From wreckage to removal : a study of the poetry of Adrienne Rich

Adrienne Rich's poetry represents a struggle to come to terms with failure, disaster, and wreckage wrought by the overvaluing of patriarchal ideals in America which stress achievement, aggression, and competition. Because the wreck includes emotional, psychological sexual, marital, and social damage, Rich calls for a reordering of priorities. She looks to the waking awareness of women as an impetus for change. Rich believes that an androgynous perspective, with its regard for the individual person's needs, feelings, and capabilities, offers the necessary alternative to patriarchal or androcentric activity. Androgyny suggests a spirit of reconciliation, a way of surviving the wreck.English, Department o