17 pages • 34 minutes read

Living in Sin

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1954

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Background

Authorial Context

In 1955, when The Diamond Cutters was released, Rich had been married for two years, stating, according to a Guardian article, “I married in part because I knew no better way to disconnect from my first family. I wanted what I saw as a full woman’s life, whatever possible.” Also in 1955, Rich gave birth to the first of her three sons. At the time of writing poems for this collection, Rich was in traditional-woman mode, as depicted in “Living in Sin,” feeling the pressure to produce another volume of work of which she was not ultimately satisfied. She describes the collection as full of travel poems, inspired by her time in Europe, and worries about getting older, the latter of which is more relevant to the theme of responsibility in the “Living In Sin” poem. With her new family, Rich wanted, according to the same Guardian article, to make certain she was still a poet. One year after publishing The Diamond Cutters, Rich journaled that she was feeling indifferent about writing and reading poetry and, in fact, took almost 10 years before producing another volume of work.

Historical Context

America in the 1950s was both a time of conformity and a time for wanting to break tradition. On the one hand, as shown in “Living in Sin,” individuals often upheld traditional gender roles that popular media, including TV, movies, and magazines, encouraged, i.e., men out and about and working and women at home tending to domestic chores and child-rearing. To be clear, much of the media focused on middle-class white families. Post-World War II brought men back to the jobs women temporarily took over during the war, but some women retained their jobs. Getting a higher education degree for women often meant finding a husband, as marital bliss, home ownership, and the newly coined “nuclear family” made up the American dream. The rise of the Cold War and its focus on the merits of capitalism also added to the pressure of keeping everyone in their place. On the other hand, pent-up sexual desires were starting to rise, eventually leading to the sexual revolution of the 1960s. The mass production of cars allowed teenagers to sneak off and explore. After all, this is the time period that produced the Baby Boomer generation. The title “Living in Sin” suggests that the couple were unwedded but choosing to live together and act as if they were married, a choice that society of the time and the prominent Catholic Church did not condone.