The Feminist Movement and Adrienne Rich's Power

The Feminist Movement and Adrienne Rich's Power

"Power," which was written in 1978 by Adrienne Rich, parallels the Feminist Movement that went into full swing roughly ten years earlier. The poem asks that we revise the traditions regarding the roles of women and relates it to Marie Curie, a famous scientist who preceded the Feminist Movement by about 100 years.

The bottle and earth described in the first six lines parallel the struggle for women's rights and those who were refusing to accept change. The poem begins describing an excavation: "a backhoe divulged out of a crumbling flank of earth" a bottle of "tonic/ for living on this earth in the winters of this climate" (lines2-5). The fact that this specific tool used to uncover the bottle indicates that much of the earth around it had already been taken away, and the remaining soil had to be removed bit by bit as to preserve the tonic and free it wholly. This, too, can be said for the Feminist Movement of the 60s; the final success of the movement was a result of the distinction of what particularly had to be changed. The larger pieces of earth removed are the successes of women before them, such as the recognition of women's rights. The final bits of earth are the individual rights of women, such as abortion rights and equal rights. The earth stands for those who are not willing to forego tradition and accept change.

What specifically does the tonic describe? "Tonic" means "an invigorating, refreshing, or restorative agent" ("tonic"). It makes sense that this "restorative" agent be rediscovered because its very meaning implies that something be brought back. This again makes sense in comparison to the Feminist Movement of the 60s because the predecessor's work for women's rights reemerged as they campaigned for individual rights. When Marie Curie is described later, the connection can be made between her and the excavation because she represents those who had freed up much of the barriers women faced, especially because Marie Curie's career as a physicist was unprecedented&emdash;she was the only woman at the 1911 Berlin Conference, and not even a man had won two Nobel Peace Prizes at that time (Gioia and Kennedy, 1247).

Marie Curie's determination to work with the dangerous elements that destroyed her body can be likened again to the Feminist Movement. She strove to attain understanding of elements until it killed her.