Adrienne Rich
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Adrienne Cecile Rich ( ; May 16, 1929 – March 27, 2012) was an American poet, essayist and
feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
. She was called "one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the 20th century", and was credited with bringing "the oppression of women and
lesbians A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homo ...
to the forefront of poetic discourse". Rich criticized rigid forms of feminist identities, and valorized what she coined the "lesbian continuum", which is a female continuum of solidarity and creativity that impacts and fills women's lives. Her first collection of poetry, ''A Change of World'', was selected by W. H. Auden for the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award. Auden went on to write the introduction to the book. Rich famously declined the
National Medal of Arts The National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and Patronage, patrons of the arts. A prestigious American honor, it is the highest honor given to artists and ar ...
to protest House Speaker
Newt Gingrich Newton Leroy Gingrich (; né McPherson; born June 17, 1943) is an American politician and author who served as the List of speakers of the United States House of Representatives, 50th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1 ...
's vote to end funding for the
National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...
.


Early life and education

Adrienne Cecile Rich was born in
Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...
, Maryland, on May 16, 1929, the elder of two sisters. Her father, pathologist
Arnold Rice Rich Arnold Rice Rich (March 28, 1893 – April 17, 1968) was an American pathologist. Career Born March 28, 1893, in Birmingham, Alabama, Rich attended the University of Virginia, majoring in biology, and then the Johns Hopkins Medical School ...
, was the chairman of
pathology Pathology is the study of disease. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in the context of modern medical treatme ...
at The Johns Hopkins Medical School. Her mother, Helen Elizabeth (Jones) Rich, was a concert pianist and a composer. Her father was from a Jewish family, and her mother was a Southern Protestant; the girls were raised as Christians. Her paternal grandfather Samuel Rice was an
Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...
immigrant from
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in the Austro-Hungarian Empire (present day
Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...
), while his mother was a Sephardic Jew from Vicksburg, Mississippi. Samuel Rice owned a successful shoe store in Birmingham. Adrienne Rich's early poetic influence stemmed from her father, who encouraged her to read but also to write poetry. Her interest in literature was sparked within her father's library, where she read the work of writers such as
Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...
,Shuman (2002) p1278 Arnold, Blake, Keats,
Dante Gabriel Rossetti Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti ( ; ), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator, and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brother ...
, and
Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (; 6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's ...
. Her father was ambitious for Adrienne and "planned to create a prodigy". Adrienne Rich and her younger sister were home schooled by their mother until Adrienne commenced public education in the fourth grade. The poems ''Sources'' and ''After Dark'' document her relationship with her father, describing how she worked hard to fulfill her parents' ambitions—moving into a world in which excellence was expected. In later years, Rich went to Roland Park Country School, which she described as a "good old fashioned girls' school
hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...
gave us fine role models of single women who were intellectually impassioned."Martin, Wendy (1984),
An American triptych: Anne Bradstreet, Emily Dickinson, Adrienne Rich
', The University of North Carolina Press, p. 174; .
After graduating from high school, Rich earned her diploma at
Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that was founded in 1879. In 1999, it was fully incorporated into Harvard Colle ...
of
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
, where she focused on poetry and learning the writing craft, encountering no women teachers at all. In 1951, her senior year at college, Rich's first collection of poetry, ''A Change of World'', was chosen by the poet W. H. Auden for the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award. He went on to write the introduction to the published volume. Following graduation, Rich received a
Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...
to study at Oxford for a year. After visiting
Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...
, she chose not to return to Oxford, and spent her remaining time in Europe writing and exploring Italy.


