Read the poems "Diving into the Wreck" and "Power" by Adrienne Rich, in your anthology, and comment on any of them, with relations to the essay "When We Dead Awaken" (but not only, of course)
The poem Power lacks any punctuation whatsoever and there are unusual gaps between the words which makes it ambiguous and prone to be interpreted in different ways.
I guess the relation between Marie Curie and radioactive elements is meant to be a metaphor for women's relationship with men.
Women spend their lives 'purifying' men and they are inevitably exposed to their toxicity which in turn makes them suffer, go blind and ultimately unable to go on working.
We now know that being exposed to radioactivity is by no means desirable. The question is, did Marie Curie know this? The poetic subject assumes that she did know, but she refused to ackowledge the fact (and give up her work or protect herself).
Are men as dangerous as radioactivity?
The closing line 'her wounds came from the same source as her power' suggests that this is not an easy question to deal with. These matters are not black and white.
(And science probably won't help us in finding the/an answer. Perhaps poetry will.)
The poem Power lacks any punctuation whatsoever and there are unusual gaps between the words which makes it ambiguous and prone to be interpreted in different ways.
ReplyDeleteI guess the relation between Marie Curie and radioactive elements is meant to be a metaphor for women's relationship with men.
Women spend their lives 'purifying' men and they are inevitably exposed to their toxicity which in turn makes them suffer, go blind and ultimately unable to go on working.
We now know that being exposed to radioactivity is by no means desirable. The question is, did Marie Curie know this? The poetic subject assumes that she did know, but she refused to ackowledge the fact (and give up her work or protect herself).
Are men as dangerous as radioactivity?
The closing line
'her wounds came from the same source as her power'
suggests that this is not an easy question to deal with. These matters are not black and white.
(And science probably won't help us in finding the/an answer. Perhaps poetry will.)