Shelby+Curren_Adrienne+Rich

Adrienne Rich

** “Our Whole Life” **  ** -Adrienne Rich ** Our whole life a translation  the permissible fibs and now a knot of lies  eating at itself to get undone Words bitten thru words meanings burnt-off like paint  under the blowtorch All those dead letters  rendered into the oppressor’s language Trying to tell the doctor where it hurts  like the Algerian   who has walked from his village, burning his whole body a cloud of pain  and there are no words for this except himself Adrienne Rich’s poem “Our Whole Life” reflects deeply on the transmission and transparency of relationships as they form on “permissible fibs” (1.2). To begin, permissible is an adjective meaning permitted or allowed. I find this fitting as, too often, conversations become shallow and made of accepted responses and actions that might not be genuine. These fibs are recognizable in small talk such as when one responds “good” when another asks how he or she is doing. The responder might be conflicted in his or her answer but he or she will still respond as so out of convenience. Because of habit and hollow relationships, these unconscious lies pervert our sense of friendship and demean our relationships because conversations are based on lies. Obviously in this poem Rich is referring to more serious relationships that have been through some sort of hardship or neglect that result in these lies. Because of this, the “knot of lies eats as itself to get undone” (2.3-4). This metaphor personifies the lie as a knot that desperately tries to unfold itself in order to release the trapped truth. Rich further expands on this as she explains that the words that formulate lying words bite at themselves in order to reveal the underlying meanings of such lies (3.5). This search for meaning is directly addressed through metaphor as one is forced to burn meanings out of lies with the intensity that one burns “paint under the blowtorch” (4.6-7). Lies and normality convert the routine responses not only into translations of their intent but also into indicators of the distance that is put between relationships due to lack of sincerity. In this way, the gestures become “dead letters” (5.8) that serve to communicate in an “oppressor’s language” (5.9) rather than one of a loved one. The reference to the doctor in line ten indicates that, in this shallow relationship, the two people are unable to communicate just as one might not be able to communicate to a doctor, whom one should trust with medical information, where “it hurts” (6.10). The rest of the poem focuses on an allusion to the Algerian War of Independence. Rich mentions an “Algerian” in line eleven and because the war began in 1954, a year before she wrote this poem, it is probable that she is referencing the war. This allusion enhances the meaning because when one corrupts a relationship with such false foundations, he or she inflicts pain on him or herself. The inclusion of the “Algerian” (6.11) intensifies the visual of self-wrought pain in one’s relationships. This concludes that one’s actions in forming one’s life around lies cannot be blamed on anyone “except himself” (8.15).

Link to information on the [|Algerian War of Independence]

** “Apology” **  ** -Adrienne Rich ** You, invisibly yourself,  Have nothing left to say. The stones upon the mountainside  Are not more free,   Bearing all question, all reproach   Without reply. The dead, who keep their peace intact,  Although they know   Much we might be gainers by,   Are proud like you—   Or, if they spoke, might sound as you   Sounded just now. For every angry, simple man  The word is but   A shadow, and his motive grows   More still and great   While the world hums around him, wild   That he should explicate. And Socrates whose crystal tongue  Perturbs us now,   Left all unsatisfied; the word   Can never show   Reason enough for what a man   Knows he must do. You told us little, and are done. So might the dead  Begin to speak of dying, then   Leave half unsaid. Silence like thunder bears its own  Excuse for dread.

Link to an [|interview] on love & a recitation of one of Rich’s poems.

Adrienne Rich’s poem “Apology” addresses the feelings left unsaid in a shallow apology. When this particular person apologizes, the narrator can tell that there is more to the story that he is refraining from telling her. Rich describes the apologizer as “invisible” (1.1) because what does not tell her is unknown and therefore invisible to her. This restriction he puts upon himself by not further explaining renders himself “not more free” (1.4) than “the stones upon the mountainside” (1.3). Because he does not accurately explain his remorse, the narrator is unable to truly forgive him and therefore free him from whatever it is that he needs forgiveness for. With such lack of information, the narrator begs for understanding just as the stones wait “without reply” (1.6). Rich then expands on the anticipation through metaphor. She uses the dead as an example because they have coveted knowledge of death, which, as mortals, “we might be gainers by” (2.9). Just like them, he keeps wanted information from the narrator as he “sound just now” (2.12) when he blandly apologized. Rich then goes to describe the apologizer in more general sense as she addresses “every angry, simple man” (3.13). In these terms, she refers to his apology as “a shadow” (3.15) with a growing “motive more still and great” (3.15-16). She senses the intensity that he feigns to explain and can feel it looming just like a shadow above him. This abstract imagery forms the feeling of mistrust that the narrator has in forgiving him. She concludes this stanza by characterizing herself as the world as she “hums around him, wild that he should explicate” (3.17-18) his intentions. She then progresses to compare her distress to that of those who study Socrates as such students are “left all unsatisfied” (4.21) because of the complexities that lie in his theories. The last stanza concludes his apology and her reaction. Her terse statement, “you told us little, and are done” (5.25) reflects the minimalistic approach of his apology and hints at how short and unexpressive it was. This simplicity outlines her frustration as she knows there is much more beneath this that is left unsaid. She amplifies this as she concludes with talk of the dead as they leave “excuse for dread” (5.30). This dread is due to the turmoil that is instilled when one begins to explain and builds up anticipation only to leave questions unanswered and apologies unexplained.

“Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers” Adrienne Rich

Aunt Jennifer's tigers prance across a screen, Bright topaz denizens of a world of green. They do not fear the men beneath the tree; They pace in sleek chivalric certainty.

Aunt Jennifer's fingers fluttering through her wool Find even the ivory needle hard to pull. The massive weight of Uncle's wedding band Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer's hand.

When Aunt is dead, her terrified hands will lie Still ringed with ordeals she was mastered by. The tigers in the panel that she made Will go on prancing, proud and unafraid. In “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers” Rich discusses another complicated relationship between a woman and man. This poem takes place in an abusive marriage. Unlike her tigers, Aunt Jennifer “fears the men beneath the tree” (1.3) and has “terrified hands” (3.1). She is weighted by “the massive weight of Uncle’s wedding band” (2.3) and is “ringed with the ordeals she was mastered by” (3.2). These phrases reveal the tension beneath her peaceful hobby and the unburdened tigers that she embroiders. In reality, Aunt Jennifer regrets her marriage because now she has been mastered by her husband to the point where she fears him and must find escape in embroidery so she can endure his cruelty. She hides and distracts herself from her fear by embroidering the tigers “unafraid” (3.4) because she does not want to admit the she is afraid nor bring up the issue of her abuse. Instead, she tries to create a world that is unlike her own situation. She embroiders the tigers so that she might be artificially strong and continue living silently with the abuse. The definition of to embroider is to “add fictitious or exaggerated details to (an account) to make it more interesting” (Macintosh Dictionary). In this way, Aunt Jennifer creates a fictitious world full of confident, strong animals to comfort herself and make herself feel less weak in comparison to her husband. The poem is in the perspective of Aunt Jennifer’s niece. Superficially, the perspective seems innocent and reveals the beauty of the tigers “prancing across a screen” (1.1), and as “bright topaz denizens of a world of green” (1.2). Despite this distracting imagery, depth can be assumed with Rich’s careful diction as in “terrified hands” (3.2) and from the contrast between Aunt Jennifer and her tigers. One can see Aunt Jennifer’s struggles as she “finds even the ivory needle hard to pull” (2.2). This literary device of representing Aunt Jennifer’s situation with superficial beauty and finesse to reveal her true situation and the abusive relationship between man and wife mimics Aunt Jennifer’s attempt to cover up the situation herself by disillusioning herself with her work and denying her weakness so she might survive her burdening marriage. I know that the first time I read this, I thought it was really confusing because I did not know what the “screen” (1.1) was. Here is a picture of a few embroidery “[|screens]” to give you a better understanding of the materials Aunt Jennifer is using and here is a [|video]on how to embroider a flower to give you an idea of how it is done.

Power Adrienne Rich

Living in the earth-deposits of our history

Today a backhoe divulged out of a crumbling flank of earth one bottle amber perfect a hundred-year-old cure for fever or melancholy a tonic for living on this earth in the winters of this climate.

Today I was reading about Marie Curie: she must have known she suffered from radiation sickness her body bombarded for years by the element she had purified It seems she denied to the end the source of the cataracts on her eyes the cracked and suppurating skin of her finger-ends till she could no longer hold a test-tube or a pencil

She died a famous woman denying her wounds denying her wounds came from the same source as her power.

Adrienne uses metaphor to describe power as a coveted natural element “living in the earth-deposits of our history” (1.1) She describes how a backhoe digs these deposits out of time and the earth. A backhoe is “a mechanical excavator that draws toward itself a bucket attached to a hinged boom” (Macintosh dictionary). This gives imagery of a sturdy machine beating through the thick of caked dirt to shovel out desired ore.

Rich uses “today” (2.1 & 3.1) twice in the poem. In this way she compares the current view of power with that of “divulging out of a crumbling flank of earth” (2.1). She then connects this with Marie Curie’s scientific research. By comparing Curie's research with the work of the backhoe, Rich compares scientific discovery to “one bottle amber perfect” (2.2) and therefore to power. She expands on this metaphor by expanding on the pains that Marie Curie had to endure to sustain her work such as her being “bombarded for years by the element”(2.7), having to “deny to the end the source of the cataracts on her eyes the cracked and suppurating skin of her finger-ends till she could no longer hold a test-tube or a pencil” (2.9-12). After this, she concludes that by denying her wounds and therefore what was killing her, she found power.

Therefore, Rich is trying to communicate that in pushing to one’s limits and sacrificing oneself despite the threats of death, one finds the source of power. By digging and prying, denying and enduring, one is able to mine power.

I think that Rich identified with Curie as she too had to fight for her work, but in her case it was against social pressures in publishing her feminist ideas. I think she believed her determination was the source of her power. Because of her pushing (and possibly keeping Curie as a role-model) she gained fame, and subsequent power over the literary community and those who read her poetry.

Here is a picture of a[| backhoe] and here is some info about [|Marie Curie].

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