This is for the woman with one black wing perched over her eyes: lovely Frida, erect among parrots, in the stern petticoats of the peasant, who painted herself a present-- wildflowers entwining the plaster corset her spine resides in the romance of mirrors. Each night she lay down in pain and rose to her celluloid butterflies of her Beloved Dead, Lenin and Marx and Stalin arrayed at the footstead. And rose to her easel, the hundred dogs panting like children along the graveled walks of the garden, Diego's love a skull in the circular window of the thumbprint searing her immutable brow.
Rita Dove's “Sonnet In Primary Colors” uses personalized symbols, morbid imagery, and spring-love diction to emphasize a theme of pain and beauty, which creates a closer connection for the reader and Frida Kahlo. Dove writes, “woman with one black wing” and “searing her immutable brow”. These symbolize Kahlo’s signature unibrow which set her apart as strong, beautiful, and unique. The reference to her wing creates an image that Kahlo can soar and fly to great heights, as she did in the world of art. Her “immutable brow” alludes to her bold and brave soul, which managed to embrace beauty while living in a reality of pain. The morbid imagery which Dove uses inflicts a tone of agony within her audience. Dove writes, “the plaster corset”, “lay down in pain”, “Beloved Dead”, and “Diego’s love a skull”. Her “plaster corset” refers to a horrific trolley car accident which occurred earlier in her life and led to numerous health problems, including immobilization in a cast for her spine. The pain is also implied throughout the poem as her problematic but passionate relationship with Diego Rivera, and the life-altering accident that tortured Frida Kahlo with pain for the rest of her life. Diction such as “wildflowers”, “rose”, “butterflies”, “beloved”, “love” and “garden” are woven throughout the poem. This diction creates a mood of young spring love and adds an element of beauty. They include terms used in both nature and in expressing love. Frida Kahlo’s appreciation of inner and outer beauty influence the reader to see her with both respect and love. The title “Sonnet in Primary Colors” expresses Frida Kahlo’s love of painting and beauty through bold and colorful displays. However, a sonnet is traditionally considered to have 14 lines and this piece of poetry only consists of 13. This can be explained as the aspects of pain that took from Kahlo’s life, leaving her incomplete. Her lack of mobility limited her creativity in painting and art. It can also symbolize the boldness and quest for honesty and uniqueness within her life.
I agree with your analysis on the different moods created throughout this poem. You talked about how Rita Dove’s use of morbid imagery creates a tone of agony. Although I agree with you, I also believe it creates a sense of sympathy from the reader. The morbid imagery describing Frida Kahlo’s life after her trolley car accident makes the reader feel bad for her because it traumatized her for the rest of her life. It also gave Khalo a restricted lifestyle by always being held back by immobilization and pain. Nobody would want to live a life so miserable like this. Our interpretations of how Dove’s language affects the reader are different, but I also agree with your perspective. While reading this poem, different tones were impressed upon me, as it may have been upon you and other readers as well.
Throughout the poem “Nestor’s Bathtub,” the author Rita Dove uses repetition and symbolism to bring out the true actions of his wife. At the beginning of each stanza, a phrase about the old legend of Nestor and his wife is presented: “As usual, legend got it all wrong…” (1), “Legend, as usual…” (14), and “For the sake of the legend…” (26). The repetition of these phrases gives the reader an insight of what Nestor’s wife really did in contrast to what most people believed what happened. According to the legend in Greek mythology and considering the social norms during this time period, Nestor the King of Pylos was the one who was supposed to be pampered and participating in pleasurable and enjoyable activities. Through these repeating phrases, the reader can see that this was not the case. Nestor’s wife was getting pampered behind his back. While her husband was “on his throne before the hearth counting the jars of oil” (7), or “at the Trojan wars” (10), the wife was indulging herself in pleasures: “Nestor’s wife was the one to crouch under jug upon jug of fragrant water” (2). This may cause a feeling of surprise on the reader as it was normal for men to be treated very well while women were supposed to be the ones completing chores and doing work.
Dove also uses symbolism to show the wife’s dishonest actions in secrecy. She describes Nestor’s wife with “white hands.” “White hands” symbolizes that she does not have to do a lot of strenuous work or chores, and is used to being pampered while her husband is away. Dove also explains that with her white hands she “scraped the dirt from a lover’s back” (12). This shows that the wife committed adultery while her husband was away, which is another pleasure she allowed herself to commit. The symbolism of “white hands” bring out the true actions of Nestor’s wife that he did not know about and show the contrast between the truth and the legend.
