Voting Station

Adrienne Rich

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Poet

The Resume

    (May 16, 1929-March 27, 2012)
    Born in Baltimore, Maryland
    Wrote 'Blood, Bread, and Poetry,' 'Of Woman Born,' 'Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law,' 'Diving Into the Wreck,' 'Dark Fields of the Republic,' and 'On Lies, Secrets, and Silence'

Why she might be annoying:

    She turned down the National Medal of Arts in 1997 in protest of Bill Clinton's policies. (What's her problem with awards, anyway?)
    She claimed, 'Men in general think badly: in disjuncture from their personal lives, claiming objectivity where the most irrational passions seethe.'
    Her work was attacked as angry and bitter.
    She initially turned down the National Book Award in 1974 but then accepted it with fellow nominees Alice Walker and Audre Lorde on behalf of 'women whose voices have been silenced.'

Why she might not be annoying:

    She did not turn down other awards she won, including the MacArthur 'genius' grant and the Guggenheim fellowship.
    She was a pioneering feminist poet and theorist.
    She became involved in civil rights and the antiwar movement.
    Her estranged husband, Arthur Conrad, committed suicide.
    She came out as a lesbian in the 1970s and was involved with the same woman, Michelle Cliff, for 36 years.
    She suffered from arthritis.
    Camille Paglia dissed her.

Credit: Truffle


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 9 Votes: 22.22% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 18 Votes: 55.56% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 316 Votes: 53.48% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 135 Votes: 58.52% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 14 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 95 Votes: 78.95% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 6 Votes: 83.33% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 16 Votes: 37.50% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 25 Votes: 64.00% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 10 Votes: 70.0% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 550 Votes: 75.45% Annoying