Living_In_Sin

Living In Sin Explication of “Living in Sin” By: Adrienne Rich This poem’s speaker is a woman who is disillusioned with, and may feel guilty about the relationship she is in. The studio apartment in which she lives, (maybe with her lover and/or husband) symbolically parallels the relationship. Lines 1-7 suggest that she used to have an ideal vision of the relationship (and the studio), but in the cold light of the morning, the vision disappears. The studio’s deteriorated state symbolizes the state of the relationship. Another way to put it is that her perception of the studio’s state reflects her sadness. She perceives the studio’s disrepair when she has lost her rose colored glasses. Lines 8-14 describe more of the studio’s messiness. For example, remnants living, sin, relationship, studio’s, lines, vision, studio, state, speaker, problem, lover, morning, maybe, appear, allowing, woman, wine, while, way, symptoms, symbolizing, symbolizes, symbolically, suggesting, suggest, signs, seems, sadness, rose, rich, remnants, regains, reflects, put, previous, pot, poem’s