Letter To My Sister
“Let me learn now where Beauty is; I was born to know her mysteries . . .”
By Anne Spencer
Anne Spencer: The Voice of an Age
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Anne Bethel Spencer-originally Annie Bethel Bannister- was born in
1882 in Henry Country, Virginia.
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After an early parental separation, she was taken care of by a prominent
man in the black community at the time, William T. Dixie.
One of the founders of the Harlem Renaissance Movement, James Weldon
Johnson, discovered Bannister’s gift for poetry and also gave her the pen
name Spencer.
She was won of the prominent figures of the Harlem Renaissance
and the New Negro Movement of the early 1900’s.
In addition to being the first Virginian poet to have her work
published in the Norton Anthology of American Poetry, she was also
the first African American.
She died in Lynchburg, Virginia in 1975.
The Inspiration
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African American’s such as James Weldon
Johnson and W.E.B Dubois were regular visitors
at the Spencer household.
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Discussed everything from politics to current events.
Others, like Marian Anderson and Langston
Hughes as well as members from the NAACP,
influenced Spencer.
She was also an inspiration to many. The
theologian Howard Thurman was so impressed
with Spencer’s life and legacy, that he named his
daughter after the poet.
Letter To My Sister
It is dangerous for a woman
to defy the gods;
To taunt them with the tongue's thin tip,
Or strut in the weakness
of mere humanity,
Or draw a line daring them to cross;
The gods own the searing lightning,
The drowning waters, tormenting fears
And anger of red sins.
Letter To My Sister
Oh, but worse still if you mince timidly-Dodge this way or that, or kneel or pray,
Be kind, or sweat agony drops
Or lay your quick body over
your feeble young;
If you have beauty or none, if celibate
Or vowed--the gods are Juggernaut,
Passing over . . . over . . .
Letter To My Sister
This you may do:
Lock your heart, then, quietly,
And lest they peer within,
Light no lamp when dark comes down
Raise no shade for sun;
Breathless must your
breath come through
If you'd die and dare deny
The gods their god-like fun.
A Letter to My Sister: Read By Samuel Stevens
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It is dangerous for a woman
to defy the gods;
To taunt them with the tongue's thin tip,
Or strut in the weakness
of mere humanity,
Or draw a line daring them to cross;
The gods own the searing lightning,
The drowning waters, tormenting fears
And anger of red sins.
Letter To Samuel Stevens
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Oh, but worse still if you mince timidly-Dodge this way or that, or kneel or pray,
Be kind, or sweat agony drops
Or lay your quick body over
your feeble young;
If you have beauty or none, if celibate
Or vowed--the gods are Juggernaut,
Passing over . . . over . . .
Thank You My Friend.
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This you may do:
Lock your heart, then, quietly,
And lest they peer within,
Light no lamp when dark comes down
Raise no shade for sun;
Breathless must your
breath come through
If you'd die and dare deny
The gods their god-like fun.
The Speaker
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Easily distinguished as a female
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An avid feminist and a voice for all women.
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Actually, in the poem, the title, “A Letter to My Sister” is not meant to be
literal. It can be translated as “A Letter to My Fellow Woman and Friend”.
The word “sister” is meant to convey the bond that females share.
Spencer constructs her speaker as strong and resilient against
the “Gods”.
The Attitude of the Speaker and her Views on the
Situation That She is In
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The poem begins with the speaker explaining that men (who are the
“Gods”) are dangerous to defy or stand up against.
She then goes on (in the 2nd stanza) to tell her fellow “sisters” that they
cannot whimper in fear at the sight of men, or let them have control over
the female life.
She ends her poem by urging the woman to stand strong. While not
necessarily provoking the man into conflict, the speaker is telling her
sisters never to “fall into the man’s trap”, so to speak.