The Aesthetics of Power: The Poetry of Adrienne Rich

Claire Keyes, The Aesthetics of Power: The Poetry of Adrienne Rich (University of Georgia, 1986) 232 pp. (paper).

Sharing Rich’s feminist sensibilities, yet at times critical of her more radical positions, Claire Keyes examines the shape and scope of Rich’s poetry as it applies to her “female aesthetic.” Keyes uncovers the process by which Rich embraces, then rejects, accepted uses of power, achieving a vision of beneficent female power. Considers Rich’s poetry up to and including An Atlas of the Difficult World.