Discussion Topic
Analysis and Themes of Adrienne Rich's "I Dream I'm the Death of Orpheus"
Summary:
Adrienne Rich's "I Dream I'm the Death of Orpheus" explores themes of identity, transformation, and the power dynamics in relationships. The poem delves into the struggle for self-definition and the complexities of artistic creation. Rich reimagines the myth of Orpheus, emphasizing the perspective and agency of the female voice, challenging traditional gender roles and literary conventions.
Summarize and analyze Adrienne Rich's "I Dream I'm the Death of Orpheus."
Rich's poem is a retelling of the Orpheus myth. In the myth, Orpheus, a great musician, loves Eurydice; when she dies, he descends into the underworld to seek her spirit. Hades agrees to allow Orpheus to take Eurydice back to Earth but only if he leads her and does not look back to see if she is following. At the last moment, Orpheus does look back, and Eurydice is dragged back to hell. Heartbroken, Orpheus dies.
In the myth, Eurydice is a kind of muse. Orpheus's love for her is what motivates her actions; Eurydice herself has no agency, except to follow. Her doom is sealed not through any action she has taken but through Orpheus's weakness. In the poem, the dreamer imagines herself as the agent of the process, the cause of Orpheus's death. She is a woman of "certain powers" which are "severely limited" by "authorities"—powers "she must...
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not use" in order to complete a "mission" that, if completed, will "leave her intact."
It's clear that these "powers" are the powers of the poet; if we understand the dream woman to be Eurydice, then her poetic powers are subordinate to Orpheus's. Even though she can see "through the mayhem" of hell, she cannot be her own guide. In this way the "woman" is not only shown to be stronger than Orpheus but also able to subdue her own ego in order to fulfill her role; she is one who comprehends, in her own "lucidity," her position as both muse and artist.
What are the major themes in Adrienne Rich's poem, "I Dream I'm the Death of Orpheus"?
In "I Dream I'm the Death of Orpheus," the speaker asserts her strength and independence as a female poet. She asserts that she is "a woman in the prime of life," but that her "powers (are) severely limited / by authorities whose faces (she) rarely see(s)." The speaker alludes to the struggle of a female poet to assert her voice in a male-dominated, patriarchal world. The faceless "authorities" represent that patriarchy and those who uphold it.
In the poem, the speaker drives "through a landscape of twilight and thorns," with the dead body of Orpheus in her car. Orpheus is a figure from Greek mythology, and was renowned for being a great musician and poet. In this poem, the dead body of Orpheus represents the male-dominated literary tradition. This is exactly what the female poet seeks to overturn.
With this in mind, the speaker driving Orpheus "through a landscape of twilight" is symbolic of the death of one era, and thus the beginning of another. The dying era is the era of male dominance. The era dawning is one when female poets can use their own voices. The fact that "thorns" crowd the speaker’s route symbolizes how difficult the transition from one era to the next can be.
The seven repetitions of the phrase "a woman" throughout the poem emphasize the centrality of the speaker’s identity. Phrases like "a woman feeling the fullness of her powers" and "A woman with a mission" show that this is a poem about female empowerment. At the end of the poem the speaker says that "her dead poet," Orpheus, must learn "to walk backward against the wind." She suggests that with the transition from one era to the next, male writers must learn to do what female writers before them had to do. Female writers had to "walk backward against the wind," where the wind represents limitations and difficulties inherent to a male-dominated world. The fact that women had to "walk backward" suggests that women had to find their own way to any of their goals. At the end of the poem, the speaker says that it is now time for male and female writers to switch places.