In 1996, she was awarded the Academy of American Poets' Tanning Prize for established mastery in the art of poetry. Her support for feminism has lasted at least as long as her poetic career, and her work is known for its powerful denunciations of gender injustice.

With a wry grin, Rich said that it was "great to be back" at her alma mater, speaking in the hall where she attended her first-year Radcliffe Convocation.

She reflected on her days as a college student, especially a dean who told her the Radcliffe community was no "mean city."

However, Rich criticized Harvard and Radcliffe during her residence here as indeed a "mean city," based on its sex segregation and exclusion of women from certain libraries and seminars.

Rich argued that women continue to be regarded as second-class citizens in society, and she lauded the formation of the Institute as an opportunity to critique the modern all-powerful university and press questions of inequality and poverty.

"It is a truly fitting mission to be a thorn in institutional self-congratulation," she said.

Rich read selections of her recent work, including "Division of Labor," "Rusted Legacy" and two unpublished poems, "Fox" and "Terzerima." Her audience, comprised mainly of non-students, hung on her every word and rose to its feet at the close of the reading.