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Adrienne Rich Quotes

Poet

Adrienne Rich was an American poet known for her profound poetry and feminist perspective. Her works explored themes such as gender, politics, and social justice, having a profound impact on contemporary poetry.

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Famous Adrienne Rich Quotes

“I think my work comes out of both an intense desire for connection and what it means to feel isolated. There's always going to be a kind of tidal movement back and forth between the two.”

Thinking Feels Kind Mean Two Desire Movement Connections Intense Isolated Back And Forth

Author:Adrienne Rich

“What would it mean to live in a city whose people were changing each other's despair into hope?-- You yourself must change it.”

People Mean Hope Cities Despair Social Change

Book:Your Native Land, Your Life

Source: Your Native Land, Your Life

“I think many poets, including myself, write both for the voice and for the page. I certainly write for the person alone in the library, who pulls down a book and it opens to a poem. I am also very conscious of what it means to read these poems aloud.”

Thinking Writing Mean Persons Book Voice Poet Pages Conscious Library Including

Author:Adrienne Rich

“I think of poetry as something out there in the world and within each of us. I don't mean that everyone can write poetry - it's an art, a craft, it requires enormous commitment like any art. But there's a core of desire in each of us and poetry goes to and comes from that core. It's the social, economic, institutional gap that makes it difficult.”

Thinking World Writing Mean Art Desire Social Difficult Economic Commitment Core Enormous Crafts Gaps

Author:Adrienne Rich

“You have to give your art everything you can - I don't mean only writing, but studying other poets and poetics, thinking, reading what poets have written other than their poetry.”

Thinking Giving Writing Mean Art Reading Study Written Poet

Author:Adrienne Rich

“The repossession by women of our bodies will bring far more essential change to human society than the seizing of the means of production by workers.”

Humans Mean Body Essentials Workers Productions Human Society Aquariums Seizing

Book:Of woman born motherhood as experience and institution

Source: Of woman born motherhood as experience and institution

“To read as if your life depended on it would mean to let into your reading your beliefs, the swirl of your dreamlife, the physical sensations of your ordinary carnal life; and simultaneously, to allow what you're reading to pierce routines, safe and impermeable, in which ordinary carnal life is tracked, charted, channeled. Then, what of the right answers, the so-called multiple-choice examination sheet with the number 2 pencil to mark one choice and one choice only?”

Ifs Mean Life Is Choices Reading Belief Answers Numbers Safe Ordinary Mark Sensations Multiple Sheets Pencils Examination Pierce Right Answers Swirls Multiple Choice Number 2

Author:Adrienne Rich

“Responsibility to yourself means refusing to let others do your thinking, talking, and naming for you; it means learning to respect and use your own brains and instincts; hence, grappling with hard work.”

Thinking Mean Hard Use Brain Responsibility Talking Feminism Hard Work Independent Instinct Self Determination Strong Women Critical Thinking Independent Thought Independent Thinking Grappling

Author:Adrienne Rich

“For now, poetry has the capacity - in its own ways and by its own means - to remind us of something we are forbidden to see.”

Way Mean Capacity Forbidden

Book:A Human Eye: Essays on Art in Society, 1997-2008

Source: A Human Eye: Essays on Art in Society, 1997-2008

“When I talk of taking a trip I mean forever.”

Mean Forever

Book:The Will to Change: Poems 1968-1970

Source: The Will to Change: Poems 1968-1970

“Language is power... Language can be used as a means of changing reality.”

Writing Mean Reality Used Language Changing Reality

Author:Adrienne Rich

“Responsibility to yourself means that you don't fall for shallow and easy solutions-it means that you refuse to sell your talents and aspirations short.”

Mean Fall Easy Responsibility Talent Solutions Sells Refuse Aspiration Shallow Funny Graduation

Author:Adrienne Rich

“Art means nothing if it simply decorates the dinner table of power which holds it hostage.”

Ifs Mean Art Tables Dinner Hostage Dinner Table

Book:Collected Poems: 1950-2012

Source: Collected Poems: 1950-2012

About the Author

Born: May 16, 1929
Died: March 27, 2012
Known for: Poet
Quotes: 327

Books & Sources

Your Native Land, Your LifeRelated source material

Of woman born motherhood as experience and institutionRelated source material

Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and InstitutionRelated source material

Arts of the Possible: Essays and ConversationsRelated source material

On Lies, Secrets, and Silence: Selected Prose 1966-1978Related source material

What Is Found There: Notebooks on Poetry and Politics (Expanded Edition)Related source material

Diving Into the WreckRelated source material

The Dream of a Common Language: Poems 1974-1977Related source material

Blood, Bread, and Poetry: Selected Prose 1979-1985Related source material

On Lies, Secrets, and Silence. Selected Prose 1966-1978Related source material

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