Images Creating a Theme

Figurative language can be used in poetry to communicate a specific theme. In "For the Record", poet Adrienne Rich arranges a variety of metaphors to organize the poem and enhance its meaning. She expresses a clear statement through personification, controlling and extended metaphors, and the structure of this figurative language. Rich discusses the relationship between mankind's suffering and his environment, declaring men and women solely responsible for the destruction of themselves and each other.

It is their political corruption, neglect, and unjust actions that cause pain and devastation to people and the world around them. The blame of this created war is taken away from the natural and constructed environment.Reverse ; Basic PersonificationThe poet takes the metaphor concept of personification and uses it in two opposite ways. Elements of nature and the environment are attributed human qualities throughout the poem. For example, the second stanza reads, "If here or there a house..

. poisoned those who lived there with slow fumes over years" (Rich, lines 7-10). The vehicle of a house literally poisoning its inhabitants is a metaphor because it is clearly impossible. A house can not poison someone. The tenor suggests that a house is being filled with toxic fumes, possibly carbon monoxide, for whatever reason, and the people who live in the house are being poisoned.

The term fume can also be defined as a state of resentment or vexation, which suggests that the residents of the house are unhappy living there ("fume").The more common method of personification in the poem is a type of reverse personification, or the poet stating that abstract elements are incapable of human actions and unworthy of human characteristics. The bulk of the poem consists of these statements, for example the first two lines read, "The clouds and the stars didn't wage this war - the brooks gave no information" (Rich, 1-2). This vehicle of elements of nature not performing human actions suggest the tenor that clouds and brooks are merely natural phenomenon. They can not declare war or share secrets. Again, Rich writes, "the freeways burned, but not with hatred" (Rich, 18).

This line reinforces that municipal structures are not aimed at harming people and do not experience emotions.This contradiction of personification magnifies the theme of the poem. The poet establishes nature and buildings as a force, but clearly states what they are incapable of. Most importantly, they can not intentionally harm human beings. This idea is critical to the theme because it affirms that the responsibility of the current social condition can not be placed on these elements of the environment. In reality, the situation is caused by mankind.

Controlling ; Extended MetaphorThe primary focus of "For the Record" is the environmental and communal devastation that a society is enduring. The entire poem is searching for the cause of that situation. In the first line, Rich uses a controlling metaphor to expose this problem, saying, "The clouds and the stars didn't wage this war" (Rich, 1). The current conditions are being compared to those of a war. Throughout the poem, references to a war-like atmosphere come up. The first stanza addresses the political aspects of the war, touching upon political opinions and taking sides.

The poison fumes of the house in the second stanza parallel to the filth and danger of a war. In the third and fourth stanzas, subjects of neglect and death come up. In the fifth stanza, a final reference to the pain caused by war addresses the "depths of vomit, tears - slow-soaking blood" (Rich, 25-26).At the end of the poem, the cause of this war is identified with an extended metaphor. The last stanza begins, "and ask whose signature is stamped on the orders traced in the corner of the building-plans" (Rich, 31-33).

The vehicle in this metaphor is the word signature. This can also be referred to as metonymy, because the signature is representing all of mankind and is something that can be associated with a person ("signature"). Regarding the extended metaphor, the tenor of the statement is that we should look to the people who are signing the building contracts because they represent everything that is causing the dilapidation of the environment. A signature is commonly associated with a personal approval, or acceptance of responsibility to a binding promise. However, as a medical term, a signature is a resemblance between the external characteristics of a disease and those of some physical agent.

This suggests that the people who cause the corruption in the environment parallel in their moral and physical corruption. This can be supported by the reference to the "big-bellied women... the drunks and the crazies" (Rich, 34-35).

These people are permitting the situation to progress in a negative direction.