Power

Adrienne Rich

Living in the earth-deposits of our history

Today a backhoe divulged out of a crumbling flank of earth

one bottle amber perfect a hundred-year-old
cure for fever or melancholy a tonic
for living on this earth in the winters of this climate.

Today I was reading about Marie Curie:

she must have known she suffered from radiation sickness
her body bombarded for years by the element
she had purified
It seems she denied to the end
the source of the cataracts on her eyes
the cracked and suppurating skin of her finger-ends
till she could no longer hold a test-tube or a pencil

She died a famous woman denying

her wounds
denying
her wounds came from the same source as her power.

Poem Analyzed by Sudip Das Gupta

First-class B.A. Honors Degree in English Literature
Curie was a famous figure in the field of science. She devoted her life along with her
loving husband Pierre Curie to the research of radioactivity. The radiation of those
radioactive elements started to damage her body. But she denied her physical ailments
and continued with her research until she wasn’t able to do that. The poetess seeks the
source of that mighty force living inside Marie Curie.

Summary of Power
‘Power’ by Adrienne Rich is about the mental “power” of the scientist Marie Curie,
famous for her contribution in the field radioactivity and radioactive elements.
At the beginning of ‘Power’, Adrienne Rich refers to human history as it is the source of
inspiration to her. She uses the imagery of a backhoe excavating a bottle of amber in the
upcoming section of the poem. In folk medicine, there are various uses of amber in
health-related problems. There is a belief that it has some medicinal properties. Here
Adrienne uses “amber” as a symbol. The next section of the poem makes it clear.
In the next section of the poem, the poetess reveals for whom she is writing this poem.
The person is none other than the well-known scientist, Marie Curie. Rich was reading
about her before penning down her thoughts regarding her mental power. At first, she
points out the decaying physique of Curie caused by extensive experimentation with
radioactive elements. The description is no doubt pathetic and heart-wrenching. In the
penultimate section of the poem, Rich presents her resolution in the manner of a sonnet.
In her words, Curie died like a soul constantly denying her mortal “wounds”. At last, the
poetess says that Curie got her power from the “same source” from which a man also
gets his power.

Meaning of Power
The title of the poem is short but suggestive. The word “power” is a reference to the will
force of Marie Curie. It also suggests Curie’s mental capacity to continue her research,
denying her “radiation sickness”. The significance of the title becomes clear to the
readers at the end of the poem.

Structure of Power
‘Power’ by Adrienne Rich consists of four stanzas. Like other poems of Rich, it has an
unconventional structure. The first stanza has only one line while the third and the
longest stanza of the poem has eight lines. The last stanza has an uncommon formation.
The second and the third line of this stanza have two and one words respectively. Such a
form of the last line is for the sake of emphasizing her idea regarding Curie’s mental
strength.
There is no specific rhyme scheme in the poem. If readers scan the poem metrically, they
can find that there is also not any regularity in the meter. The majority of the feet are in
iambic meter with some trochaic variations here and there. Being a poem of modern
literature it has such an unconventional structure.

Literary Devices
Let us have a look at the literary devices used in the poem ‘Power’ by Adrienne Rich.
 Stanza 1: To begin with, “earth-deposits” is the use of metaphor in the first line.
Though it sounds simple, there is a meaning hidden inside the phrase “earth-
deposits of our history”. Like the layers of the lithosphere hides the traces of our
past, there are certain characters who remain buried in the pages of history. In
this poem, the character is Marie Curie. Rich mentions her importance in the
following sections of the poem.
 Stanza 2: Adrienne uses a set of metaphors in this section also. Rich refers to
“backhoe” to imply herself. She is actually acting like a backhoe here; she is
gathering information about the dead scientist. “Amber” is again a metaphor. She
is actually referring to Curie here. In the last line “winters of this climate” is not a
suggestion of the actual winter season. It is a reference to the critical phases of
someone’s life. In this poem, it’s definitely a reference to the poetess’ morose
situation. Readers can find another literary device in the phrase “for fever”. It’s
an alliteration.
 Stanza 3: In this section, Adrienne invests radioactive elements with the ability to
bombard within the body of Marie Curie. It is the use of personification. There is
a use of anaphora in the sixth and seventh lines of this stanza. In this stanza
readers can find alliteration in the following phrases, “she suffered” and “body
bombarded”.
 Stanza 4: In the last stanza the poetess uses the phrase, “denying her wounds”
twice. It is an example of palilogy. The poetess puts emphasis on her idea by
the repetition of this phrase. There is alliteration in the phrase, “same source”.

Themes in Power
In ‘Power’ by Adrienne Rich, there are some important themes to focus while reading.
These themes are power, sacrifice, history, and denial. Let’s discuss the themes one by
one.

Power
The major theme of the poem is power. The poetess refers to two kinds of power, one
destructive and another constructive. The mental power of Curie is that constructive
force that helped her to sail through with her experiments. Another facade of power is
the destructive side of radioactive elements which damages Curie’s whole body
gradually.

Sacrifice
The theme of sacrifice is another element of the poem. It’s Curie’s selflessness which
helped the whole scientific world to prosper in the field of radioactivity. She knew the
thing with which she was daily working, was eating her body each day. But she denied
stopping her work. She accepted the sickness as a part of the process and devoted her
life to the advancement of science.

