Of Woman Born
Motherhood as Experience and Institution
The poet separates motherhood as lived experience from motherhood as an institution shaped by men.
Rich separates motherhood as women actually experience it from motherhood as an institution shaped by men, drawing on her own journals from the 1950s alongside history and anthropology. Published in 1976, it was among the first feminist books to treat mothering as a subject for serious thought rather than sentiment, and it remains the standard reference.
Recommended by 1 Person
Erica Jong
Adrienne Rich had three sons back in the 1950s and early 60s, and she describes her transformation from the young poet who won the Yale Younger Poets prize and launched on a career, was recognised by many important poets, into the mother of three boys, whom she had in rapid succession.
Interview · August 2012
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