From dictionary.reference.com
Passion:
1. Any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, as lover or hate.
2. Strong amorous feelings or desire; love; ardo
3. Strong sexual desire; lust
4. An instance or experience of strong love or sexual desire
5. A person towards whom one feels strong love or sexual desire
I became an English major for the simple fact that I love words. Since high school, I have had a "passion" for writing because I think every thought, feeling, and abstract concept has a specific word that precisely and directly captures the author's meaning. This was a lesson learned from my AP English teacher senior year and I will forever be grateful to him for instilling me with this love of language. Life can be a frustrating roller-coaster ride if we stop to think about the inadequacies of language. Personally, I believe it is impossible to ever completely convey your exact point and meaning. The world and humanity are too far grounded in abstraction for a man-made invention, such as language, to accurately capture the enormous complexities of life's little nuances. However, it is the eternal task of the English major to come as close as possible an accurate description and/or explanation of whatever it is we seek to convey....an impossible task that I relish in frequently attempting.
So, why start this post with the meaning of the word "passion"?? Because, it is one of my absolute favorite words in the English language, due to the fact that society frequently underestimates the power of this word by merely reducing it to a definition surrounding its contemporary connotation (aka society ALWAYS associates this word with "sex"). I love this word because often times I find that it is the exact word I need as an English major, but not for the sexual definition. Instead, I love this word because of the implications of the first definition as seen above: Any powerful or compelling emotion. The REAL meaning of this word centers around one's ability to completely loose themselves in an emotion of love/hatred/etc.
I felt that the meaning of Audre Lorde's "The Erotica of Power" could be summed up with this one, single word: passion. The beauty of Lorde's piece is that it encompasses both meanings of the word passion, while striving to convey to the reader that the more important of the two definitions is the first one; the same definition of "passion" that I feel is so important. In response to his piece, I thought of Emily Dickenson's poetry. To me, her work is the epitome of passion, as seen with her word choice in regards to specific topic and her unconventional punctuation. Not having any particular poem in mind, I googled "Emily Dickenson Poetry about Passion" and my favorite result was this:
Wild nights! Wild nights!
Were I with thee,
Wild nights should be
Our luxury!Futile the winds
To a heart in port,
Done with the compass,
Done with the chart.
Rowing in Eden!
Ah! the sea!
Might I but moor
To-night in thee!
Her poem here also conveys both definitions of the word "passion" while arguably placing more significant emphasis on the definition rooted in sexual connotations. However, I liked this piece in that her passion for poetry could be seen clearly through the dramatic punctuation, as is typical with her work. Furthermore, she metaphorically expresses a complete surrendering to savage, sexual desires, which the Feminine Mystique briefly touched on. She carefully illustrates behavior that women grappled with for many years, considering it was typically seen as "unladylike". I feel like Dickenson and Lorde each convey a specific definition of "passion" that is poignant in today's society but it is interesting to see how the two differ while still centering around the same word.
It's funny you should post this definition of the word passion, because throughout the entirety of "Sister Outsider", I couldn't stop wondering how Audre Lorde would define the word "erotic", if she were asked to do so in ten words or less. She essentially attempted to re-define the word, and so I too felt the need to check the dictionary for the word's "popular" definition:
ReplyDeletee·rot·ic [ih-rot-ik] Show IPA
adjective Also, e·rot·i·cal.
1.arousing or satisfying sexual desire: an erotic dance.
2.of, pertaining to, or treating of sexual love; amatory: an erotic novel.
3.subject to or marked by strong sexual desire.
noun
4.an erotic poem.
5.an erotic person.
Origin:
1615–25; < Greek erōtikós of love, caused by love, given to love, equivalent to erōt- (stem of érōs ) Eros + -ikos -ic
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
erotic
1620s (implied in erotical), from Fr. érotique, from Gk. erotikos, from eros (gen. erotos) "sexual love" (see Eros). Eroticize is from 1914. Erotomaniac "one driven mad by passionate love" (sometimes also used in the sense of "nymphomaniac") is from 1858.
The first several options, as you so deftly pointed out, are concerned with the sexual. However, when the etymology of the word is revealed, the focus changes from lust to love, and includes the idea of passion in that one's passion or love for a thing can create a sense of insanity or madness. Several of our readings thus far have suggested that women were always created inferior, or dubbed as the "Other", and Audre Lorde's essay attempts to pin part of the oppression that women experience on the suppression of the erotic as a form of love/passion/intense feeling. This begs the question, has the suppression of the erotic always existed as a form of oppression for women? Because the etymology of the word has led me to hope that this is not the case, and that at one point in time men and women were much more concerned with being in tune to this deepest sense in the body.
I think the point being missed here is that the distinction between lust and love is an artificial one largely propagated by christianity. This distinction has been used to oppress women by casting them as worldly sexual creatures unable commune with god due to heightened bodiliness and lack of intellect.
ReplyDeleteConsider the desexualization of nuns, especially in the case of Teresa of Avila. In order to justify her physical ecstasy, she has to put it in the context of "Mental Prayer" and construct an elaborate synthetic metaphor about the love of god:
"I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the iron's point there seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart, and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of God. The pain was so great, that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it..."
From a modern materialist standpoint, love and sex are coextensive. Erotic is simply Lorde's synthesis of the classical dichotomy.
Let us also not forget that etymological and semantic arguments are formally considered fallacious.
The definition of "erotic" reminds me of the definition of "rabid" on our syllabus. Erotic is biased by the dictionary in the same way that the dictionary references "rabid" feminists. Erotic is completely "sexualized" by the structure of the defintion. Lorde defines erotic as "a measure between the beginnings of our sense of self and the chaos of our strongest feelings." This is not 100% sexual to me and I do not think Lorde meant it to be 100% sexual either. The dictionary, however, defines erotic in 100% sexual terms, whether it is love or lust. This ultimately "essentializes" the term and points straight to women because of the connotation erotic holds. Therefore, I do believe this suppression of erotic, especially in dictionary terms, is an oppression of woman and will continue to exist as an oppression because of the limits of the definition. It does not include any of Lorde's definition, even though I know it is her own, which ultimately takes all other power in Lorde's "measurement" of the potentiality of erotic out of it. This restriction furthers oppression and disregards the most important parts of what erotic actually stands for.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to Dickinson and passion, I do not think this quality of "passion" is specific to just Dickinson. I think that all poetry is the "epitome" of passion because it is made with an amount powerful or compelling emotion or feeling.