Your analysis of this poem was very insightful and I agree with your thoughts. When you refer to the repetition, it can also be called an anaphora. The background information for the context of Nestor’s life helped a lot to explain the poem. The mention of reversed roles for Nestor and his wife were similar to my ideas. In addition, Nestor’s wife was seldom mentioned in the legend, and was another aspect of the reversal. Both the symbolism of the “white hands” and “scraped the dirt from a love r’s back” showed Nestor’s wife’s “true” life in this poem which contradicts the legend.
In rita Doves poem "Canary", the second stanza is writes, "(Now you're cooking, drummer to bass,// magic spoon, magic needle.// take all day if you have to// with your mirror and your bracelet of song.)" Rita dove uses lots of imagery in this one stanza. She starts by having the drummer say "cooking", and he could have used any other word, but he used cooking as reference to drugs due to how you prepare Heroin. Also the use of "magic spoon", "magic needle", and "bracelet of song." These are all references to taking Heroin, as you need a spoon, a needle and a tourniquet. Rita Dove uses diction to describe Billie Holiday's drug use amongst her peers by putting the stanza in parenthesis. When you're reading a passage and you come across something that is in parenthesis you read over it, but you don't say it aloud. Due to the whole stanza being about her drug use, it suggests that all her peers know about her drug use and acknowledge it, but they never talk about it or say anything, because they're not suppose to, as you're not suppose to say something thats in parenthesis. Rita Dove also uses diction to walk us through Billie Holiday's drug use by making each stanza shorter than the last one, suggesting that she is slowly spiraling downward into nothing, which is true because Billie Holiday died of drug use at a really young age.
I really like your analysis of the poem, especially the part about the length of the stanzas changing to show the how slowly she was dying to her use of drugs. Rita Dove used lots of imagery, which you mentioned, especially in the second stanza. To connect the imagery of “cooking” to the drug heroin was very interesting, as you continued to present more evidence like “magic spoon, magic needle”. Also, I would have mentioned the significance of the 4th stanza, and how Rita Dove uses this to express the “freeness” and feeling of heroin, as she refers to it as a “mystery”.
Rita Dove illustrates in her ballad a mood of innocence using Catherine of Alexandria’s struggles to remain as a virgin. The Christian saint converted hundreds into believing in Jesus during her lifetime. Even during her imprisonment, approximately 200 people visited her in search of Christ. Yet, at the age of 18, she was persecuted at by Maxentius, the Roman Emperor. Before her decease, history claims how the emperor attempted to win her over by proposing marriage. When the poet writes, “ in your bed - and what went on each night was fit for nobody’s ears”, she strives to simulate the temptation of sexuality. However in the third stanza, Dove uses enjambment, “but Jesus’”, to exemplify how despite her present thoughts, they always revert back to her Lord. This acts as a parallel of Alexandria's decision to claim Jesus as her spouse and stay a virgin instead of choosing the lustful life provided by Maxentius.
In the last stanza Dove writes, “ the nightshirt bunches above your waist - a kept promise, a ring of milk.” to display the longing of motherhood. The bible states how Mary was a virgin but was able to give birth to Jesus, one who was to rule all nations. Perhaps this was the goal for Alexandria as well. The kept promise of childbearing despite her virginity through her devotion.
Your analysis is very interesting, and I agree with your ideas. I like how you drew connections between your background research about Maxentius and the poem. I would also add that the struggles of Jesus, described in the lines “His / breath of a lily. / His spiraling pain” served to strengthen Catherine of Alexandria in her endeavor to remain a virgin. The visual imagery of “breath of a lily” could symbolize how Jesus “breathed” purity into Catherine, as the lily is often a symbol of beauty and purity (and in this case virginity). Jesus’s “spiraling pain” is a parallel to Catherine’s suffering, and Dove suggests that Catherine’s “kept promise” is a result of the strength she gained from this relationship.
