Kumin, who died last year, began her career as a stifled housewife selling light verse to magazines, grew into a voice of confession and feminist dissent, and, finally, became Poet Laureate and an eminent New England nature writer.
There have been 45 leaders since the country achieved independence from France in 1804, and for the most part they have pillaged and plundered, ruled as despots, stifled opposition, violated human rights and operated with impunity.
As we see vividly across the Middle East, when forces for change and new ideas are stifled as completely and for as long as they have been in the Israel-Palestinian conflict, sudden and jagged change becomes increasingly likely.
And there is good support from Garrie Harvey as a neurotic tearaway, and Debbie Korley as a sexually stifled teenager.
Possessing unlimited power, he indulged in great willfulness and stifled people morally as well as physically.
In 2008, candidate Obama hailed whistleblowing as "acts of courage and patriotism", which "should be encouraged rather than stifled as they have been during the Bush administration".
This, she said, allowed her to climb "a rung up the ladder," landing roles as Daniel Day Lewis's forbidding wife in "The Crucible" and as Kevin Kline's stifled wife in "The Ice Storm".
The voice became more and more stifled as the lid of the box was lowered.
Our pop-up parties have gained a reputation - there we are less stifled as performers, and by allowing greater expression the audience can see our pride and excitement.
It has become standard at this point to say that Robson is "good for" Murray, a scenario that paints Murray as a seductively stifled all-court Mr Darcy, raw with unrelieved tension.