Early career: 1953–75

In 1953, Rich married Alfred Haskell Conrad, an economics professor at
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
she had met as an undergraduate. She said of the match: "I married in part because I knew no better way to disconnect from my first family. I wanted what I saw as a full woman's life, whatever was possible." They settled in
Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...
, and had three sons. In 1955, she published her second volume, ''The Diamond Cutters'', a collection she said she wished had not been published, saying "a lot of the poems are incredibly derivative," and citing a "pressure to produce again... to make sure I was still a poet." That year she also received the Ridgely Torrence Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America. Her three children were born in 1955 (David), 1957 (Pablo) and 1959 (Jacob). The 1960s began a period of change in Rich's life: she received the National Institute of Arts and Letters award (1960), her second Guggenheim Fellowship to work at the Netherlands Economic Institute (1961), and the
Bollingen Foundation The Bollingen Foundation was an educational foundation set up along the lines of a university press in 1945. It was named after Bollingen Tower, Carl Jung's country home in Bollingen, Switzerland. Funding was provided by Paul Mellon and his ...
grant for the translation of Dutch poetry (1962). In 1963, Rich published her third collection, ''Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law'', which was a much more personal work examining her female identity, reflecting the increasing tensions she experienced as a wife and mother in the 1950s, marking a substantial change in Rich's style and subject matter. In her 1982 essay " Split at the Root: An Essay on Jewish Identity", Rich states: "The experience of motherhood was eventually to radicalize me." The book met with harsh reviews. She comments, "I was seen as 'bitter' and 'personal'; and to be personal was to be disqualified, and that was very shaking because I'd really gone out on a limb ... I realised I'd gotten slapped over the wrist, and I didn't attempt that kind of thing again for a long time." Moving her family to New York in 1966, Rich became involved with the
New Left The New Left was a broad political movement that emerged from the counterculture of the 1960s and continued through the 1970s. It consisted of activists in the Western world who, in reaction to the era's liberal establishment, campaigned for freer ...
and became heavily involved in anti-war, civil rights, and feminist activism. Her husband took a teaching position at
City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...
. In 1968, she signed the " Writers and Editors War Tax Protest" pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War. Her collections from this period include ''Necessities of Life'' (1966), ''Leaflets'' (1969), and ''The Will to Change'' (1971), which reflect increasingly radical political content and interest in poetic form. From 1967 to 1969, Rich lectured at
Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the e ...
and taught at Columbia University School of the Arts as an adjunct professor in the Writing Division. Additionally, in 1968, she began teaching in the SEEK program in City College of New York, a position she continued until 1975. During this time, Rich also received the Eunice Tietjens Memorial Prize from ''Poetry Magazine''. Rich and Conrad hosted anti-war and Black Panther fundraising parties at their apartment. Rising tensions began to split the marriage, and Rich moved out in mid-1970, getting herself a small studio apartment nearby. Shortly afterward, in October, Conrad drove into the woods and shot himself, widowing Rich. In 1971, she was the recipient of the Shelley Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America and spent the next year and a half teaching at
Brandeis University Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...
as the Hurst visiting professor of creative writing. ''Diving into the Wreck'', a collection of exploratory and often angry poems, split the 1974 National Book Award for Poetry with Allen Ginsberg, ''The Fall of America''. Declining to accept it individually, Rich was joined by the two other feminist poets nominated,
Alice Walker Alice Malsenior Tallulah-Kate Walker (born February 9, 1944) is an American novelist, short story writer, poet, and social activist. In 1982, she became the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, which she was awa ...
and Audre Lorde, to accept it on behalf of all women "whose voices have gone and still go unheard in a patriarchal world."Shuman (2002) p1276 The following year, Rich took up the position of the Lucy Martin Donnelly Fellow at
Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh language, Welsh: ) is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as a ...
.


