‘the desire to be heard, - that is the impulse behind writing poems, for me’ (Adrienne Rich)
Does the poetry of Adrienne Rich speak to you? Write your personal response, referring to the poems of Adrienne Rich that do/ do not speak to you.
The poetry of Adrienne does speak to me, as it makes me aware of the hardship that women have faced in the past which, while focused on by many in the past, is something I have not thought much about. However Rich’s poetry shows me that this is an issue which deserves some attention, as it effectively presents the undue and unfair struggle and hardship that the female sex experienced and still experience. This is achieved with several features of her poetry, such as her variety of register, variety of theme, the seriousness of her poetry and imagery. The poems I shall use to show how Rich’s poetry speaks to me in aforementioned manner are LIVING IN SIN, DIVING INTO THE WRECK, AUNT JENNIFER’S TIGERS, THE UNCLE SPEAKS IN THE DRAWING ROOM, THE ROOFWALKER and OUR WHOLE LIFE.
As I read through her poetry I noticed Rich’s poetry features unusual images which seems not to serve a purpose, but which are heavily focused on, such as a coffee-pot boiling over, or several tigers prancing. These images served two purposes: they caught my eye due to their apparent irrelevance, and then easily presented their messages to me, as they display various instances in which the females are dominated by males, cruelly and unfairly.
In LIVING IN SIN Rich shows how relationships are approached and experienced differently by women and men. She focuses on a relationship where the woman and her husband are not equal; in the poem images are used to show what each member of the relationship faces. While these images are mundane and appear unimportant at first glance, they effectively show the female in an inferior position. The woman is confronted with