An Analysis of Adrienne Rich's Twenty One Love Poems Essay

Poetry Analysis of Adrienne Rich's Twenty One Love Poems Poetry Analysis of Adrienne Rich's Twenty One Love PoemsLit. of LoveApril 26, 2002Response Paper 4XIXCan it be growing colder when I beginto touch myself again, adhesions pull away?When slowly the naked face turns from staring backwardand looks into the present,the eye of winter, city, anger, poverty, and deathand the lips part and say, I mean to go on living?Am I speaking coldly when I tell you in a dreamor in this poem, There are no miracles?(I told you from the first I wanted daily life,this island of Manhatten was island enough for me.)If I could let you knowtwo women together is worknothing in civilization has made simple,two people together is a workheroic in its ordinariness,the slow-picked, halting traverse of a pitchwhere the fiercest attention becomes routine--look at the faces of those who have chosen it.-By Adrienne RichIn Adrienne Richs Twenty-One Love Poems, each poem gives insight into the life she has chosen for herself. These poems deal with her struggle to rise out of the drudge of city life and rise up to the beauty of love. The setting of these poems is on the island of Manhattan, and the reader is taken on the ups and downs of her life. These poems also tell of the beauty and passion between her and her lover. In poem XIX, the reader is introduced to the hardships of love that the speaker deals with. Throughout this poem the speaker asks herself questions, but also directs them to her lover. In poem XIX one sees the darker side of her life in this City. In the first two lines of this poem the reader is confronted with this darker side. The speaker begins by asking, Can it be growing colder when I begin to touch myself again, adhesions pull away? This gives the poem a tone of pain and sadness. One would not ordinarily associate touching oneself (sexual...

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