Adrienne Rich,Ruth Whitman,and Their Jewish Elders

Adrienne Rich's portraits of her paternal, Jewish elders confirm the view that elders who suppress their ties to Judaism suffer psychologically as they age; however, Rich's depiction of her Jewish mother-in-law shows that elders who maintain their ties can also suffer depression in later stages. In contrast, Ruth Whitman shows that her Jewish grandmothers maintained ties and were content in old age; at the same time, her paternal Jewish grandfather aged peacefully even though he rebelled against Judaism. The portraits drawn by these poets come from a breadth of thinking that tolerates ambiguities, goes beyond generalities to individual differences, and permits sympathy in the midst of criticism.