Being a woman is different from being a man. Women do have difficulties living with men. In the poem " Living in Sin", the author, Adrienne Rich, has showed the difficulties of their life, and the horrible relationship through her figurative language, and imagery.
The imagery reveals the difficulties and differences between men and women. First, she has "A plate of pears, a piano with a Persian shawl," in her life. A plate of pears represents the sweetness of life. She expects she will have a sweet life, a great relationship with her mate. Secondly, "a towel to dust the table-top, and let the coffee-pot boil over on the stove" has shown that she has to take care of everything in the house. She uses a towel to clean the table. This shows her annoyance from cleaning, and she cleans the table carelessly. Finally, "By evening she was back in love again," "she woke sometimes to feel the daylight coming like a relentless milkman up the stair."
These two lines contain both overstatement and irony. When the night is coming, she feels relax and back in love because she finishes all her work, and she can take a rest. Contrarily, when the morning is coming, she feels disappointed because all the annoying things will happen again. The carelessness of her mate makes her feels bad and she will no longer stay there.
Interpretation.
Although I understand the assignment was a mere literary response, theme is always an important factor to discuss in any type of paper explicating, analyzing or interpreting poetry. As a matter of fact, unless a writer focuses his or her paper on theme, he or she is merely regurgitating (even if it is paraphrased) what he or she just read.
You give us quotes from the poem and make appropriate interpretations. However, you do not analyze these interpretations - in other words, you reveal what the poem means and not how it is meaningful. You interpret, but you do not analyze. Poems are extremely complexed, and a writer must dig deep to find each implication to link it BACK to the purpose or theme. There is a reason why people write poetry. Whether it is for pleasure, therapy, education or any other reason, poetry is always complexed. Too much must be conveyed in too few words. Your response reveals old ideas in everyday language. What most people look for are fresh, cogent, insightful ideas in effective and erudite language.
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