Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View
These poems and works of nonfiction come from the perspective of Adrienne Rich herself, a writer and activist whose progressive political views significantly impact her literary output.
Form and Meter
After her first volume, Rich largerly wrote free-verse poetry with heavy enjambment.
Metaphors and Similes
Alliteration and Assonance
Alliteration and assonance are notably scarce in Rich's artistically liberal poetry, but she occasionally uses short phrases that include assonance, such as "Three streets" ("Upper Broadway").
Irony
In "Power," Rich demonstrates the harsh irony about the work of Marie Curie: Radium was the substance that allowed her to make her famous discovery, but it was also the substance that killed her.
Genre
lyric poetry
Setting
Most of Rich's works were set and published in twentieth-century America.
Tone
Blunt, exhortative, powerful
Protagonist and Antagonist
Major Conflict
Climax
Foreshadowing
Understatement
Allusions
Most of Rich's works allude to the problem she perceives with the world: the oppression of women and those with non-traditional sexuality. There are rarely, however, allusions to actual, specific people and events, although a notable exception is in the poem "Power," where Rich references the life of Marie Curie.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
In "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers," Rich uses the phrase "The massive weight of Uncle's wedding band" as synecdoche to refer to her stifling marriage.
