An Overview of the Themes in Adrienne Rich’s Poetry
Poem Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers Main Theme(s)
„ „Power „„Art versus life „„Relationships „„Role of women
The Uncle Speaks in the Drawing Room „„ Power „„Snobbery
„„Class Storm Warnings Power Living in Sin The Roofwalker Our Whole Life Trying to Talk with a Man Diving into the Wreck From a Survivor
„„Depression „„Vulnerability
„„Power „„Self-knowledge „„Blindness
„„Romantic love „„Reality „„Disillusionment
„„Vulnerability „„Change „„Self-knowledge
„„Feminism „„Oppression „„The shortcomings of language
„„Relationships „„Violence „„Acceptance
„„Self-knowledge „„Feminism „„Gender
„„Survival „„Relationships „„Loss
Rich’s exceptional poetry is extremely honest, sometimes painfully so, and therefore it is no surprise that she explores difficult and complex themes in an astonishingly candid way. Her myriad themes include difficult ones such as disillusionment and blindness, unusual ones such as self-knowledge and art versus life, and her two most dominant themes, power and relationships. These universal and far-reaching themes are examined in unflinching and thought-provoking detail by Rich in many of her poems on the Leaving Certificate course.