History
There is a reference to history which is a minor theme in the poem. Rich refers to history
as a source of remedies. History helps us to know ourselves better. There are instances
when it provides us mental strength in the “winters” of our lives. The pages of history
helped Rich to know about the mental courage of Marie Curie when she was feeling low
at a specific point in her life.

Denial
The theme of denial is another important thing to discuss here. In the poem, denial
doesn’t mean not accepting reality. Rich says that Marie Curie denied “her wounds”.
Actually, Curie denied the fact that the bodily wounds would inflict her mental strength.
She accepted the reality at the same time she denied the beliefs. She knew that the
power inside her soul was much stronger than the radiation.

Analysis of Power
Stanza 1
Living in the earth-deposits of our history
In ‘Power’ by Adrienne Rich, the first line may seem incoherent at first with respect to
the other sections of the poem. But it is significant while taking the subject matter of the
poem in totality. There is a reference to history and its importance in a person’s life. Rich
says that we have a deep connection with our past. But true history remains hidden
under the earthly layers of bias and orthodoxy of the society. The poetess refers to
someone living there, in the real world of unheard history. She is none other than the
famous scientist Marie Curie. It becomes in the third stanza of the poem.

Stanza 2
Today a backhoe divulged out of a crumbling flank of earth
(…)
for living on this earth in the winters of this climate
In some critical appreciations of the poem ‘Power’ by Adrienne Rich the significance of
this section is unclear and doubtful. But there are certain images that we, as readers can
take as a reference while reading the third stanza of the poem. If we skip this section
and read the third stanza first, the importance of the lines become clear. At first,
visualize the image of a backhoe excavating the ground present in the first line of this
stanza. The poetess compares the poetic persona to the backhoe. Like a backhoe
excavates the upper layers to find something buried underneath, the speaker is finding
some truthful accounts from the pages of history.
After the excavation, the speaker tells the reader that a “hundred-year-old” bottle of
amber is found. Amber is a type of resin. In folk medicine, it is used as a healing agent.
The poetess associates a different idea with this amber. It is in fact a symbol. She is
referring to Curie in the guise of this material. Her story inspires poetess. It gives her
courage and hope in the tough “winters” of her life. Curie’s dedication and courage is not
only the source of inspiration to the poetess but also for us. The only question is
whether we have read about her life or not.

Stanza 3
Today I was reading about Marie Curie
(…)
till she could no longer hold a test-tube or a pencil
In this stanza, Adrienne Rich makes it clear to the readers of whose power she is talking
in her poem. The poetess was reading about the life of Marie Curie on the day of writing
this poem. She doesn’t focus on the preliminary phases of Curie’s life. Rich quickly jumps
to the time when she was suffering from “radiation sickness”. The poetess thinks that
she might have been ignorant of this disease. The radiation of the elements on which she
was doing her research, affected her cells. But Curie had a strong heart and her mind
was powerful enough to bear those external pains.
According to the poetess she denied that she could not continue her work with her
drooping health. She denied that she could not see well for cataracts on her eyes. She
denied the pain she felt while working with her hands. Due to the side effects of
radiation, her skin cracked. Her suppurating finger ends caused her pain but she denied
such kind of bodily agitations. She continued her work “till she could no longer hold a
test tube or a pencil”.
Here Rich projects Curie’s spirit of denial and her lifelong perseverance. Curie was not
like a lady of romance. She was a fighter in her mind and a soldier at her soul. She knew
how to stay calm when her body was constantly giving her excruciating pain. It was not
possible if she did not have such a tough mind and strong willpower.

Stanza 4
She died a famous woman denying
(…)
her wounds came from the same source as her power.
In the last stanza of the poem ‘Power’, Adrienne Rich says that Marie Curie died like a
“famous woman”. Her devotion to the work brought her fame and she is the
fountainhead of the studies related to radiation and radioactive elements. Individually
she got the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911. Before that, she received the prize with
her husband in 1903.
In the next three lines, the poetess focuses solely on her unconquerable will and her
self-denial. According to the poetess, Curie denied her “wounds” throughout her life and
the courage came from her mind. The usage of the word “wound” is significant here. It
might be a reference to the physical wounds of Curie caused by prolonged exposure to
radiation. It can be a hint to her mental wounds which she received as a woman from
the phallocentric ideals of the society. That is why the poetess uses the “denying her
wounds” twice in the poem. The first one referring to her radiation sickness. The second
one points to her mental wounds. The wound remained invisible and constantly caused
her pain. But with a smile on her face, she refused to submit or yield. Imitating
Adrienne’s words readers can say, she “denied” to give up.

Historical Context
‘Power’ by Adrienne Rich was first published in her poetry collection named “Dream of a
Common Language: Poem 1974-1977”. This poem of Rich is well known for its brevity
and directness. Various critics from all over the world have studied this poem and gave
their critical insight into it. At that time when Rich was writing this poem, second-wave
feminism was at its pinnacle. Women were vocal about different kinds of inequalities
that a woman faces in her society, family, workplace, and other institutions. They wanted
equal rights and importance in society.
In this context, the subject matter of the poem is relevant in accordance with the ideas of
feminism. There is a reference to the negligible presence of women in historical works.
Curie’s “wounds” is again a reference to the unequal treatment which she received from
her family and at her work. In this way, the historical context makes the poem more
meaningful and significant to the readers.