The title "Living in Sin" gives us our first glimpse as what the poem is going to contain. It is later found that it could be taken literally as in the house she is living in represent her sin, or figuratively as in her life is consumed with sin because of this event.

The first line describes how the woman first believed that her marriage would last inevitably and how her "studio would keep itself." This shows that this woman came into the marriage under the impression that the marriage would not require much work and that it would be self-maintaining. Rich uses the word studio to describe the marriage in the context that a place of shelter such as studio could also symbolize the shelt

All the man had to do was make a move and she was ready. This sentence describes how the tow met and how the woman seemed waiting for a chance to show how unhappy she was in her marriage when the milkman came along. Rich use of alliteration this sentence is to stress that picturesque environment in which she lives in and how the mouse in addition to the environment that is itself picturesque.

Describing the woman's reaction to the rejection Rich uses a much heavier tone. He describes her as being "jeered by minor demons." The woman feels that this is god or fates way of getting back at her. She cheats on her husband with another man and the man dumps her. The "minor demons" that Rich refers to are the demons that she has created for herself through what she has done. She feels jeered at because she is getting what she deserves for what she has done and she must live with it. The woman takes to break up a great deal harder than the man did. Through the next line it sounds as if the man broke up with the woman right after sex. She is pulling back the sheets to make the bed presumable after they had been laying in it. Also referring back to the last line talking about the man it refers to him going out for cigarettes which is a common practice after sex. That fact that he broke it off with her immediately after sex is an even harder thing to take for the wo!

The last sentence starts by stating how "By evening she was back in love again." Evening is when her husband arrives home and now that she has broken it off with the milkman she feels that she can give herself to her husband and begin feeling in love with him again. The character of the woman is put in perspective due to the fact that she can be crushed earlier in the day and later be back in love again. She cannot forget about the man that she had the affair with. Even if she was not in love with him and they had only been together a dozen of so times it still is the sin that she is living with and that she is reminded with every time the daylight is coming. Rich describes how the woman would still wake and the daylight breaking would remind her of the "relentless milkman up the stairs." The milkman along with many other things symbolize the woman's sin. Rich reminds us that no matter what she does it is something she will have to wake up to and remember everyday, and!

The next few lines describes how the "morning light would so coldly delineate the scraps." Literally meaning the light would show what would had happened the night before between the woman and her husband the cheese they had eaten and the milk they drank. The milkman see all of this in the light of the morning and he continues his sin. The word "coldly" is used to describe how the light shining on the scraps would portray a negative picture of the husband and wife relationship.

Rich now switches back to the view point of the milkman. Rich begins the sentence with "Meanwhile" the stress while all of this battling is going to inside the head of the woman it is a reminder that the man is also a part of this adulterous relationship. Rich describes the man yawning. This shows that he is not effected as much by the rel

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Approximate Word count = 2151
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)