Describe the speaker in the Adrienne Rich poems "Storm Warning," "Living in Sin," and "History." How does the characterization of the speaker help us...

In
"Storm Warning," the speaker is reflective, philosophical and, arguably, fatalistic.
For example, she declares, in stanza three, that "the wind will rise, / We can only close
the shutters." This fatalistic, perhaps pessimistic observation helps us to understand the
theme of the weather in the poem. The weather is relentless and unstoppable and has, as such,
produced this fatalistic outlook in the speaker.

In "Living In
Sin," the speaker is an objective observer, commenting on the life of the woman who is
"jeered by minor demons." The speaker's tone, for the most part, is matter-of-fact and
nonjudgmental. This comes across, for example, when she lists the objects in the woman's studio:
"A plate of pears, / a piano with a Persian shawl, a cat / stalking." This objective,
matter-of-fact tone helps us to understand the main theme of the poem, which is the woman's
restlessness with her life. She is restless because everything seems so mundane.

In "History," the speaker seems angry and defiant, as indicated by the first
line: "Should I simplify my life for you?" The speaker's tone later becomes nostalgic
as she reflects on the days of her youth. She remembers fondly "the slowdance numbers /
(and) the small sex-filled gas-rationed Chevrolet." The angry and defiant tone, as well as
the nostalgic tone, both link to the them of love. The speaker is angry that she has to justify
and explain the choices she has made in her love life, and at the same time she is proud of and
nostalgic for those choices.