Poet Rich Reads to 300

An audience of more than 300 heard Adrienne C. Rich '51 present five poems form her latest volume and one yet to be published poem at the science Center yesterday afternoon.

In the first half of her 45 minute presentation, Rich read poems form her latest book, the fact of a Door frame: Poems Selected and new 1950-1984. The 20-minute-long poem, "contradictions: Tracking poems" concluded the reading.

Before reading, Rich humorously recalled her undergraduate years at Radcliffe. She noted her former haunts, "cavernous cheap coffee-plans," as well as the books stores and libraries where she got her "independent education." She also recounted sitting in Whitman Hall "drinking illicit apricot brandy form a cologne bottle."

She spoke more seriously however, of her status before the women's liberation movement: "For a young woman it was contradictory indeed to fell so free and so entitled and yet to meet constant, mystifying restrictions and never to see single woman professor."

Rich a "seismograph of American protest," became a strong voice in the 1960 against the Vietman war, said Visiting Profession of English and American Language ad Literature Helen H. Vendler, who introduced the poet.

She added that "Contradiction," speaks of the conflict between one's commitment to a cause and one's need for flexibility.

To wards the end of the decade Rich joined the women's movement and declared herself a lesbian, incorporating her views on women's liberation into her poetry. Most recently, Rich's work has dealt with the light of the homeless.

"she's interested in the general emotions of invisible people, whether it he migrant workers in the artichoke fields in California, or the women invisible in their houses, unable to express themselves, or the homeless," said Vendler.

The author of more than 14 volumes, including some prose works, Rich won the 1974 National Book Award for the Wreek. Refusing to accept the award as an individual, she co-accepted with poet Audre Lord in the name of all women.

Rich won Guggenheim fellowships in 1952 and 1961, and the National Institute of Arts and Letters poetry award in 1961. Harvard named her Phi Beta Kappa poet in 1966.