Later life: 1976–2012

In 1976, Rich began her partnership with Jamaican-born novelist and editor Michelle Cliff, which lasted until her death. In her controversial work ''Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution'', published the same year, Rich acknowledged that, for her, lesbianism was a political as well as a personal issue, writing, "The suppressed lesbian I had been carrying in me since adolescence began to stretch her limbs." The pamphlet ''Twenty-One Love Poems'' (1977), which was incorporated into the following year's ''Dream of a Common Language'' (1978), marked the first direct treatment of lesbian desire and sexuality in her writing, themes which run throughout her work afterwards, especially in ''A Wild Patience Has Taken Me This Far'' (1981) and some of her late poems in ''The Fact of a Doorframe'' (2001). In her analytical work ''Adrienne Rich: the moment of change'', Langdell suggests these works represent a central rite of passage for the poet, as she (Rich) crossed a threshold into a newly constellated life and a "new relationship with the universe". During this period, Rich also wrote a number of key socio-political essays, including " Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence", one of the first to address the theme of lesbian existence. In this essay, she asks "how and why women's choice of women as passionate comrades, life partners, co-workers, lovers, community, has been crushed, invalidated, forced into hiding". Some of the essays were republished in '' On Lies, Secrets and Silence: Selected Prose, 1966–1978'' (1979). In integrating such pieces into her work, Rich claimed her sexuality and took a role in leadership for sexual equality. From 1976 to 1979, Rich taught at City College and
Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...
as an English professor. In 1979, she received an honorary doctorate from Smith College and moved with Cliff to Montague, MA. Ultimately, they moved to Santa Cruz, where Rich continued her career as a professor, lecturer, poet, and essayist. Rich and Cliff took over editorship of the lesbian arts journal '' Sinister Wisdom'' (1981–1983). Rich taught and lectured at UC Santa Cruz, Scripps College,
San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the List of oldest schools in California, oldest public university on the West Coast of ...
, and
Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
during the 1980s and 1990s.Cucinella, Catherine (2002) ''Contemporary American women poets: an A-to-Z guide''. p295 Greenwood Press From 1981 to 1987, Rich served as an A.D. White Professor-At-Large for
Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...
. Rich published several volumes in the next few years: ''Your Native Land, Your Life'' (1986), ''Blood, Bread, and Poetry'' (1986), and ''Time's Power: Poems 1985–1988'' (1989). She also was awarded the Ruth Paul Lilly Poetry Prize (1986), the Elmer Holmes Bobst Award in Arts and Letters from NYU, and the National Poetry Association Award for Distinguished Service to the Art of Poetry (1989). In 1977, Rich became an associate of the
Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press (WIFP) is an American nonprofit publishing organization that was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1972. The organization works to increase media democracy and strengthen independent media. Basic informati ...
(WIFP). WIFP is an American nonprofit publishing organization. The organization works to increase communication between women and connect the public with forms of women-based media. Janice Raymond, in the foreword of her 1979 book '' The Transsexual Empire'', thanked Rich for "constant encouragement" and cited her in the book's chapter "Sappho by Surgery." "The Transsexual Empire" has been criticized by a number of LGBT and feminist writers for its
anti-trans Transphobia consists of negative attitudes, feelings, or actions towards transgender or transsexual people, or wikt:transness, transness in general. Transphobia can include fear, aversion, hatred, violence or anger towards people who do not co ...
stance, and many have criticized Rich for her involvement in and support of its production. While Rich never explicitly disavowed her support for Raymond's work, Leslie Feinberg cites Rich as having been supportive during Feinberg's writing of '' Transgender Warriors''. By the early 1980s, Rich was using canes and wheelchairs due to
rheumatoid arthritis Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a long-term autoimmune disorder that primarily affects synovial joint, joints. It typically results in warm, swollen, and painful joints. Pain and stiffness often worsen following rest. Most commonly, the wrist and h ...
. Diagnosed with the condition at age 22, Rich kept her disability quiet for decades. The cold air in New England motivated Rich and Cliff to settle in California. A 1992 spinal operation required Rich to wear a metal halo screwed into her head. In June 1984, Rich presented a speech at the International Conference of Women, Feminist Identity, and Society in
Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...
,
Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
titled ''Notes Toward a Politics of Location.'' Her keynote speech is a major document on politics of location and the birth of the concept of female "locatedness". In discussing the locations from which women speak, Rich attempts to reconnect female thought and speech with the female body, with an intent to reclaim the body through verbalizing self-representation. Rich begins the speech by noting that while she speaks the words in Europe, she has searched for them in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. By acknowledging her location in an essay on the progression of the women's movement, she expresses her concern for all women, not just women in Providence. Through widening her audience to women across the world Rich not only influences a larger movement but she invites all women to consider their existence. Through imagining geographical locations on a map as history and as places where women are created, and further focusing on those locations, Rich asks women to examine where they were created. In an attempt to try to find a sense of belonging in the world, Rich asks the audience not to begin with a continent, country, or house, but to start with the geography closest to themselves –which is their body. Rich, therefore, challenges members of the audience and readers to form their own identity by refusing to be defined by the parameters of government, religion, and home. The essay hypothesizes the women's movement at the end of the 20th century. In an encouraging call for the women's movement, Rich discusses how the movement for change is an evolution in itself. Through de-masculinizing and de-Westernizing itself, the movement becomes a critical mass of many different voices, languages and overall actions. She pleads for the movement to change in order to experience change. She further insists that women must change it. In her essay, Rich considers how one's background might influence their identity. She furthers this notion by noting her own exploration of the body, her body, as female, as white, as
Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
and as a body in a nation. Rich is careful to define the location in which her writing takes place. Throughout her essay, Rich refers back to the concept of location. She recounts her growth towards understanding how the women's movement grounded in
Western culture Western culture, also known as Western civilization, European civilization, Occidental culture, Western society, or simply the West, refers to the Cultural heritage, internally diverse culture of the Western world. The term "Western" encompas ...
and limited to the concerns of white women, then incorporated verbal and written expression of black United States citizens. Such professions have allowed her to experience the meaning of her whiteness as a point of location for which she needed to take responsibility. In 1986, she published the essay in her prose collection ''Blood, Bread, and Poetry''. Rich's work with the New Jewish Agenda led to the founding of ''Bridges: A Journal for Jewish Feminists and Our Friends'' in 1990, a journal for which Rich served as editor. This work explored the relationship between private and public histories, especially in the case of Jewish women's rights. Her next published piece, ''An Atlas of the Difficult World'' (1991), won both the ''Los Angeles Times'' Book Award in Poetry and the Lenore Marshall/''Nation'' Award as well as the Poet's Prize in 1993 and Commonwealth Award in Literature in 1991. During the 1990s Rich joined advisory boards such as the Boston Woman's Fund,
National Writers Union National Writers Union (NWU) is a trade union in the United States for freelance and contract writers founded on 19 November 1981. NWU is affiliated with the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the International Authors Forum (IAF), a ...
and Sisterhood in Support of Sisters in South Africa. On the role of the poet, she wrote, "We may feel bitterly how little our poems can do in the face of seemingly out-of-control technological power and seemingly limitless corporate greed, yet it has always been true that poetry can break isolation, show us to ourselves when we are outlawed or made invisible, remind us of beauty where no beauty seems possible, remind us of kinship where all is represented as separation." In July 1994, Rich won the
MacArthur Fellowship The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and colloquially called the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the MacArthur Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to typically between 20 and ...
, the "Genius Grant" for her work as a poet and writer. Also in 1992, Rich became a grandmother to Julia Arden Conrad and Charles Reddington Conrad. In 1997, Rich declined the
National Medal of Arts The National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and Patronage, patrons of the arts. A prestigious American honor, it is the highest honor given to artists and ar ...
in protest against the House of Representatives' vote to end the National Endowment for the Arts as well as policies of the Clinton Administration regarding the arts generally, and literature in particular, stating that "I could not accept such an award from President Clinton or this White House because the very meaning of art, as I understand it, is incompatible with the cynical politics of this administration ... rtmeans nothing if it simply decorates the dinner table of the power which holds it hostage".Shuman (2002) p1281 Her next few volumes were a mix of poetry and essays: ''Midnight Salvage: Poems 1995–1998'' (1999), ''The Art of the Possible: Essays and Conversations'' (2001), and ''Fox: Poems 1998–2000'' (2001). In the early 2000s, Rich participated in anti-war activities, protesting against the threat of war in Iraq, both through readings of her poetry and other activities. In 2002, she was appointed a chancellor of the newly augmented board of the Academy of American Poets, along with Yusef Komunyakaa, Lucille Clifton, Jay Wright (who declined the honor), Louise Glück, Heather McHugh, Rosanna Warren, Charles Wright, Robert Creeley, and Michael Palmer. She won the 2003 Yale Bollingen Prize for American Poetry and was applauded by the panel of judges for her "honesty at once ferocious, humane, her deep learning, and her continuous poetic exploration and awareness of multiple selves." In October 2006, Equality Forum honored Rich's work, featuring her as an icon of LGBT history. In 2009, despite initially having reservations about the movement, Rich endorsed the call for a cultural and academic boycott of Israel, denouncing "the Occupation's denial of Palestinian humanity, destruction of Palestinian lives and livelihoods, the "settlements", the state's physical and psychological walls against dialogue." Rich died on March 27, 2012, at the age of 82 in her Santa Cruz, California, home. Her son, Pablo Conrad, reported that her death resulted from long-term
rheumatoid arthritis Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a long-term autoimmune disorder that primarily affects synovial joint, joints. It typically results in warm, swollen, and painful joints. Pain and stiffness often worsen following rest. Most commonly, the wrist and h ...
. Her last collection was published the year before her death. Rich was survived by her sons, two grandchildren and her partner Michelle Cliff.


