Register to read the introduction…
With a free verse poem, a reader can usually assume the author arranged and placed words specifically to emphasize the thoughts and meaning of the poem. Below the title, there is an ode to Caroline Herschel, a woman who was not recognized for her work in astronomy until later on in life. Already, this ode brings forth to the readers mind a few topics: women, space, and under-recognized achievement. This gives specific themes for the reader to begin thinking about as the reader starts the poem. The first stanza is structurally insignificant, but still meaningful. Rich compares monsters to women, stating the “skies are full of them”. She is laying out the basic exposition, expressing the worldly perception of women if they were to choose to educate, achieve, and create something with their lives. A successful woman and a monster are compared and viewed to be similar, and these monstrous-women seem to be abundant. The second stanza states: “a woman ‘in the snow/ among the Clocks and instruments…” (Rich, 73). Rich sets the “woman” apart in the beginning of the stanza with a large space before the next word. This causes the reader to stop after the word woman, pause, and resonate with the word. The woman is the subject of this stanza. Rich makes a point that: She is a woman. She is not a monster. After the pause, we continue to learn the woman is in the snow, seeming to be surrounded by Clocks -capital C- and instruments. “Clocks” stands out in the middle of the line with its capital C, capitalized to emphasize the time spent by Herschel with the instruments, digging in the snow. It makes the Clock proper, gives it a name, personifies it, makes it special to Herschel and the reader. The third stanza is composed of only two lines: “in her 98 years to discover/ 8 comets” (73, Rich). These lines are separate from any other stanza, even though they could so easily fit in with any neighboring stanza,
…show more content…
However, Rich’s early poetry is much different than her later works. She grew as a poet, stepping away from simplistic, traditional forms, bringing a unique style and enthralling composition to the world of poetry. Without an appreciation for individuality or a keen eye for dissecting poetry, one could find Rich’s poetry too extravagant and difficult to understand. Stephen Burt, a critic of Rich’s poetry, and a poet himself, puts his perspective on display, thrusting his opinion into the throats of his readers. “Adrienne Rich’s new poems show qualities that almost require the label ‘late style’… In technique, as well as in explicit subjects, they account for debilities and advancing years, which they also fiercely defy, and they look back so insistently to her earlier work that they may not seem designed to stand up on their own.” (Burt, 29). Over time, people grow and change. Perspectives change, situations change, lives change. When an author has a history of writing for so long, they can, and will, create works that contradict other works they have written in the past; people change and grow as individuals, and it is a beautiful thing to be able to track that change in something as tangible as poetry. The inspiring thing about poetry is that each poem has the ability to stand individually by itself, if that is the author’s intention. Some of Rich’s earlier and later works are visibly contradictory, but because they were written in such different times with different intentions, they do stand on their own, providing insight on both sides of the subject. “The term “late style” was first used by Theodor Adorno in order to characterize Ludwig van Beethoven’s later works. According Adorno, late works “are […] bitter and spiny, they do not surrender themselves to mere delectation. They lack all the harmony […] and they show more traces of history than of growth” (ADORNO, 2002, p. 564).
However, Rich’s early poetry is much different than her later works. She grew as a poet, stepping away from simplistic, traditional forms, bringing a unique style and enthralling composition to the world of poetry. Without an appreciation for individuality or a keen eye for dissecting poetry, one could find Rich’s poetry too extravagant and difficult to understand. Stephen Burt, a critic of Rich’s poetry, and a poet himself, puts his perspective on display, thrusting his opinion into the throats of his readers. “Adrienne Rich’s new poems show qualities that almost require the label ‘late style’… In technique, as well as in explicit subjects, they account for debilities and advancing years, which they also fiercely defy, and they look back so insistently to her earlier work that they may not seem designed to stand up on their own.” (Burt, 29). Over time, people grow and change. Perspectives change, situations change, lives change. When an author has a history of writing for so long, they can, and will, create works that contradict other works they have written in the past; people change and grow as individuals, and it is a beautiful thing to be able to track that change in something as tangible as poetry. The inspiring thing about poetry is that each poem has the ability to stand individually by itself, if that is the author’s intention. Some of Rich’s earlier and later works are visibly contradictory, but because they were written in such different times with different intentions, they do stand on their own, providing insight on both sides of the subject. “The term “late style” was first used by Theodor Adorno in order to characterize Ludwig van Beethoven’s later works. According Adorno, late works “are […] bitter and spiny, they do not surrender themselves to mere delectation. They lack all the harmony […] and they show more traces of history than of growth” (ADORNO, 2002, p. 564).