narrator (I assume it to be Lorde herself) speaks to the reader not from an objective
             perspective but rather from a first-person point-of-view. This instantly gives the poem a
             certain amount of integrity; we are hearing the words straight from the horse's mouth, so to
             speak. Lorde uses repetition, so we must assume that those lines that repeat have some
             special importance, perhaps superior in relevance to the poem. She begins the first line with
             the words "My mother had two faces" (and we all know the importance of the first line).
             She repeats this later in the same stanza, in fact, only four lines later. This immediately
             reinforces the tone of the poem (and, in turn, the mood, as well). An even more obvious
             instance of repetition occurs in the fourth stanza, in which the narrator repeats the same line
             three times consecutively: "Mother I need...." This immediately tells the reader to pay
             attention to what follows. The resulting impact of the line is thus made more effective:
             "mother I need your blackness now as the august earth needs rain." This
             ...