• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
OZoFe.Com

OZoFe.Com

Library Of Poetry And Quotations

  • All Poets
  • All Topics
  • Top Poem
  • Top Poets
  • Quotations
    • By Topic
    • Wishes +
Home » Rupi Kaur

Rupi Kaur

Loneliness is a sign you are in desperate need of yourself.Rupi Kaur, Milk and Honey

Rupi Kaur (born 4 October 1992) (Punjabi: ਰੂਪੀ ਕੌਰ) is an Indian-born Canadian poet and author.

Her works have been at the forefront of Instapoetry, a new genre of social-media-centered, short, and easily accessible poetry. She received widespread popularity after the publication of her debut book Milk and Honey (2014) which went on to sell over 2.5 million copies worldwide and spent more than a year on The New York Times Best Seller list. She has been further subject to widespread media fame, after using menstrual blood to create varied forms of visual poetry.

However, critical reviews of her literary works have been observedly negative. Some of the main reoccurring themes reviewers seem to cite problems with are Kaurs' apparent lack of poetic form and depth.

Early Life

Kaur was born into a Sikh family in Punjab, India. She immigrated to Canada with her parents when she was four years old. She was inspired by her mother to draw and paint.

She attended Turner Fenton Secondary School, before studying rhetoric and professional writing at the University of Waterloo.

Amateur

Kaur notes her first performance to be in the basement of the Punjabi Community Health Centre in Malton around 2009. Throughout her high school, Kaur shared her writing anonymously. From 2013 onward, she began sharing her work under her own name on Tumblr before taking to Instagram in 2014, wherein she also started adding simple thematic illustrations.

Professional

Kaur's first book, an anthology titled Milk and Honey (stylized as milk and honey), was published on 4 November 2014. Her inspiration for the book's name came from a past poem which included a line about women surviving terrible times. She describes the change in the women as, "smooth as milk and as thick as honey." A collection of observations, prose, and hand-drawn illustrations, the book is divided into four chapters, and each chapter depicts a different theme.

Book sales of milk and honey surpassed the 2.5 million copy mark. The book was on The New York Times Best Seller list for over 77 weeks. Milk and Honey has since been translated into 25 languages.

Her second book, The Sun and Her Flowers, was published on 3 October 2017. Works in this collection explore a variety of themes including loss, trauma, healing, femininity, migration and revolution.

In 2019, she was commissioned by Penguin Classics to write an introduction for a new edition of Khalil Gibran's The Prophet, in anticipation of that book entering the public domain in the United States.

She currently resides in Toronto, Ontario.

Artistry

As in Gurmukhi script, her work is written exclusively in lowercase, using only the period as a form of punctuation. Kaur writes this way to honour her culture. She has said that she enjoys the equality of letters and that the style reflects her worldview. Her written work is meant to be an experience that is easy for the reader to follow, with simple drawings to elevate her words.

Common themes found throughout her works include abuse, femininity, love, self-care, and heartbreak.

In March 2015, Kaur posted a series of photographs to Instagram depicting herself with menstrual blood stains on her clothing and bed sheets. Described as a piece of visual poetry, it formed her final project for her undergraduate studies and is considered as among her more notable works; intended to challenge prevalent societal menstrual taboos. They were pulled down for not complying with the site's terms of service. Instagram brought back the images; citing a mistaken removal and apologized to her, after being criticized for displaying the very response, that the works intended to critique.

Influences

Kaur draws inspiration from Sikh scriptures. The experience of learning English upon moving to Canada has influenced her writing style.

Poet Nayyirah Waheed has accused poet Kaur of plagiarism, a charge Kaur denies. However, Kaur has stated she takes inspiration from Waheed.

Awards

Kaur was listed in the BBC 100 Women in 2017.

Page 103 From Home Body

Rupi Kaur

Page 154 From Home Body

Rupi Kaur

Page 215 From The Sun And Her Flowers

Rupi Kaur

Page 168 From Home Body

Rupi Kaur

Page 13 From Home Body

Rupi Kaur

Page 75 From Home Body

Rupi Kaur

Page 49 From Milk And Honey

Rupi Kaur

Rest In Peace

Rupi Kaur

Page 106 From Home Body

Rupi Kaur

Self-Harm

Rupi Kaur

Page 196 From Milk And Honey

Rupi Kaur

Page 33 From Home Body

Rupi Kaur

Page 136 From Home Body

Rupi Kaur

Page 157 From Home Body

Rupi Kaur

Page 89 From Milk And Honey

Rupi Kaur

Full

Rupi Kaur

Page 51 From Home Body

Rupi Kaur

Page 107 From Home Body

Rupi Kaur

Irreplaceable

Rupi Kaur

Live Fully

Rupi Kaur

Immigrant

Rupi Kaur

Introvert

Rupi Kaur

When You Ask If We Can Still Be Friends

Rupi Kaur

Responsibility

Rupi Kaur

Balance

Rupi Kaur

Family First

Rupi Kaur Family

I Will Find My Way Out Of You Just Fine

Rupi Kaur

Legacy

Rupi Kaur

Women of Colour

Rupi Kaur

Thank You

Rupi Kaur

Let’s Leave This Place Roofless

Rupi Kaur

I Dont Need More Friends

Rupi Kaur

If You Want To Know The Type Of Man He Is

Rupi Kaur

Boat

Rupi Kaur

Accent

Rupi Kaur

Where The Depression Is From

Rupi Kaur

The One

Rupi Kaur

Green And Blue

Rupi Kaur

We Are Not Each Other’s Competition

Rupi Kaur

You Are Too Late

Rupi Kaur

Lessons From Mumma

Rupi Kaur

The Art of Being Empty

Rupi Kaur

Unibrow

Rupi Kaur

Lift Them

Rupi Kaur

Where The Satisfaction Lives

Rupi Kaur

I Am Complete Simply Because I Am Imperfect

Rupi Kaur

Value

Rupi Kaur

There Is A Difference

Rupi Kaur

The Second Birth

Rupi Kaur

Rest In Peace

Rupi Kaur

You

Rupi Kaur

Warrior

Rupi Kaur

The Underrated Heartache

Rupi Kaur

Productivity Guilt

Rupi Kaur

Never Forget 1984

Rupi Kaur

Disconnected

Rupi Kaur

The Chase

Rupi Kaur

Progress

Rupi Kaur

Parent-guilt

Rupi Kaur

Women of Color

Rupi Kaur

  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • ❯

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Footer

Recent Posts

  • The Ungovernable
  • The Reductions
  • Ekphrastic
  • Bumper Sticker
  • And when I say poem

Advertisements

Recent Comments

  • John King on To My Sister
  • Bonnie Karr-Schuerhoff on Where, Dad?
  • adverse1 on Luck Cat
  • Axel Meier on The Only Good Cop Is A Dead Cop
  • Richard Phillips on Why I Love You: 20 Best Poems About The Reasons I Love You

Copyright © 2023 · OZOFE.COM · ABOUT US · CONTACT US · COPYRIGHT · PRIVACY POLICY · OZOFETEAM@GMAIL.COM

Scroll Up