Adrienne Rich's 1995 poetry collection "Dark Fields of the Republic" begins with "What Kind of Times Are These", which, as an endnote mentions, alludes to Bertolt Brecht and Osip Mandelstam to explore the relationship between poetry and politics. There is no note for the next poem, "In Those Years", but it also echoes Brecht's "To Those Born Later" ("An die Nachgeborenen") as it considers how the present willl be remembered: "In those years, people will say, we lost track / of the meaning of we, of you." While Brecht appeals to future readers to "think of us / with forebearance", Rich anticipates later criticisms without asking for any forgiveness or understanding. (Andrew Shields, #111words, 21 May 2021)
| Adrienne Rich |
| Bertolt Brecht |
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