Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Adrienne Cecile Rich's poem "21-Sep" reflects on the transition from summer to autumn, capturing the equinox's delicate balance and the impending descent into longer nights. Through vivid imagery and evocative language, Rich explores themes of change, memory, and the subtle power of domestic spaces.

The poem begins with the line, "Wear the weight of equinoctial evening, light like melons bruised on all the porches." This image immediately evokes the sense of the season's shift, where the evening light carries a tangible weight, akin to the heaviness of ripe melons that have been bruised. The use of "equinoctial evening" signals the time of the autumnal equinox, a moment of equal day and night, suggesting a poised transition. The bruised melons on porches symbolize both the ripeness of summer's end and the slight decay that heralds the coming fall.

Rich then shifts to the houses, personifying them as tender and watchful: "Feel the houses tenderly appraise you, hold you in the watchfulness of mothers." This metaphor imbues the houses with a nurturing, almost protective quality. The watchfulness of mothers suggests a gentle vigilance, implying that these domestic spaces are both sentient and caring, offering a sense of comfort and security.

The poem then contrasts the present evening with memories of past nights: "Once the nighttime was a milky river washing past the swimmers in the sunset, rinsing over sleepers of the morning." This imagery paints the night as a soothing, flowing presence, a "milky river" that envelops both swimmers and sleepers in its gentle embrace. The use of "milky" conveys a sense of softness and nurturing, evoking the night as a time of renewal and rest.

However, this comforting vision of night is fleeting. Rich forewarns of the coming change: "Soon the night will be an eyeless quarry / where the shrunken daylight and its rebels, loosened, dive like stones in perfect silence, names and voices drown without reflection." Here, the night transforms into a stark, desolate quarry, a place devoid of life and light. The "shrunken daylight" and its "rebels" suggest the diminishing of daylight hours and the silencing of those who resist this change. The imagery of stones diving in silence, with names and voices drowning without reflection, conveys a profound sense of loss and obliteration, as if the very essence of day is being swallowed by the encroaching darkness.

In the final lines, Rich returns to the houses: "Then the houses draw you. Then they have you." This repetition underscores the inescapable pull of the domestic space as night falls. The houses, once tender and watchful, now become possessive, suggesting that as the external world grows darker and more inhospitable, the home becomes an even stronger anchor, drawing individuals into its protective, if confining, embrace.

"21-Sep" captures the melancholic beauty of seasonal transition, where the balance of the equinox gives way to the inevitable dominance of night. Through her masterful use of imagery and personification, Adrienne Rich conveys the complex emotions associated with this time of year — the nostalgia for the long, light-filled days of summer, the gentle acceptance of autumn's arrival, and the comforting yet possessive nature of home as a sanctuary against the growing darkness.

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