--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I was apprehensive. I feared every time I…" description: "\"I was apprehensive. I feared every time I talked about poetry, it would be filtered through the lens of race, sex, and age.\" — Rita Dove" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f3/rita-dove-4855_age_i-was-apprehensive-i-feared-every-time-i_1593721.jpg" --- # I was apprehensive. I feared every time I talked about… ![“I was apprehensive. I feared every time I talked about poetry, it would be filtered through the lens of race, sex, and age.” quote by Rita Dove](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f3/rita-dove-4855_age_i-was-apprehensive-i-feared-every-time-i_1593721.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f3/rita-dove-4855_age_i-was-apprehensive-i-feared-every-time-i_1593721.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f3/rita-dove-4855_age_i-was-apprehensive-i-feared-every-time-i_1593721.jpg) > “I was apprehensive. I feared every time I talked about poetry, it would be filtered through the lens of race, sex, and age.” [Rita Dove](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rita-dove/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The speaker worries that discussions of poetry will be reduced to identity categories, limiting artistic appreciation. **In simple terms:** Fear of being judged by race, sex, or age. Key Takeaway Seek authentic expression beyond labels. Themes identity art vulnerability Mood anxious reflective Type personal philosophical When to use this quote - literary workshops - public readings - academic conferences Key Concepts intersectionality creative freedom Questions to Reflect On - How can you discuss poetry without invoking identity? - What benefits arise from acknowledging identity? A Different Perspective Identity can also enrich, not just limit, interpretation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Age](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/age/) [Apprehensive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/apprehensive/) [Apprehensive Feared](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/apprehensive-feared-6045714/) [Feared](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feared/) [Feared Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feared-time-2425864/) [Lenses](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lenses/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Race](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/race/) [Sex](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sex/) [Talked Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/talked-poetry-1327358/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Would be](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/would-be/) ## Related quotes > [“But she feared time itself... the dwindling of life; how year by year her share was sliced; how, little the margin that remained was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/but-she-feared-time-itself-the-dwindling-of-life-how-year-by-year-her/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“Poetry's unnat'ral; no man ever talked in poetry 'cept a beadle on boxin' day, or Warren's blackin' or Rowland's oil, or some o' them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/poetry-s-unnat-ral-no-man-ever-talked-in-poetry-cept-a-beadle-on/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [Poetry's unnat'ral; no man ever talked poetry 'cept a beadle on boxin' day.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/poetry-s-unnat-ral-no-man-ever-talked-poetry-cept-a-beadle-on-boxin/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [Every generation looks at literature through the lens of their own experience, but with the Bible, everyone gets apprehensive and thinks it'll be too…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-kirn/every-generation-looks-at-literature-through-the-lens-of-their-own/) [Walter Kirn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-kirn/) > [“I am both eager to return and apprehensive of what awaits me at my journey's end.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-l-james/i-am-both-eager-to-return-and-apprehensive-of-what-awaits-me-at-my/) [E.L. 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The rest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rita-dove/there-are-distinct-duties-of-a-poet-laureate-i-plan-a-reading-series/) [Rita Dove](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rita-dove/) > [My first advice would be to read, read, read, which sounds interesting coming in a digital age, but it's so much easier to listen…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rita-dove/my-first-advice-would-be-to-read-read-read-which-sounds-interesting/) [Rita Dove](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rita-dove/) > [To me, a poem is almost like someone whispering to another person, or you hear the whispering in your head. I hope with my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rita-dove/to-me-a-poem-is-almost-like-someone-whispering-to-another-person-or/) [Rita Dove](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rita-dove/) > [I was not interested in doing the plot of OEDIPUS in blackface. 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