Views


On feminism

Adrienne Rich wrote several pieces that address the rights of women in society. In ''Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law'' she offered a critical analysis of the life of being both a mother and a daughter-in-law, and the impact of their gender in their lives. ''Diving Into the Wreck'' was written in the early 'seventies, and the collection marks the start of her darkening tone as she wrote about feminism and other social issues. In particular, she wrote openly about her outrage at the patriarchal nature of the greater society. In doing so, she became an example for other women to follow in the hopes that continued proactive work against sexism would eventually counteract it. Her poems are also famous for their feminist elements. One such poem is "Power", which was written about
Marie Curie Maria Salomea Skłodowska-Curie (; ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934), known simply as Marie Curie ( ; ), was a Polish and naturalised-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was List of female ...
, one of the most important female icons of the 20th century. In this poem, she discussed the element of power and feminism. Curie was slowly succumbing to the radiation that she absorbed in her research, to which Rich refers in the poem as her source of power. The poem discusses the concept of power, particularly from a woman's point of view. Besides poems and novels, Rich also wrote nonfiction books that tackled feminist issues. Some of them were: ''Of Woman Born, Motherhood as Experience and Institution, Blood, Bread and Poetry, etc.'' Especially, ''Bread and Poetry'' contains the famous feminist essay entitled "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence", and ''Feminism and Community. '' Her works, interviews, and documentaries demonstrated Rich's in-depth perspective on feminism and society. For one, Rich had something to say about the use of the term itself. She preferred using the term "women's liberation" rather than feminism. She thought the latter term was more likely to induce resistance from women of the next generation. Also, she feared that the term would amount to nothing more than a label if used extensively. On the other hand, using the term women's liberation means that women can finally be free from factors that can be seen as oppressive to their rights. Rich also wrote in depth about "white feminism" and the need for
intersectionality Intersectionality is an analytical framework for understanding how groups' and individuals' social and political identities result in unique combinations of discrimination and privilege. Examples of these intersecting and overlapping factor ...
within the feminist movement. In ''Blood, Bread, and Poetry'', Rich wrote that "feminism became a political and spiritual base from which I could move to examine rather than try to hide my own racism, recognize that I have anti-racist work to do continuously within myself". She went on to write that "so long as eministsidentify only with white women, we are still connected to that system of objectification and callousness and cruelty called racism". Rich implored white feminists to consider the fact that " hey as victims of objectification, have objectified other women" through their role as the oppressor, and through the white privilege they inherently possess under a racist regime. Rich's views on feminism are evident in her works. She says in ''Of Woman Born'' that "we need to understand the power and powerlessness embodied in motherhood in patriarchal culture." She also speaks regarding the need for women to unite in her book ''On Lies, Secrets and Silence.'' In this book, she wrote: "Women have often felt insane when cleaving to the truth of our experience. Our future depends on the sanity of each of us, and we have a profound stake, beyond the personal, in the project of describing our reality as candidly and fully as we can to each other." Given the feminist conditions during the 1950s–1970s, it can be said that Rich's works on feminism were revolutionary. Her views on equality and the need for women to maximize their potential can be seen as progressive for the time. Her views strongly coincided with feminist thinking during that period. According to Rich, society was founded on patriarchy and limits the rights of women. For equality to be achieved between the sexes, the prevailing notions must be readjusted to accommodate the female perspective.