Catherine of Siena was a famous saint who lived in Italy during the 14th century. She suffered a bad childhood and was very lonely during her times as she preached to people about Jesus. To emphasize this loneliness, Rita Dove uses anaphora on the word “You” to describe the reader is by himself/herself against struggles. Throughout the poem, the writer does not mention Catherine’s name at all, but only the word “you” to show that the reader is the character in the story, and this character is experiencing a sense of loneliness and longing for a friend. The main motif in this poem is aloneness, so Rita Dove uses imagery to help describe the this. Catherine of Siena traveled to other cities to preach to people, so the author uses the phrase in Stanza 1 “You struck the boulder at the roadside since fate has doors everywhere” to show that faith can be everywhere on Catherine’s travels. The last line in Stanza 1 describes heaven as “warm and dark”, as dark could symbolize the feeling of emptiness in the “you” person and “warm” could symbolize the longing for “someone to talk to”. Also, the description of “warm and dark” vs. heaven is contrasting imagery. In the first three lines of Stanza 2, Rita Dove describes Catherine’s isolation when she was younger. Again, the writer refers to the word “you” again to emphasize the feeling of isolation towards the reader. In the last two lines of Stanza 2, the anaphora of “No one” shows that the “you” person or Catherine has only done these last two things, and that the person will be lonely and isolated forever.
“Tou Wan Speaks to Her Husband, Liu Sheng” by Rita Dove
In her poem “Tou Wan Speaks to Her Husband, Liu Sheng,” Rita Dove describes the preparations that Tou Wan makes for her husband’s burial. Lui Sheng was a prince of China during the Han dynasty (206 BC to AD 220). His and his wife’s tombs contained the first jade burial suits to be discovered by archaeologists. The tombs were located in caves hollowed out of a mountainside and contained objects that included gilded bronze double cups, an incense burner in the shape of flame-like peaks, and an oil-burning lamp. In her poem, Rita Dove combines physical descriptions of the known objects in the tomb with the first-person perspective of Tou Wan to bring her ancient characters to life and illustrate an interesting dynamic between the two.
Dove uses sarcasm and syntax to show that Tou Wan’s apparent love for her husband is only a veil that conceals her resentment for her position of subservience to a man she despises. Dove’s use of sarcasm is evident in Wan’s reference to her husband by various epithets such as “my only conqueror” and “my constant emperor.” These epithets emphasize the servile position that women were expected to take towards their husbands; Wan’s address sounds more like that of a peasant to a king than of a wife to her husband. Wan’s resentment is also conveyed through the use of syntax. Dove creates two streams of thought within the poem – Wan’s servile, socially acceptable address to her husband and her personal, resentful thoughts. The latter is set apart by ellipses and parentheses as in the lines “and two bronze jugs, worth more / than a family pays in taxes / for the privilege to stay / alive, a year, together…” In these lines, Wan criticizes both her husband’s extravagance and his lack of care for his people. However, the idea fades off with the use of the ellipsis and Wan resumes her role of subservient wife. In the lines “when the stench of your / own diminishing / drives you to air (but / you will find none),” Wan gives the opinion that her husband will never be able to “find air,” or be free from his sins. Dove’s use of parentheses is similar in the lines “I will set you / a lamp. (And a statue / of the palace girl you most / frequently coveted.)” In both quotes, parentheses convey Wan’s negative views of her husband in a suppressed way, representing the way that women had to conceal their true feelings.
I agree with your view on how Tou Wan resents her husband. In the Chinese culture, it is often practiced how women are suppose to be one step behind men. Yet, I do believe this woman obtains genuine love for her husband. In the first stanza, Dove writes, " I will build you a house of limited chambers but it shall last forever." The chamber signifies her love and how Wan is willing to continue to endeavor for the relationship to remain. She unfailingly purchases materialistic goods in order to prove her compassion. In addition, the use of "my only conqueror" exemplifies her will of remaining with Lui Sheng and only him. Yet, Dove writes "you are bored" to display the motif of this poem, to revel her sorrowful emotions of how he fails to love her back.
Rita Dove’s poem “The Abduction” describes the kidnapping of Solomon Northrup, a free African American who lived in New York. While traveling to Washington D.C. for a musician’s job, Northrup was kidnapped and sold into slavery. After achieving freedom, he became an abolitionist who is now known for his 1853 memoir, Twelve Years a Slave.
