Poetry. "Living in Sin" by Adrienne Rich

Dear Readers,
We studied another poem by Adrienne Rich today in class. I thought it very realistic compared to some of her other poem but here is what I think of it and what I think Ms. Rich is trying to tell us.

In this poem we see Adrienne Rich and her partner living together without being married which is quiet unusal for the 60's. The poem sets itself in an apartment or “studio”, and the opening line, “She had thought the studio would keep itself; no dust uponn the furniture of love” is said as if she had seen it coming, just avoided the obvious. They proberly thought themselves rebellious, 'living in sin' and in love, different from all the rest. She now sees that she was naive and seems angry with herself.


“..a cat stalking the picturespue amusing mouse had risen at his urging.” the still life drawing here shows that maybe this is a constant acurance, but in stead of chasing they chase with words, argue, rising to each others taunts.

“...each separate stair would writhe under the milkman's tramp”, the millkman is a symbol used in the poem for perhaps to symbolise the never ending, the not stopping or giving up. Here it is a negative symbol becuase not very pretty words are used like “writhe” or “tramp”. Another indicator to an arguementive relationship is the line,”scraps of last night's cheese...”, food left over like a row left behind unsettled.

This line is one of the most interesting in the poem becuase it shows her inner conflict of how the relationship is working, “a pair of beetle-eyes would fix her own envoy from some village in the moldings”, it was as if this beetle came a long distance from the back of her head to tell that the relationship isn't working, making obvious what she already knows. The fact that it is a 'bug bugging her about this is a really good use of symbols yet again. Another line later in the poem,”while she, jeered by the minor demons”, this line shows bigger demons than just warning beetles. She knows she isn't happy and her demons are letting her know. I like this line because you can she her realisation growing of the current situation she is in.

In the poem her partner is referred to as “he”, like he is not important. She envies him too about how relaxed he can be “with a yawn....shrugged at the mirror, rubbed his beard, went for cigaretted”, about the whole relationship, also indicating that he has no pride in his apperance before her, like he doesnt have to make an effort for her. I think she feels the relationship is very one sided and I would agree, she notices all the work that needs doing, not only in the house but in the relationship but he doesn't, “he” is too relaxed to see anything or make an effort, “pulled back the sheets and made the bed and found a towel to dust the table-top”.

But then Adrienne turns the whole poem on its head and says,”by evening she was back in love again, though not so wholly...”, whether she means our main lady to be to forgiving, to naive or maybe the fact that dispite his annoying laid back attitude, she still loves him.

The closing line then refers to the milkman, “like a relentless milkman up the stairs”. The milkman will always come, like daylight, and with daylight brings more demons. It is like hate by day and love by night.

I liked learning this poem, though it isn't my favorite of hers. She shows how hard it can be to live with some, in sin, especially when you don't know their true nature or habits or be naive enough not to be able to sort things out, believe things won't change. I like how she uses symbols in all of her poems, this one better because the symbols are very realistic, unlike her other poem “Trying to Talk with a Man”, where symbols are out in the desert testing bombs.

Thank you,
Roisin.P.

Book Report

Dear Readers,
We have to read a book from the 2013 leaving cert. list for English. Then we have to write a blog book report for homework. I have desided to read Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. I've always wanted to read it so I'm taking the plunge. I've only started to read so bare with me...

Talk soon,
Roisin.P.

Poetry. "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers" by Adrienne Rich

Dear Readers,
In English we have been studying Adrienne Rich poems from our Leaving Cert. course. Here is the next one on the list, Aunt Jennifer's Tigers.

This poem was another of her earlier ones. It is very structured compared to her latter poems. There are three verses each with four lines and every two rhyming; "Aunt Jennifer's fingers fluttering through her wool, Find even the ivory needle hard to pull". It tells to me the story of her aunt and uncles relationship. She tells it though as though she has only realised the truth of their relationship, now that her aunt has died, she looks back on her memories with a different insight. She looks at the tigers on the canvas as if they're the tigers her aunt wanted to be.

"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,....Will go on prancing, proud and unafraid." This is her description of the tigers she sees. She makes them sound like big, bright, proud animals, almost regal. They are on the top, not afraid of the world around them ("men beneath the tree"). They are everything her aunt wasn't on the outside, but this is what her aunt made to almost personify her inner feelings.

