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"Mourning Place" by Adrienne Rich(1965)
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"Mourning Picture"
They have carried the mahogany chair and the cane rocker
out under the lilac bush,
and my father and mother darkly sit there, in black clothes.
Our clapboard house stands fast on its hill,
my doll lies in her wicker pram
gazing at western Massachusetts.
This was our world.
I could remake each shaft of grass
feeling its rasp on my fingers,
draw out the map of every lilac leaf
or the net of veins on my father's
grief-tranced hand.
Out of my head, half-bursting,
still filling, the dream condenses--
shadows, crystals, ceilings, meadows, globes of dew.
Under the dull green of the lilacs, out in the light
carving each spoke of the pram, the turned porch-pillars,
under high early-summer clouds,
I am Effie, visible and invisible,
remembering and remembered.
Adrienne Rich (1965)
The Life of Adrienne Rich
Adrienne Rich is a U.S poet, scholar, and critic. Her work exempts her commitment to the women's movement. She has a lesbian/feminist influence. From this passion, Adrienne wrote fascinating books of non-fiction throughout her career. Rich was born in 1929 and group up in Baltimore, Maryland as the daughter of a doctor and pianist. She started writing poetry as a little girl after her dad encouraged her to do so. In 1951, is when Rich's first collection of poems, A Change of World, was published. She ended up graduating from Radcliffe College that same year with a degree in English.
Two years after she settled down and got married and had two boys of her own. Rich struggled with the expectations of being a wife and mom, and this conflict is what seeped into her work. She examined the social norms and the inequality between men and women. In 1970, Adrienne Rich had to leave her husband, but the reason why is unknown. During her prominent career, Rich won numerous awards and achievements. In 1994, She won the fellowship from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur foundation. In 2005, Rich won the National Book Critics Circle Award. In the year of 2012 Adrienne Rich passed away at her home in Santa Cruz, California with complications from her rheumatoid arthritis. She suffered from arthritis most of her life. Rich was only 82 when she died. Adrienne Rich has inspired so many people, especially young women, throughout her career.
" Mourning Picture"
A Deeper Look
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Adrienne Rich's poem starts by focusing on the dark part of the painting with the parents sitting in the shade of the lilac bush wearing black. All the words set the scene until the line, "This was our world." This line is shorter than the rest, but it stands out the most because it emphasizes the difference between what was and what is. The language throughout Rich's poem is descriptive- "mahogany chair", "cane rocker", "clapboard house", and "wicker pram." All of these words are very specific, with great attention to details and materials. By drawing this kind of attention to such objects, Rich implies an exanimate like quality of these things. In the final line of the first verse, "I could.... draw out the map of every lilac leaf/ or net of veins on my father's grief-tranced hand, " Effie notices this lifelessness in her father. Basically, this means the soul of Effie perceives her surviving father's hand as corpse-like. The second verse paragraph corresponds with the left side of the painting. The passiveness seems to fade away. " The dream abruptly compresses and the light carves each spoke of the pram." Abstract things distribute energy. In the final line of the poem it says, " I am Effie, visible and invisible, remembering and remembered," gives the idea that perhaps she is body and soul. Meaning maybe the lamb in the painting represents Christ, the Holy one, the Lamb of God, who conquered death and defeated resurrection.
Edwin Romanzo Elmer
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Mourning Picture (1890)
The painting and the poem share many similarities. The setting was historical in both the poem and the painting. This is shown by the old fashion clothing. The black outfits that Effie's parents wore represent the mourning and this takes on a depressing appearance as in the poem. The setting of the painting is also in a rural area. This could link the fact that Effie had been referring to the expansive variety of nature in the poem. The painting and the poem both express the emptiness parents feel after their child dies. I believe that the title, "Mourning Picture" has two different meanings. Sure, Effie's parents were in mourning, but there is also a sense of newness in the morning as Effie's spirit permeates through their clapboard house with life.