“Piece by piece” the persona in Adrienne Rich’s “Necessities of Life” re-enters the world. This conclusion is reached through the poem’s plot which deals with the struggle of a young person in relation to their role in the world. It is no great mystery that the persona is confused, has left the world, and is currently returning with hopes of gaining a successful second chance at life. What is most interesting about this poem is its structure. The poem’s form parallels the changing perspectives and revelations of the persona. A primary example of this technique is that the only stanza which begins and ends a vital sentence throughout the entire poem is the line which reads “So much for those days.” This line demonstrates the transformation from how the persons had viewed her life and its necessities to how those past days and over and now she is ready to re-enter the world with a new perspective. Much of the rest of the poem contains lines that flow, not necessarily smoothly, from one stanza to another. This effect reflects the life of the persona: ever-flowing, ever-continuing eventhough it wasn’t “smooth” all the time.

Rich’s method proved to be most effective in that it concretely proves the mood and confused/uncertain state of the persona. Like the plot, the structure does not guarantee any closure or resolution thus the poet provides the audience with not only what to read but how to read it as well.