"What Kind of Times Are These," written in 1991 by the American poet Adrienne Rich, considers the role of politics in poetry (and vice versa). The speaker describes an abandoned house in the woods where "persecuted" people once met. The speaker refuses to reveal the location of this "place," beyond stating that it exists within "our" own country, in order to prevent those in power from commodifying or destroying it. Rich's poem responds to a 1939 poem by the German writer Berthold Brecht, which argued that it was "almost a crime" to "talk about trees" when there were so many atrocities happening in the world (i.e., the rise of the Nazi party and WWII). Rich's poem counters that talking about trees is "necessary" to make people pay attention to poetry at all. By this, Rich might mean that it's important for poets to disguise difficult truths behind more traditionally inviting subjects (like nature), and/or that such subjects are inherently political because nothing exists in isolation; all poetry is inextricable from its surroundings.

• Read the full text of “What Kind of Times Are These”

• “What Kind of Times Are These” Summary

• “What Kind of Times Are These” Themes

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    Poetry and Politics

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-16

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “What Kind of Times Are These”

  • Lines 1-4

    There's a place ...
    ... into those shadows.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 5-8

    I've walked there ...
    ... making people disappear.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 9-12

    I won't tell ...
    ... make it disappear.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 13-16

    And I won't ...
    ... talk about trees.

    

    

    

    

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• “What Kind of Times Are These” Symbols

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    The Trees

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “There's a place between two stands of trees”
    • Line 9: “the dark mesh of the woods”
    • Lines 14-16: “because in times like these / to have you listen at all, it's necessary / to talk about trees.”
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    The Revolutionary Road and Meeting-House

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-4: “There's a place between two stands of trees where the grass grows uphill / and the old revolutionary road breaks off into shadows / near a meeting-house abandoned by the persecuted / who disappeared into those shadows.”

• “What Kind of Times Are These” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Allusion

    

    

    

    

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    Where allusion appears in the poem:

    • Lines 14-16: “Because you still listen, because in times like these / to have you listen at all, it's necessary / to talk about trees.”

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “two,” “trees,” “grass,” “grows”
    • Line 2: “revolutionary,” “road”
    • Line 5: “dread,” “don't”
    • Line 7: “country,” “closer,” “dread”
    • Line 8: “disappear”
    • Line 9: “dark,” “mesh”
    • Line 10: “meeting”
    • Line 13: “where,” “why”
    • Line 16: “to,” “talk,” “trees”

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

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    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “trees”
    • Line 2: “shadows”
    • Line 4: “disappeared into those shadows”
    • Line 6: “this isn't a Russian poem, this is not somewhere else”
    • Lines 7-8: “its own truth and dread, / its own ways”
    • Line 8: “making people disappear”
    • Line 9: “I won't tell you where the place is”
    • Line 12: “make it disappear”
    • Lines 13-14: “And I won't tell you where it is, so why do I tell you / anything?”
    • Lines 14-15: “Because you still listen, because in times like these / to have you listen at all”
    • Line 16: “trees”

  • Asyndeton

    

    

    

    

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    Where asyndeton appears in the poem:

    • Lines 6-8: “this isn't a Russian poem, this is not somewhere else but here, / our country moving closer to its own truth and dread, / its own ways of making people disappear.”
    • Lines 9-11: “I won't tell you where the place is, the dark mesh of the woods / meeting the unmarked strip of light— / ghost-ridden crossroads, leafmold paradise:”
    • Line 12: “buy it, sell it, make it disappear.”
    • Lines 14-15: “Because you still listen, because in times like these / to have you listen at all”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “uphill / and”
    • Lines 2-3: “shadows / near”
    • Lines 3-4: “persecuted / who”
    • Lines 5-6: “fooled / this”
    • Lines 9-10: “woods / meeting”
    • Lines 13-14: “you / anything”
    • Lines 14-15: “these / to”
    • Lines 15-16: “necessary / to”

• “What Kind of Times Are These” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Revolutionary road
  • The persecuted
  • Mesh
  • Ghost-ridden
  • Leafmold paradise
  • (Location in poem: Line 2: “and the old revolutionary road breaks off into shadows”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “What Kind of Times Are These”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “What Kind of Times Are These” Speaker

• “What Kind of Times Are These” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “What Kind of Times Are These”

• More “What Kind of Times Are These” Resources

  • External Resources

    • Read About Rich's Life and Career — A biography of the poet from the Poetry Foundation. 

    • "To Those Who Follow in our Wake" — Read Bertolt Brecht's 1939 poem, to which Rich's poem responds.

    • Listen to the Poem Out Loud — A recording of Rich reading "What Kind of Times Are These.

    • An Overview of Rich's Legacy — An article about Rich's relationship to poetry and feminism as well her views on political poetry.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Adrienne Rich

    • Amends

    • Aunt Jennifer's Tigers

    • Diving into the Wreck

    • Living in Sin

    • Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law

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