The reasons for her not been able to be like this is because her husband or Adrienne's Uncle; "...the men beneath the tree...the massive weight of Uncle's wedding band, Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer's hand...her terrified hands will lie, Still ringed with the ordeals she was mastered by." These lines effectively discibe their relationship. The adjectives used are strong and hold a certain toward her Uncle, like "massive", "terrified", "heavily" and especially "mastered". It suggests that her aunt was in an abusive relationship, that the marriage was unbreakable for some reason another; "still ringed with ordeals...". That hate to her Uncle is also shown by the fact that she doesn't give him a name throughout the whole poem, unlike "Aunt Jennifer". He is just seen as the poacher beneath the trees or simply as Uncle.

But I can fell that Rich admired her Aunt Jennifer for going through with it till the end, staying strong. "Aunt Jennifer's fingers fluttering through her wool, Find even the ivory needle hard to pull." These lines so that her aunt still "fluttered" through life though it was hard; "ivory needle hard to pull". So despite all the troubles in her life Rich's aunt still kept going and dreamt of being like her tigers.

The last two lines "The tigers in the panel that she made, Will go on prancing, proud and unafraid", say to me her Aunt will go on prancing and unafraid in her own memories, so matter the still ringed terrified hands that rest now.

This poem was a good one because it told a message of hidden abuse that goes on in everyday lives. It's almost like she is trying to give out a message to two different sets of people; one being people like her aunt, the ones that suffer in silence, telling them to keep believing in those "tigers", be a tiger.; and two the people like her, that don't leave it to late to notice these situations, help. I like those messages, ones of hope and reality.

Source



Thank you,
Roisin.P.

Poetry. "Storm Warnings" by Adrienne Rich

Dear Readers,
Today in English we studied the poem "Storm Warnings" by Adrienne Rich. It is one of her poems that will be on our leaving cert. course. This poem is one of her earlier poems.

It talks about, in my opinion, how a person can feel in a bad or troubled relationship. She talk about hearing a 'storm' coming shattering barometres glass, shutting of power and sealing in windows. Though she doesnt say it, I think when she wrote it she felt trapped in her own defenses; "walking from window to closed window". Her defense systems against 'storms' are plain to see, when she says "we can only close the shutters" and "I draw the curtains as the sky goes black", she is putting up layers, hiding from the 'storm'.
She seems pacient enough to wait a long time for the storm to go away and leave her, to blow over; "the wind will rise". The fact of her willingness to wait, to stick to her defenses and not let go is in the lines "between foreseeing and averting change, inwards...silent core of waiting, shattered fragments of an instrument". She lets everything to shatter around her "the glass ahs been falling all the afternoon" as if it was part of her life shattering to pieces before her, yet letting it; "into the polar releam".
"Into the polar releam", this is another significant line in the poem. She saying that she is in an extreme situation. Maybe here she is also indicating that her partner, or the 'storm' causer is feeling the opposite to her "polar releam", on the side of the storm. Like in the line "weather abeoad..weather in the heart", the "weather abroad" is the other person in the relationship, and the "weather in the heart" are her own feelings or problem. When adding the line "regardless of prediction" she is indicating that the cannot tell or predict the others feelings, all they can do is prepare. Also adding to this point may be the line "time in hand is not control of time" meaning as she waits with time on her hands she can't control how much time she has or what she can do with that time, for she is trapped.
There is a small symbol of hope within the poem; "and set a match to candles sheathed in glass against the keyhole draught, the persistant whine of weather". I think the candle is a great symbol of hope but there are troubling conditions around it. For instance it is enclosed in glass, maybe Adrienne is saying that she see it and wants it but it is not avaible to her, or she is saying that she sees it but is "averting change" and doesn't feel worthing of such a presious gift that is Hope. This symbol of hope also seems to struggles, and Adrienne sees it, because of the "keyhole draught" that the flame battles against, she sees it fading away from her. She finds, I think, the "insistant whine of weather" not only a problem for the candle flame but for her, there are gaps in her defenses that she either finds distressing or she could also she it as a light of hope that she could use this gap to escape her own defenses and embrace the storm.
Another important line in the poem is the last "these are the things that we have learned to do, who live in trobled regions". I find this striking because she is saying to use that at this young age she already has enough life experiance to say that she has "learned" not "learning". Also the way she uses the collective word "we", does she mean the other person in the relatonship or the human race itself. She may be seen to be giving advise not to enter "troubled regions". I think she accepts there is something wrong in her relationship, that something needs to be done. Writing this poem, and thinking of storms I feel has helped her do that, take the first step of accepting and acknowledging.

In my opinion this is what Adrienne Rich is trying to tell me or warn me. This poem has a lot of mixed emotions such as fear, regret, saddness and even hope. I enjoyed reading this poem because it had hiden meanings and I liked looking for them and coming up with theories from the poem.

Thanks again,
Roisin.P.