In the poem, Dove uses stanzas that decrease from five lines to one line to mirror Northrup’s transition between acceptance and slavery and create a sense of finality. The quintet at the beginning of the poem describes Northrup’s feeling of acceptance into society. In her description of the celebration, Dove creates palpable excitement and rhythm through the use of parallel structure, alliteration, and auditory imagery. In the first line, “The bells, the cannons, the houses black with crepe,” auditory imagery is combined with parallel structure to create the feeling of a great festival. The people who “clotted the avenue” (line 3) represent the free society into which Solomon Northrup feels accepted. He shows his feeling of inclusion when he says, “I among them, Solomon Northrup / from Saratoga Springs, free papers in my pocket” (3-4). The alliteration of “p” and “s” contribute to the excited tone in the first stanza of the poem. In the second stanza, Dove foreshadows Northrup’s disillusionment when she writes, “Why should I have doubted them? The wages were good” (6). The brevity of Northrup’s justification for trusting his kidnappers shows his repressed knowledge that he had never been fully accepted into free society. The third stanza, located in the middle of the poem, describes Northrup’s kidnapping and his sudden transition from free man to slave. Dove uses visual imagery in the line, “I was lifted – the sky swiveled, clicked into place” (12) as a metaphor for how Northrup’s life “tipped” (11) and changed direction in an instant. Dove’s diction in the phrase “clicked into place” is very interesting – it creates a sense of finality, as if slavery were inevitable for Northrup. In the fourth stanza, Dove contrasts Northrup’s previous feeling of acceptance into society with his newfound feeling of exclusion through the use of kinesthetic imagery in the phrases, “I floated on water I could not drink,” “the pillow was stone,” and “I climbed no ladders in that sleep” (13-14). Northrup’s immobility in this stanza contrasts with the atmosphere of excitement, movement, and freedom that pervades Dove’s first two stanzas, foreshadowing what is to come for Northrup during his life as a slave. The final stanza is a single line: “I woke and found myself alone, in darkness and in chains” (15). This single line completes the transition from freedom to slavery, leaving the reader with a feeling of finality and hopelessness.
I completely agree with the aspect of your analysis which includes the transition from five lines to one in each stanza. The chaos which is created by using multiple types of imagery lead the reader to feel as Northrup felt. He spiraled from this chaos and freedom, to the simple evil of slavery. The analysis for the fourth stanza was very interesting and I liked your perspective on his newfound exclusion in society. Everything piece of freedom has been altered, and Northrup finds himself in chains.
In the poem “The Abduction”, Rita Dove tells the story of Solomon Northrup and his kidnapping into becoming a slave. This story inspired the book and movie 12 Years a Slave, which is his autobiography. Each stanzas’ lines slowly get smaller, so in Stanza 1, there are 5 lines, and in Stanza 2, there are 4 lines, and so on. Dove uses this to show Solomon Northrup’s life slowly slipping away from him in a connotative sense. In the first stanza, Dove describes an allusion, which is a parade for “the great Harrison”(2) or President Harrison after he died. She uses personification to describe the scene in the sentence “The Citizenry of Washington/clotted the avenue…” (2-3). The author continues using visual imagery to describe Solomon Northrup, as he is holding his “free papers” in his pocket, “violin under” his arm, and is standing by his “new friends Brown and Hamilton” (4-5). In the second stanza, she opens it with the sentence “Why should I have doubted them?” (6) This doubt foreshadows Solomon's inevitable death. Rita Dove then used more visual imagery to describe what Solomon Northrup was doing. She describes Hamilton and Brown with this imagery, saying “ Brown’s tall hat collected pennies at the tent flat, Hamilton's feet did a jig on a tightrope” (7-8). However, Browns and Hamilton's actions seem questionable, as they didn't seem the type to be starting a band and paying Solomon to be in it. In the third stanza, It foreshadows Solomon Northrup's eventual demise. It says he drank “wine, like a pink lake, tipped” (11), meaning he was drugged then he “was lifted-the sky swiveled, clicked into place (12). This imagery describes how he was trapped into a box or something and now trapped. In the last two stanzas, it uses visual imagery to describe the conditions of the ship he was on, “in darkness and in chains” (15).
Rita Dove’s “David Walker” portrays the publishing of “Walker's Appeal, in Four Articles; Together with a Preamble, to the Coloured Citizens of the World, but in Particular, and Very Expressly, to Those of the United States of America”. It also alludes to Walker’s personal life and how the pamphlet influenced him. These aspects are described through the use of Walker’s personal thoughts, alliteration, and symbolism pertaining to Walker, and cause the reader to sympathize with the hardships of slavery. Throughout the poem, Dove writes italicized lines which can be understood as Walker’s thoughts. The first one is, “They strip and beat and drag us about like rattlesnakes”. This view of first person brings the reader closer to the situation. It creates a realness for the issue of slavery, and emphasizes how even though Walker was free, he knew it was his duty to fight for universal freedom. Later, the line “Men of colour, who are also of sense” seems to be something from the Appeal pamphlet. The end of this stanza portrays how outraged everyone else was at this statement. Dove writes, “Free to travel”, which shows how Walker is a free man. However, he feels the pain and suffering of the enslaved, and enforces abolition as though it were his own freedom he is fighting for. Walker wrote these poems as a push to the enslaved to fight for their rights. The alliteration in the continuous use of the word “pamphlets” showed how people would go to great lengths to smuggle his pamphlets to others. The last stanza of the poem symbolizes how Walker mysteriously died after publishing his third edition. Dove’s questioning, “is that all?”, connects to the suspicion that Walker was poisoned.
