Understanding Planetarium based on Info in other Essays

Upon my first reading of this poem, I was confused as to whom the woman in the poem respresented. I asked myself, is Adrienne Rich speaking of herself, or is she speaking of Caroline Herschel, a superb astronomer in her own right. Based on the stanza, "a women 'in the snow among the Clocks and instruments or measuring the ground with poles" (38), I though Rich was speaking of Herschel. Rich, herself is not physically using instuments to observe astronomy, but this may be some sort of a metaphor about the discovery of something unexpected in her life. In a later stanza, it seems that Rich is talking about herself in this poem. She writes, "I have been standing all my life in the direct path of a battery of signals the most accurately transmitted most untranslatable language in the universe" (39). From this stanza, with the use of the personal "I", it seems Rich is talking about herself, and possibly her inability to understand certain details of her life. After reading Rich's essay "When We Dead Awaken: Writing as Re-Vision", the poem "Planetarium" is the companion poem to "Orion". Interestingly enough, the poem "Orion" reconnects Rich with part of herself, she feels like she's losing her energetic imagination. She uses "cold and egotistical" (175) to apply to herself. With this in mind, she gives some background about "Planetarium". She writes that "Planetarium" is a companion poem to "Orion" written three years later. More importantly she writes, "the woman in the poem and the woman writing the poem become the same person" (175). The poem was written after visiting a real planetarium and reading an account of the work of Caroline Herschel, an astronmer. With these detailed, knowing Rich is speaking of herself in the "Planetarium", we can conclude that she sees her body as an instrument with a purpose. She also mentions that her ultimate goal is relieving the body and reconstructing the mind. Knowing Rich is writing about herself in this poem not only gives us insight into her personal problems, but it also gives the reader more legitimacy in assuming that some of her other more personal stories are about herself as well.