Adrienne Rich A Literary Pioneer For American Women...

Adrienne Rich was a literary pioneer for American women during the contemporary era. Rich’s career spanned 60 years and she is most famous for her inspirational poetry that advocated for women. As an author, wife, mother, and Jew, Rich’s work encompassed the many prejudices that women face. Wendy Martin wrote, â€Å"Her work explores the experience of women who reject patriarchal definitions of femininity† (Martin 550). Adrienne Rich’s feminist upbringing inspired her poem â€Å"Snapshots of a Daughter-In-Law,† which explored identity, sexuality, and politics to prove that women do not have to satisfy social customs to be worthy of love during the contemporary literary era that took place in the 1960s. Adrienne Rich was born in Baltimore, Maryland on May 16, 1929. Rich’s father, Arnold Rice Rich, was a pathologist. Her mother, Helen Elizabeth Rice was a concert pianist and composer. Arnold Rich is credited for encouraging Adrienne Rich to explore and pursue her career as a professional author. At a young age, Adrienne Rich often read the works of Victorian authors: Tennyenson, Keats, Arnold, Blake, Rossetti, Swinburne, Carlyle, and Pater (Martin 552). Adrienne Rich graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Radcliffe College in 1951. Soon after, Adrienne Rich published A Change of World, a collection that was chosen for the Yale Younger Poets series. From 1952 to 1953, Rich spent time in Europe and England on a Guggenheim fellowship. Adrienne married Harvard economist, Alfred H. Conrad, in 1953.