Adrienne Rich - Trying to talk with a man
From ZuluNotes - Free Leaving Cert Notes
| English Poem | |
| Image:AdrienneRichPoems.jpg | |
| Adrienne Rich - Trying to talk with a man | |
|---|---|
| Subject | English |
| Section | Poetry |
| Paper | 2 |
| Poet | Adrienne Rich |
| On syllabus | 2008 , 2009 , 2010 , 2011 , 2012 , 2013 |
| Note | |
In this poem the speaker and her husband have visited a desert where the american army are testing bombs. The poems main concern is the collapse of their marriage. In this poem there are a lot of metaphors, the desert being their marriage- lonely deserted and deathly and about to be destroyed by a bomb which is the trip to the desert.
Synopsis
Lines 3-7 depicts the desert as being a weird alien landscape which is dominated by deformed cliffs. However the speaker says she senses a river flowing underneath this dry barren place, the river represents the speakers knowledge that the marriage has been damaged beyond repair.
Lines 8-14 regards the desert as a metaphor for her marriage and the speaker gives a lsit of things that matters to them- 'whole LP collections, films we starred in, playing in the neighborhoods, bakery windows full of dry, chocolate-filled Jewish cookies,the language of love-letters, of suicide notes, afternoons on the riverbank, pretending to be children' She lists things we typically associate with relationships however she also meentions 'suicide notes'. Rich and her husband both experiences suicidal tendancies towards the end of their relationship. Their marriage is collapsing and every joy they shared and every difficulty they overcame together has lost its value.
lines 15-20 describe the couples journey to the desert test site which will soon be altered by the eery explosion which will also change their marriage forever
lines 20-25 refers to the eerie silence of the deserted town in which thay are walking, the other silence is the one that has appeared in their marriage. They would conceal the fact that they had nothng to say to each other by engaging in pointless insignificant chat 'and everything we were saying till now was an effort to blot it out' however now they have reached the desert they are no longer able to blot it out 'coming out here we are up against it'
lines 26-36 describes the military installation, there is an atmosphere of tension as there is always a possibility the test could go wrong and that the onlookers would be killed. The presence of her husband does nothing to reassure her 'out here i feel more helpless with ou that without you'. The speaker feels her marriage has become something dangerous and potentially harmful. She likens her husband to some sort of nuclear catastrophe and he is filled with a dangerous power. 'your dry heat feels like power'. The speaker finally realises her marriage is over and the only available option is to 'exit'. The speaker may have believed that by going to the desert thay may have found a way to resolve their difficulties however their marriage is now doomed to failure.
Themes
- Marriage and power,
- Failure of marriage
