Diving into the Wreck

“Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers” by Adrienne Rich (1951)

An early example of Rich’s poetry, from her first collection A Change of World, “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers” maintains a traditional form and rhyme scheme. Criticizing the institution of marriage, it prefigures some of Rich’s later, feminist concerns.

“Living in Sin” by Adrienne Rich (1974)

“Living in Sin” also examines a domestic space, exploring the ways in which the reality of a romantic relationship fails to live up to its promise.

“Planetarium” by Adrienne Rich (1971)

Rich wrote “Planetarium” thinking about Caroline Herschel, the German astronomer, who worked in the shadow of her more famous brother.

“The Long Awakening of Adrienne Rich“ by Maggie Doherty (2020)

In this 2020 New Yorker review of Hilary Holladay’s biography of Rich, critic Maggie Doherty touches on key elements of Rich’s life, politics, and poetics, and identifies some of the actions that have confounded literary scholars and Rich acolytes over the decades.

“Adrienne Rich’s 1977 Letter” (1977)

This 1977 letter to Betty Kray, then executive director of the Academy of American Poets, sheds light on multiple aspects of Rich’s personal life and career, incorporating everything from her feelings on a poetry reading by Japanese women, to her sons’ college decisions, to her involvement in an anthology of New York women poets.