The politics of asking women's questions: Voice and value in the poetry of Adrienne Rich

Abstract

This essay explores the relationship between cultural feminism and poetic form exemplified in the work of the contemporary American feminist poet Adrienne Rich. Rich accomplishes her feminist agenda and contributes to the revitalization of poetry as a communicative medium through several interconnected strategies which subvert and challenge modernist/masculine poetic conventions that separate poetic discourse from everyday life. By writing in open “conversational”; forms, featuring feminine self‐enactment as her principal subject matter, and reconfiguring social values through poetic consciousness‐raising, Rich is able to “de‐naturalize”; the patriarchal social order and promote a feminist model of community life founded on mutual openness and dialogue.