Cultivating Intimacy: The Use of the Second Person in Lyric Poetry

Philosophers discussing lyric poetry often focus on first personal expression as a mark of the “lyric,” which has resulted in a narrow characterization of the nature of intimacy in lyric poetry that focuses on the individual poet, poetic voice, or reader. In this article, I highlight a valuable way in which some works of lyric poetry can engage us in a kind of intimate relationship that connects the reader with the voice of the poem through the use of the second person. In illustrating my claims, I focus on Claudia Rankine’s collection of poems Citizen.