Rupi Kaur, the author of the New York Times bestseller 'milk and honey'and 'the sun and her flowers', writes poetry for women across the world. At the young age of 4, Kaur moved from Punjab, India to Canada. She went to a school where she did not speak the same language as the other children, therefore her mother taught her to express herself through the means of art.
Kaur crafts poems based on her life experiences in an effort to empathize with those who have gone through difficult times. She touches on a wide variety of topics, from rape, anger, abuse, love, heartbreak, growing, and healing, in very raw, and unorthodox ways.
Kaur's work grants words, words for those who don't know how to speak about what has happened to them. Her poetry provides an outlet and a confidante for those who feel desolate and isolated within their issues. Poems such as "questions" that reflect the internal conflict felt by Kaur after she was left by a significant other, and "to fathers with daughters", a poem written about abuse from a father figure, mirror this notion of comradery that is riddled through her work, allowing the reader to feel as if they aren't the only one to have suffered these tragedies, but that there is someone else who has been there too.
Kaur constructs her poems with a broken sentence structure, free verse, vivid illustrations, repetition, which leads to a uniquely organized line scheme. These allow women to feel as if someone relates to them. She also strays from a rhyme scheme, or formed poetry; her approach is very freeing and unique. This is what makes her poetry so wildly loved. It doesn't have to fit into confines, rather it flows unreservedly from her mind onto the paper.
For this analysis, I have combined a selection of Kaur's poetry that represents tragedy. "questions", [when you are broken], "to fathers with daughters", [but then.], "answers", "all you own is yourself", and "the underrated heartache" are prime examples of Kaur's poetry genre. These works exemplify the key components of Kaur's genre; possessing themes of echo, intense illustrations, free verse, and broken sentence form to allow for a greater connection between Kaur and her reader.One of the main components of Kaur's tragic poetry is her broken sentence structure. This is something unique to Kaur's work, as most poet's separate lines by a rhyme scheme or rhythm pattern. Kaur attempts to break the lines to emphasize particular words within the poem to make that individual word stronger. "answers", from milk and honey, although it may be short, conveys passion and emotion deeper than some novels do. The words themselves, "the way they leave tells you everything" is powerful on its own, but does not convey the message as it does with the way Kaur formats it. The word "leave", sitting on its own, helps the reader to understand the void that people inflict on others when they leave. Another poem of Kaur's that respects this pattern is "to fathers with daughters". Kaur takes a step back to look at her life to realize why she makes the choices she does. Like most of her poetry, her line breaks are sporadic but purposeful. The one that stands out is the last line, that reads "like you". This puts the blame for the writer's poor choice in men, onto her father, her abuser. Kaur's decisive line breaks provide the reader with a way to relate to her feelings, to her anger. The individualized "out of love" also visually stand out, emphasizing the depravity of the notion of "anger with kindness". This permits the reader insight into how Kaur copes with her abuse and offers a reason to why we are so quick to forgive those who have caused us this insurmountable amount of pain. Lastly, [when you are broken], reminds the reader that they are a force to be reckoned with, not a burden. Here, her word placement is very deliberate. When looking at the poem, the word "enough" sticks out the most on the page, because it sits on a line by itself. In this poem, Kaur puts the word enough on its own, to signify that our worth is not determined by another person. The separation of "enough" splits the poem into two halves, where the first part discusses how to cope with those feelings. Kaur utilizes this separation of "enough" to make the poem more effective, and seemingly more powerful.
One of my personal favorite qualities about Kaur's poetry is the vivid illumination behind the words she is writing. "the underrated heartache" compares giving up on a loved one to cancer, a headache, and a tsunami. An ended relationship is not actually cancerous, but when the words sit that raw on the page, it makes it easy to visualize. The process of losing a battle with cancer, and losing a friend, is equally painful, which Kaur beautifully demonstrates here.
Another poem of Kaur's that depicts situations as grim as this, is "questions". Kaur's repetition of the phrase, "are you" in the first two lines grabs attention to the turmoil she is encountering. In common grammatical practices, both of these phrases would be followed by a question mark, but Kaur almost never uses punctuation. This aids both visually and mentally to the fact that she is not getting answers to these questions, that these questions are more of a stream of words without response. She also states, "do you think you'd reach out and hold me". Like the lines before it, it lacks the question mark it demands.
Without capitalization and punctuation, the text makes Kaur seem small, and insignificant, which is how this boy has made her feel. [but then.] also has screamingly prominent imagery riddled through its lines. Kaur writes, "all the love would rise up again. it would pour through my eyes as if it never really left". Obviously, love cannot come out our eyes, but she uses this metaphor to create this picture of the boy standing next to Kaur, and the tears streaming down her face, in the love that she never lost for him. This statement is so powerful, it often brings me to tears, thinking about how we never truly stop loving people, we just learn to love them less.
One element of traditional poetry that Kaur stays true to is repetition. Although the concept of repetition may seem elementary in theory, it's quite powerful in grabbing attention to a certain word or phrase to make a point. In her poem, "all you own is yourself", she reiterates the words, "let it go, let it leave, let it happen". The repetition of this phrase creates an echo which demonstrates to the reader the importance of letting go. Kaur constructed this poem to portray the need to love yourself before you love anyone else and that you only own yourself. Kaur also utilizes repetition in "the underrated heartache", in the last line in the poem, "a loss is a loss is a loss". Kaur emphasizes the pain of the end of a friendship and compares it to things such as cancer, or a headache, but in the end, it's just as excruciating as a breakup. In Kaur's eyes, all loss is the same.
Rupi Kaur has blessed womankind with her tragic poetry, that gives us a feeling of companionship in our heartbreak. Her freestyle, broken sentence structure, vivid illustrations, and repetition lead to well developed and received poems.
Kaur strives to create poems for those who don't have a voice.
Her words have influenced many, with the way she has crafted her work. Kaur's work will forever be unique and amazing in its own individual way.
