''to be looked at.' Medusa, women's feminist image, is the demonic form of the Muse, who empowers the significance of the artists.

In "The Muse as Medusa," May Sarton portrays that the worst occurrence of a poet is the desertion of her muse. A Muse is a personified inspiration or a source of an artist's motivation. Sarton's gaze is focused on Medusa and not the reader throughout the stanzas. She is grateful for Medusa's inspiration that allowed her to perceive creatively: "I turn your face around! It is my face./ That frozen rage is what I must explore-/ Oh secret, self-enclosed, and ravaged place!/ This is the gift I thank Medusa for" (Sarton 24-28). Sarton thanks Medusa for this poem and explains that poetry is an irreplaceable love. In connection, Audre Lorde expands this notion and depicts that poetry is a necessity for survival. According to "Poetry is Not a Luxury," Audre Lorde explains that the power of looking as the ability to look deeply and transform this action into words. It allows us to endure isolation and enlightens our views in which we proclaim our dreams: "Ð'...I speak here of poetry as a revelatory distillation of experience, not the sterile word play that, too often, the white fathers distorted the word poetry to mean Ð'- in order to cover a desperate wish for imagination without insight" (Lorde 37). The accurate kind of light in which we closely examine our thoughts enables us to scrutinize our intimate lives. Formless mass needs to be formed and contributed because the world needs the element of sharing. Lorde exemplifies that each women like May Sarton comes to know her individuality and expresses her poetry. The power Sarton acquired from Medusa enabled Sarton to look deeply and put her perceptions and emotions into words.

May Sarton explains that her gaze is targeted on Medusa and away from the reader. She portrays that her muse is the purpose of her artistic talent. Sarton portrays that through projection she surrenders to Medusa's power. Her poetic creativity is considered to be her image. Sarton uses Medusa as the figurative Ð''to be looked at,' allowing her to think in a different perspective: "I saw you once, Medusa; we were along./ I looked you straight in the cold eye, cold./ I was not punished, was not turned to stone--/ How to believe the legends I am told?// I came as naked as any little fish,/ Prepared to be hooked, gutted, caught;/ But I saw you, Medusa, made my wish,/ And when I left you I was clothed in thoughtÐ'..." (Sarton 1-8). Throughout the stanzas, Medusa is portrayed like a hero since she is a motivated force who Sarton is thankful for. The fish in Sarton's poem are images that symbolize her thoughts that