Adrienne Rich's poem, "Living in Sin," tells the story of one woman's experience with love. The woman had begun the relationship with a romantic view of how life with her lover would be, but, as the daily grind of housework and responsibility settles in, she loses some of her idealism. The poem sharply contrasts the fantasy of night with the reality of the light of day, showing that day-to-day reality has a way of chipping away at even the most pleasant nighttime fantasy.
The vivid visual imagery in Rich's poem gives the reader a clear picture both of the woman's romantic ideals and of the cold reality of her life. She had imagined her life filled with lovely things like "a plate of pears, / [and] a piano with a Persian shawl" (4-5). These images bring forth ideas of a perfect life in some kind of beautiful still-life painting. It is surrounded by these objects that she believes there will be "no dust upon the furniture of love" (2). Her unrealistic musings had even gone so far as to evoke an image of "a cat / stalking the picturesque amusing mouse (5-6). In her fantasy, even vermin would be charming and somehow endearing. In contrast to these romantic images, the poem offers stark imagery of the reality of this woman's life. She hadn't known "that morning light / so coldly would delineate the scraps / of last night's cheese " (9-11). Not only does the daylight destroy the gourmet delights of a wine-and-cheese party, we are also invited to notice how "a pair of beetle-eyes" peeks out from "among the saucers" (13, 12). Though these images of dried-out, greasy, left-over cheese and creepy insects scurrying off to "some village in the moldings" (14) are certainly less pleasant than the woman's ideal, they represent a much more authentic view of daily life.
Perhaps more powerful than the visual imagery in "Living in Sin" is the auditory imagery. The woman realizes that it is "half heresy, to wish the taps less vocal" (3). Resenting the noise of the faucets is "half heresy" because her fantasy has become a sacred thing to her, a thing which should be beyond the possibility of defilement by something so mundane as squealing, clanking plumbing. The fact that she notices the noise and tries to deny its impact upon her lovely life is evidence that the "vocal" pipes do, indeed, have the power to pollute her idealized life. The woman's fantasy is further suspended each morning "at five [when] each separate stair would writhe / under the milkman's tramp" (8-9). The word choice renders the sounds in these lines painfully disruptive to the woman's peace. At the first break of day, the milkman does not interrupt the woman's fantasy by simply walking up the stairs; he "tramps" up the stairs with the heavy steps of a man who has a job to do. That these steps cause the stairs to "writhe" further exemplifies the reality that daytime imposes upon the dreams of nighttime. The woman is jarred from a peaceful slumber with the sounds of the stairs creaking and groaning as the milkman makes his "relentless" (26) way up the stairs.
The fact that these negative images, both visual and auditory, constitute the majority of the poem, gives the reader the idea that the negative aspects of this woman's life are overpowering the positive aspects. Her reality is chipping away at her romantic visions. This chipping away is further evidenced by the overall situation of the poem. The man with whom this woman is living had convinced her that their life together would be fully romantic; that aforementioned "plate of pears, / [and] piano with a Persian shawl. . ." (4-5) had, in fact, "risen at his urging" (6). Yet, in the reality of the morning, "he, with a yawn, / sounded a dozen notes upon the keyboard, / declared it out of tune, shrugged at the mirror, / rubbed at his beard, [and] went out for cigarettes" (15-18). In the morning light, this man is not a romantic figure at all. Not only is he presented in a realistic state of morning disarray, with his unshaven face, but he also goes so far as to directly point out a flaw in the romantic ideal by declaring the promised piano as "out of tune" (17). After he leaves the studio, the woman is left to tidy up. She "pulled back the sheets and made the bed and found / a towel to dust the table-top" (20-21) because, in real life, there is, indeed "dust upon the furniture of love" (2). Throughout the day's mundane work, the woman loses some of her idealized vision, but these demons of reality are "minor" (19), and disappear with the daylight:
By evening she was back in love again,The allure of a romantic life is strong, but the fact remains that, though she is "back in love again," this information is followed directly by the conditional statement "though not so wholly." Some small aspect of the dream she had is lost each day, and the fantasy life of each night is less convincing as she awaits the reality of "daylight coming / like a relentless milkman up the stairs."
though not so wholly but throughout the night
she woke sometimes to feel the daylight coming
like a relentless milkman up the stairs. (23-26)
"Living in Sin" presents the reader with a realistic view of life. In this poem, Adrienne Rich doesn't attack either of the people we meet. The man is not presented as unduly manipulative; he is merely a human being who also got caught up in a romantic ideal and who, like most of the rest of us, is not at his most passionately attractive first thing in the morning. The woman is not presented as unduly naive, either. She, too, got caught up in the romantic ideal of how life with the man she loves will be. When this couple is faced with the cold morning light, each is forced to deal with the mundane truths of real life. Though the woman finds herself "not so wholly" in love with the passage of each day, this is not necessarily a bad thing since her vision of love was so fully based on fantasy. As the euphoria of early romance passes, this couple could very well find themselves in a comfortable, realistic relationship that is an ongoing cycle of fantasy and reality.
- Rich, Adrienne. "Living in Sin." Perrine's Sound & Sense: An Introduction to Poetry, 14th ed., edited by Greg Johnson and
- Thomas R. Arp. Boston: Wadsworth (Cenage Learning), 2013, pp. 60-61.
The title reflects the thesis of the paper.The poet and the poem are named early in the introduction.
The first paragraph gives a brief overview of the poem, leading logically into a clear statement of the essay's thesis.
The first sentence of the second paragraph states the thesis of the paragraph and ties it back to the thesis of the essay.
In the second paragraph the first quotation is smoothly integrated into the sentence which contains it.
The first sentence of the third paragraph states the thesis of the paragraph and ties it back to the previous paragraph.
In the third paragraph, the quotation which begins with "at five" demonstrates correct use of square brackets and the forward slash (or "virgule"). Furthermore, the quotation is followed by an analysis explaining what the quotation has to do with the thesis of the essay.
The fourth paragraph begins with a transition which references both the previous two paragraphs and the thesis of the whole essay. Also, this transition leads into the topic sentence (second sentence) for the paragraph.
The block quotation in the fourth paragraph is properly formatted: no quotation marks, the lines presented exactly as they are in the text, and the citation to the right of the period, rather than to the left (which is the rule for integrated quotations).
The fifth paragraph concludes the essay, again mentioning the title and author of the poem as well as subtly summing up the argument.
The work cited entry is correct. See OWL: Purdue Online Writing Lab (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/).