On racism

Rich wrote at length on the topic of white feminism and intersectionality within the feminist movement. Citing such prominent black feminist activists and academics as Gloria T. Hull, Michele Russel, Lorraine Bethel, and
Toni Morrison Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford; February 18, 1931 – August 5, 2019), known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist and editor. Her first novel, ''The Bluest Eye'', was published in 1970. The critically accl ...
in her works, Rich dedicated several chapters of her book ''Blood, Bread, and Poetry'' to the subject of racism. Of her essay ''Of Woman Born,'' Rich wrote that it "could have been stronger had it drawn on more of the literature by Black women toward which Toni Morrison's ''Sula'' inevitably pointed me." Touching on the privilege conferred to her as a white feminist author, Rich wrote in ''Blood, Bread, and Poetry'' that she "is probably going to be taken more seriously in some quarters than the Black woman scholar whose combined experience and research give her far more penetrating knowledge and awareness than mine. I will be taken more seriously because I am white, .and because the invisibility of the woman of color who is the scholar/critic ''or'' the poet ''or'' the novelist is part of the structure of ''my'' privilege, even my credibility." In 1981, Rich co-presented the keynote address for the National Women's Studies Association Convention in
Storrs, Connecticut Storrs ( ) is a village and census-designated place (CDP) in the New England town, town of Mansfield, Connecticut, Mansfield in eastern Tolland County, Connecticut, United States. The village is part of the Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, ...
, along with Audre Lorde, delivering her speech entitled "Disobedience is What NWSA is Potentially About." The theme of the convention was "Women Respond to Racism", and Rich noted the
homophobia Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, Gay men, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or ant ...
and racism that still existed "in the enclave of Women's studies itself, where lesbians are still feared and women of color are still ignored". Rich went on to say that "women of color who are found in the wrong place as defined at any given time by the white fathers will receive their retribution unseen: if they are beaten, raped, insulted, harassed, mutilated, murdered, these events will go unreported, unpunished, unconnected; and white women are not even supposed to know they occur, let alone identify with the sufferings endured." Rich asked the audience: "how disobedient will Women's Studies be in the 1980s; how will this Association address the racism, misogyny, homophobia of the university and of the corporate and militist society in which it is embedded; how will white feminist scholars and teachers and students practice disobedience to patriarchy?" Rich implored the audience to rid themselves of the idea that "by opposing racist violence, by doing anti-racist work, or by becoming feminists white women somehow cease to carry racism within them", asserting that white women are never absolved of their white privilege and must continually commit to anti-racist work while they are still in the role of the oppressor. In 2009, Rich came forward with a statement in support of the U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI), criticizing
Israeli occupation Israel has occupied the Golan Heights of Syria and the Palestinian territories since the Six-Day War of 1967. It has previously occupied the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt and southern Lebanon as well. Prior to 1967, control of the Palestinian terr ...
and expressing her “continued solidarity with the Palestinian people’s long resistance.”


Selected awards and honors

Each year links to its corresponding " ear) in poetry" article: *
1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...
: Yale Younger Poets Award for ''A Change of World''. *
1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...
:
Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...
* 1960: National Institute of Arts and Letters Award *
1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...
: Shelley Memorial Award * 1974: National Book Award for Poetry (a split award) for ''Diving into the Wreck''"National Book Awards – 1974"
National Book Foundation. Retrieved March 11, 2012. (With acceptance speech by Rich and essay by Evie Shockley from the Awards 60-year anniversary blog.)
*
1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...
: Honorary Doctorate Smith College * 1986: Inaugural Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize *
1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...
: Honorary doctorate from
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
* 1989: National Poetry Association Award for Distinguished Service to the Art of Poetry * 1990: Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement (for gay or lesbian writing) *
1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...
: Common Wealth Award of Distinguished Service * 1991: Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...
*
1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...
: Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize * 1992: Poets' Prize for ''Atlas of the Difficult World'' * 1992: Frost Medal * 1992: Academy of American Poets Fellowship *
1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...
:
MacArthur Fellowship The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and colloquially called the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the MacArthur Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to typically between 20 and ...
*
1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...
: Wallace Stevens Award *
1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...
:
National Medal of Arts The National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and Patronage, patrons of the arts. A prestigious American honor, it is the highest honor given to artists and ar ...
(refused) *
1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...
: Lifetime Achievement Award from the Lannan Foundation *
2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...
: National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters"Distinguished Contribution to American Letters"
National Book Foundation. Retrieved March 11, 2012. (With acceptance speech by Rich and introduction by Mark Doty.)
* 2006: David R Kessler Award for LGBTQ Studies, CLAGS: The Center for LGBTQ Studies *
2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
: Lifetime Recognition Award from the Griffin Poetry Prize *
2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...
: Finalist, Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (posthumous) * 2019: In June 2019, Rich was one of the inaugural fifty American "pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes" inducted on the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor within the Stonewall National Monument (SNM) in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
's Stonewall Inn. The SNM is the first U.S. national monument dedicated to LGBTQ rights and
history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...
, and the wall's unveiling was timed to take place during the 50th anniversary of the
Stonewall riots The Stonewall riots (also known as the Stonewall uprising, Stonewall rebellion, Stonewall revolution, or simply Stonewall) were a series of spontaneous riots and demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of ...
.


