23 pages • 46 minutes read
Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law
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Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
"Apology" by Adrienne Rich (1963)
Published in the same year as “Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law,” this poem by Rich appears in the 1963 issue of Poetry, a renowned monthly poetry journal. It is penned in a similar free verse style as “Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law.” Though a far shorter poem, it also engages with a similar theme of womanhood and the dynamics between women.
"Diving into the Wreck" by Adrienne Rich (1973)
Similar to “Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law”, “Diving into the Wreck” is the titular poem of the collection to which it belongs. The poem and collection were written during a time of Rich's personal and political turmoil. In addition to the increasing tempo of the feminist and civil rights movements in the United States—both dear to Rich’s heart—her husband died by suicide not long before. “Diving into the Wreck” is at least as exploratory and influenced by personal experience as “Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law”; however, it is far more intense in emotion and tone, reflecting the turbulence Rich faced at the time of its composition.
"My Life had stood - a Loaded Gun (764)" by Emily Dickinson (1863)
This poem, by Emily Dickinson, is referenced in “Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law”; Rich imagines Dickinson composing this piece in fragments between her household chores and responsibilities. The ambiguity in Dickinson’s famous poem has resulted in various interpretations of the piece; one such interpretation considers the "Loaded Gun" as representative of the speaker, while the "Owner" is the speaker’s suppressed rage or frustration. Derived from her experience as wife, mother, and woman, Rich seems to understand and echo a similar frustration. Her reimagining of Dickinson is both influenced by, and empathetic of, Dickinson’s own writing.
Further Literary Resources
The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan (1963)
Betty Friedan's book was published in the same year as Snapshots, The Feminine Mystique. The book explores the widespread unhappiness experienced by women in the 1950s and 60s and attributes this to the lack of fulfillment and loss of personal identity arising from restriction of women’s lives to the domestic sphere. Friedan’s book is credited with sparking American second-wave feminism. Although “Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law” was penned before the publication of Friedan’s book; nevertheless, it espouses some of the same ideas, pointing to the prevalence of conversation about women’s issues during that time.
"Split at the Root: An Essay on Jewish Identity" by Adrienne Rich (1982)
Rich's essay appears in the collection Blood, Bread, and Poetry: Selected Prose 1979-85. She explores issues of Jewish identity, anti-Semitism, racism, whiteness, class, the Holocaust, and Jewish assimilation through her own experience of being raised by a Jewish father and Protestant mother. In this essay Rich asserts the experience of motherhood would serve to “radicalize” her, something that would greatly influencing her crafting of “Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law” (see: Authorial Context).
“Poet and pioneer" by John O’Mahoney (2002)
Reporter John O’Mahoney profiles Rich’s life and works in an article for The Guardian. Among other things, he writes about how Rich was famously patronized by WH Auden as he reviewed her first collection of poetry 1951, noting that the poems were “neatly and modestly dressed, speak quietly but do not mumble, respect their elders but are not cowed by them.” O’Mahoney describes how Rich’s later works—starting from her writing in the 1970s—completely transformed this image, “trumpeting her lesbian feminist ideals and charged with a left-wing conviction that still burns brightly.” Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law (1963) marks the beginning of this transition.
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By Adrienne Rich
