19 pages • 38 minutes read
A Valediction Forbidding Mourning
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Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
“A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” by John Donne (1633)
Rich’s “A Valediction Forbidding Mourning” invokes and comments on the English literary canon largely through its relationship to Donne’s poem of the same name. Rich draws on Donne’s themes of loss and patriarchal rule to complicate received ideas of feminine sacrifice and male dominion. Many of Rich’s images mirror those in Donne, such as her speaker’s “swirling wants” (Line 1) following the “twin compasses” (Line 26) of Donne’s metaphysical conceit.
“Morning Song” by Sylvia Plath (1961)
Sylvia Plath is one of Rich’s closest contemporaries. Though critics often categorize Plath and Rich as confessional poets, both writers resist the label. Confessional poets such as Robert Lowell place emphasis on lived traumas and the direct communication of experience. Plath’s masterful use of symbols and imagined imagery place her closer to Rich than to the Confessional poets. Plath’s “Morning Song” uses a similar free-verse form as Rich’s “Valediction,” and explores ideas of loss and motherhood.
“Diving into the Wreck” by Adrienne Rich (1973)
“Diving into the Wreck” is perhaps Rich’s best-known engagement with the literary canon. The speaker frames the work through their “read[ing] the book of myths” (Line 1), and the poem grapples with the decaying implications of such a body of knowledge. The speaker of “Diving into the Wreck” also plays with ideas of gender and traditional masculine and feminine roles.
“Sisters in Arms” by Audre Lorde (1986)
Another of Rich’s contemporaries, Audre Lorde spent her life combating issues related to racism, sexism, and homophobia. Lorde and Rich both used their poetry as a vehicle for political change, and “Sisters in Arms” engages with many potential blind spots in Rich’s work. Though Rich believed in an intersectional feminism even before the idea came to dominate third-wave feminist thought, she rarely discussed issues of race in her work. Lorde’s overt emphasis on race in “Sisters in Arms” helps round out the feminist vision Rich presents in “Valediction.”
Further Literary Resources
“When We Dead Awaken: Writing as Re-Vision” by Adrienne Rich (1972)
Rich’s essays capture a number of ideas that define the feminist movements of the 1970s and 1980s. This essay, “When We Dead Awaken: Writing as Re-Vision,” provides a conceptual framework through which female poets can overcome patriarchal aesthetics. The essay suggests that female writers should revise canonical works of literature that often erase or distort female perspectives. Rich’s own “Valediction” is one example of what this literary re-vision might look like.
“Adrienne Rich’s Poetry Became Political, but It Remained Rooted in Material Fact” by Wayne Koestenbaum (2016)
Wayne Koestenbaum’s review of Rich’s 2016 collection Collected Poems 1950-2012 provides a comprehensive overview of Rich’s poetic career. Koestenbaum connects Rich’s work and motivations with canonical American poets like Walt Whitman. Instead of viewing Rich’s work as a personal outflowing of emotion and thought, this article positions Rich as a surveyor or sociologist able to capture elements of the American experience.
“Power in Poetry: Feminist Poetry, Its Roots, and Present Influence” by Allison Hritz (2020)
Poetry played an essential role in the Women’s Liberation Movement of the 1950s through the 1980s. Through foregrounding female voices and lived experiences, the movement led to significant legal reform in the United States and abroad. Allison Hritz’s article outlines how political poetry helped transform aspirations for equal pay and civil rights into legislation. Hritz argues that the female voices that forefronted inequities during the Women’s Liberation Movement stand testament to the power of poetry to create social change.
Listen to Poem
Educator Shirley Tung provides a slow and deliberate reading of Rich’s poem that demonstrates Rich’s use of meter as a rhythmic tool. Tung emphasizes Rich’s use of caesura through colons and periods and gives a good sense of the speaker’s declarative tone.
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By Adrienne Rich
