Following the Traces of Feminine Writing in Adrienne Rich’s Poems

Abstract

The phallogocentric stucture of language privileges the male in construction of meaning throughout the patriarchal society which allows no place for feminine writing. Opposing what Lacan calls as phallogocentric discource, poststructuralist feminists exhort to what Cixous terms as "ecriture feminine" as the inscription of female diffence in language and text. Therefore, viewing women's difference as a source (of imagery) rather than a point of inferiority to men, Adrienne Rich redescovers female experiences in her poems through using "ecriture feminine" and thus exhbits the productiviy and plurality of women's language. Hence, the present study looking from the perspective of Cixous's "ecriture feminine," aims at analyzing female modes of writing in Rich's poems. The main finding of the research is that, through using female forms of expession as opposed to phallogocentric structure of expresson, Rich brings into being the symbolic weight of female consciousness, illustrating the oppressive forces that obstruct female expression.