23 pages 46 minutes read

Adrienne Rich

Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1963

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Poem Analysis

Analysis: “Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law”

Adrienne Rich was a contemporary of Confessional poets Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton; though not a Confessional poet, firsthand experiences and autobiographical details found their way into Rich's poetry. "Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law” is one such piece: Rich used her experiences of being a wife and mother to craft a poem examining the societal role of women. Hence, while the speaker in the poem is unnamed, it is evident that the speaker is Rich herself.

The poem is divided into ten sections each further broken into stanzas comprising a photographic description of a "daughter-in-law." Significantly, the "daughter-in-law" in question is not a single person, but a persona; hence, the descriptions are of different women who all examine the "daughter-in-law" role. Further, this role is not, as one would assume, restricted only to married women, who become daughters-in-law to their husbands’ mothers; the "mother-in-law" in question is Nature herself—as Rich hints in Section Six—to whom all men are sons, but all women are daughters-in-law.

The first snapshot in the opening section is of an older woman, once a Southern beauty—a “belle in Shreveport” (Line 1). Now, however, her mind is “moldering like wedding-cake” (Line 7). The comparison points to how the decay began with the wedding itself: Once a woman occupies the role of wife, her mind begins to dim.

Related Titles

By Adrienne Rich

Study Guide

logo

Aunt Jennifer's Tigers

Adrienne Rich

Aunt Jennifer's Tigers

Adrienne Rich

Study Guide

logo

A Valediction Forbidding Mourning

Adrienne Rich

A Valediction Forbidding Mourning

Adrienne Rich

Study Guide

logo

Diving into the Wreck

Adrienne Rich

Diving into the Wreck

Adrienne Rich

Study Guide

logo

Living in Sin

Adrienne Rich

Living in Sin

Adrienne Rich

Study Guide

logo

Necessities of Life

Adrienne Rich

Necessities of Life

Adrienne Rich

Study Guide

logo

Planetarium

Adrienne Rich

Planetarium

Adrienne Rich

Plot Summary

logo

Tonight No Poetry Will Serve

Adrienne Rich

Tonight No Poetry Will Serve

Adrienne Rich

Study Guide

logo

Vesuvius at Home

Adrienne Rich

Vesuvius at Home: The Power of Emily Dickinson

Adrienne Rich