Work Classification Layer
Compare Works
Pick two or more works to set their attribute fingerprints, dimension-by-dimension passages, and shared school embodiments side by side. Especially useful for author-stage comparisons (Wittgenstein early vs late) and for setting a single tradition's foundational texts against each other.
The Black Unicorn
Lorde's 1978 poetry collection — Yoruba mythology in service of a Black-feminist mythopoeia
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | The Black Unicorn (Mid) |
|---|---|
| Time · Extent | Infinite |
| Time · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Time · Grain | Continuous |
| Time · Freedom | Non-Deterministic |
| Time · Traversability | Non-Linear |
| Time · Dimensionality | One |
| Time · Direction | Bi-directional |
| Space · Extent | Infinite |
| Space · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Space · Curvature | Flat |
| Space · Dimensionality | Three |
| Space · Locality | Local |
| Matter · Extent | Infinite |
| Matter · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Matter · Conservation | Conserved |
| Matter · Dimensionality | Three |
| Matter · Locality | Local |
| Observer · Time Instance | Single |
| Observer · Space Instance | Single |
| Observer · Knowledge Extent | Partial |
| Observer · Knowledge Retainment | Total |
| Observer · Physicality | Embodied |
| Observer · Agency | Active |
| Observer · Number | Plural |
| Observer · Metaphysical Agency | Personal |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Experience |
| Observer · Theological Method | — |
| Energy · Extent | Infinite |
| Energy · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Energy · Conservation | Conserved |
| Energy · Dispersibility | Reversible |
| Information · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Information · Cosmic Conservation | Conserved |
| Information · Personal Conservation | Conserved |
| Information · Granularity | Continuous |
Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence
What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.
Time
The Black Unicorn
The 1970s American moment of Black-feminist consolidation.
Space
The Black Unicorn
The diasporic geography — Africa, the Caribbean, Black America.
Matter
The Black Unicorn
The embodied Black woman whose poems articulate.
Observer
The Black Unicorn
The Black-lesbian poet as proper subject of mythopoeic articulation.
Energy
The Black Unicorn
The mythological-erotic energies of the Yoruba pantheon.
Information
The Black Unicorn
The Yoruba-mythological knowledge as poetic resource.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
Lorde's mythopoeic register has been variously assessed — defenders see proper Black-feminist mythography, critics worry about appropriation of West African religious materials by an African-American writer.