"When a woman tells the truth, she is creating the possibility for more truth around her."
Biography
Adrienne Rich was an influential feminist poet and essayist. She was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1929 to a pathologist and a pianist, who pushed her to pursue intellectualism from a young age. Rich graduated from Radcliffe (Harvard) University in 1951 and married two years later, becoming a homemaker for her husband and three children while writing poetry when she had time. The marriage caused her to become "radical," and her work reflected that; in the 1960s, she began publishing fiery, progressive poems in the collections Necessities of Life ('66), Leaflets ('69), The Will to Change ('71). After the death of her husband in 1970, Rich was free to pursue poetry and began writing nonfiction as well. As her career continued, her works came to cover more subjects relating to society, including political activism, her Jewish heritage, lesbianism, and the conflict between the private and public. Her work frequently centered around world events, helping her be continually relevant throughout the second half of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first. As her fame increased, she taught at several Ivy League colleges as well. The unique delivery of the themes in her works made her among the most prominent feminist writers for decades. In her obituary, The New York Times wrote, "She accomplished in verse what Betty Friedan, author of 'The Feminine Mystique,' did in prose." Rich died in 2012 after suffering from rheumatoid arthritis for most of her adult life. In her poetry, she frequently took advantage of juxtaposition, narration, and fragmented syntax to enhance the meaning of it and separate it from other poets who wrote about similar subjects. The themes examined in Rich's works and the unique, nonconformist elements of them are what make them part of the "others" movement and are why they were so widely known during her lifetime and still are today.
Click here to read "Diving into the Wreck" by Adrienne Rich
Click here to read "Diving into the Wreck" by Adrienne Rich