Literary Works


Nonfiction

*
1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...
: *
1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...
: '' On Lies, Secrets and Silence: Selected Prose'', 1966–1978 * 1986: ''Blood, Bread, and Poetry: Selected Prose'', 1979–1985 (Includes the noted essay: " Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence") *
1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...
: ''What Is Found There: Notebooks on Poetry and Politics'' *
1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...
: ''If Not with Others, How?'' pp. 399–405 in *
2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...
: *
2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...
: ''Poetry and Commitment: An Essay'' *
2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...
: ''A Human Eye: Essays on Art in Society'', 1997–2008 * 2018: ''Essential Essays: Culture, Politics, and the Art of Poetry'', W.W. Norton, 2018


Poetry


Collections

*
1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...
: * 1955: *
1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...
: *
1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...
: *
1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...
: * 1969: *
1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...
: *
1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...
: *
1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...
: *
1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...
: *
1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...
: * 1982: (reprint 1993) *
1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...
: *
1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...
: * 1986: *
1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...
: *
1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...
: *
1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...
: *
1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...
: *
1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...
: *
1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...
: *
2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...
: (reprint 2003) *
2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
: *
2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...
: *
2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
: *
2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...
:


See also

*
American philosophy American philosophy is the activity, corpus, and tradition of philosophers affiliated with the United States. The ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' notes that while it lacks a "core of defining features, American Philosophy can neverthe ...
*
List of American philosophers American philosophy is the activity, corpus, and tradition of philosophers affiliated with the United States. The ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' notes that while it lacks a "core of defining features, American Philosophy can neverthe ...
* Lesbian Poetry


References


Further reading

* Colby Langdell, Cheri (2004) ''Adrienne Rich: The Moment of Change'' Praeger * Gioia, Dana (January 1999) "Midnight Salvage: Poems 1995–1998" (first published in ''San Francisco Magazine'') * Henneberg, Sylvia (2010) ''The Creative Crone: Aging and the Poetry of May Sarton and Adrienne Rich'' University of Missouri * Holladay, Hilary (2020) ''The Power of Adrienne Rich: A Biography'' Nan A. Talese/Doubleday * Keyes, Claire (2008) ''The Aesthetics of Power: The Poetry of Adrienne Rich'' University of Georgia Press * Shuman, R. Baird (2002) ''Great American Writers: Twentieth Century''. Marshall Cavendish * Yorke, Liz (1998) ''Adrienne Rich: Passion, Politics and the Body'' Sage Publications


External links


Official Adrienne Rich Website
Managed by The Adrienne Rich Literary Trust.
Adrienne Rich: Profile, Poems, Essays at Poets.org

Profile and poems written and audio at Poetry Foundation
Retrieved 2010-01-08
Profile and poems written and audio at Poetry Archive
Retrieved 2010-01-08

. Retrieved 2010-01-08

. Retrieved 2010-01-08
Griffin Poetry Prize Profile and videos
. Retrieved 2010-01-08
Reading and conversation at Lannan Foundation September 29 1999 (audio, 48 mins)
Retrieved 2010-01-08

Retrieved 2010-01-08

poetry article by Rich at ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', November 18, 2006. Retrieved 2010-01-08
"Adrienne Rich Papers"
Archive at
Schlesinger Library The Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America is a research library at Harvard Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University. According to Nancy F. Cott, the Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation Director, it is "the ...
from the Radcliffe Institute. Retrieved 2010-01-08
Adrienne Rich
at
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
Authorities — with 61 catalog records * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rich, Adrienne 1929 births 2012 deaths 20th-century American poets 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American poets 21st-century American women writers American anti-war activists American Ashkenazi Jews American feminist writers American people of Slovak-Jewish descent American tax resisters American women poets Jewish American poets Jewish feminists Lesbian academics Lesbian feminists Lesbian poets American lesbian writers Political lesbians Radical feminists American LGBTQ poets Proponents of Christian feminism Activists from Maryland LGBTQ people from Maryland Writers from Baltimore Radcliffe College alumni Harvard Advocate alumni Brandeis University faculty City College of New York faculty Columbia University faculty Cornell University faculty Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences MacArthur Fellows Bollingen Prize recipients Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Poetry winners National Book Award winners Yale Younger Poets winners Deaths from arthritis 20th-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American LGBTQ people Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters English-language poets Poets with disabilities American writers with disabilities 20th-century American Sephardic Jews 21st-century American Sephardic Jews LGBTQ writers with disabilities