Living in Sin

Adrienne Rich's "Living in Sin" seems very similar to "Home Is So Sad" by Philip Larkin during the first reading, but after a closer look, many differences become evident. In both poems the dramatic situation is set in a home, either a house or an apartment, but the idea each poem conveys is still somewhat different. Also, the poems differ in their form.

In contrast, "Living in Sin," is emotional and specific. Though this poem also describes the studio apartment that a couple calls home, it is more about their relationship and life than about the apartment itself. The beginning of the poem does describe things like the dusty furniture, and leaky faucet (ln 3-4), but the engine behind the poem is the way everyday life in this house makes it sad (which is opposite of the vacancy that brings sadness to Larkin's poem). Rich's poem describes a couple that has moved in together, possibly before marriage (suggested by the title). Though very much in love, the girl is unhappy with daily life here. She begins to see all of the daily events and items in the house as "minor demons" (ln 19), and she is only happy in the evening when "he" is home with her again.

In Larkin's "Home Is So Sad" the house itself is personified. The first stanza describes the house staying exactly the way its residents left it "as if to win them back" (ln 3). The poem is about people growing up and changing. As they do, they leave behind what used to give them comfort, what they once called home. Upon returning to this place, they see that it is exactly the same but sadly, they are not. Though the house brings back memories that entice them to return to their old home, they ...