I really like your analysis of David Walker. However, I believe you should have included that some of the sentences have italics in them that are actually quotes in the book and show the point of view of the slaves. I know you included one of the quotes with it, but you should have added a few more to show the whole perspective of the slaves. I like your analysis of the alliteration of the word “pamphlet” to show the “length” of how far he would go to spread his abolitionist ideas. I also like your connection with the quote “is that all?” to actual real world allusion of David Walker dying to poison.
I think your analysis is very interesting. I especially like how you interpreted the phrase “Free to travel.” When reading “David Walker” for the first time, I was confused why Dove would start her poem with this phrase. According to your analysis, Dove does this to show Walker’s unselfishness and empathy for those who are not as lucky as he is to be free. This is a good way of characterizing Walker while also letting the reader know that he is a free man. Another thing I noticed about this phrase is its similarity to the beginning of the poem “Catherine of Alexandria:” “Deprived of learning and / the chance to travel” (1-2). The idea of travel as a representation of freedom and autonomy seems to be a common motif in Dove’s work.
I agree with your analysis, especially the point about how Walker fought because he believed it was his duty. But did you consider that maybe Walker was writing these in a point of irony? And that he felt like he shouldn't be fighting, yet it was made his duty by his peers, although he has little freedom.
As the house slave in the ballad observes fellow captives in the field, Dove endeavors to illustrate the emotion of guilt. The poet uses the setting of dawn in the interests that it is the hour when slaves prepare to work. In the third stanza, Dove writes, “ At the second horn, / the whip curls across the backs of the laggards-” (8-9). During this era, lamentably, it was socially acceptable for whites to enact violence towards enslaved African Americans in order to show their superiority. In this case, the poet shows how whipping was depicted if slaves failed to report to their duties on time. The narrator says “in the slave quarter there is rustling-” (2) to display the actions of panicked slaves in order to avoid punishment.
In the last stanza, the simile, “ they spill like bees among fat flowers”(14), manifests to compare the field slaves as worker bees collecting the south’s most prominent cash crop, cotton. House slaves usually live in more improved conditions than field slaves and frequently have better food. In addition, they are not obligated to rise at the ringing of the horn. The character says “ I cannot fall asleep again” to show how even though he/she can sleep in more, they are unable to due to the torturous horrors of suffering.
Finally, Dove uses repetition of “Oh! pray,” (11) in order to expose the desperation of enslaved field workers on the farms. Helpless, this phase emphasized how the sister turns to faith during the tortures of the back-lashing. Dove includes how during moments like these, the House slave is unable to help because of fear, further accentuating the sorrowful emotion experienced. The narrator simply cries and realizes at the final line that “it is not yet daylight” (15) which correlates to the endless dismay that will continue throughout.
In your analysis, you talked about how the emotion of guilt is impressed upon the reader. I agree with you, however I felt the emotion of sympathy when I read “The House Slave” as well. Throughout the poem, the reader is able to see the fearful life that slaves endured 24/7. They were always afraid of making a mistake or somehow angering their owner as they would be whipped and punished harshly. Slaves were in fear for their safety all day and all night, which you talked about in your last sentence in your analysis. Although I cannot even imagine the fear that these slaves felt, I have compassion for them and feel very fortunate and lucky to live in an era where slavery is not an issue.
The house slave is a poem about a slave who is working on a plantation for a white land owner. The poem speaks about how he doesn’t like his living conditions, and is envious of what his owner has. In the poem, Dove uses local color to display the setting. in the first stanza she writes “[...] over the dew-lit grass/” (1), and she then mentions “cornbread” (3), this use of local color lets the reader feel where they are, because cornbread is a predominantly southern food, so it lets the reader really know that they’re in the south. She uses the same technique in the last stanza, “and as the fields unfold to whiteness,\and they spill like bees among the fat flowers,\”. This use of local color shows us that the setting is on a plantation in a place where things grow easily, so clearly a tropical climate, which the only places that have a tropical climate in the US would be the deep south. Which also gives us a feeling of the slaves hard work and his uncomfort, due to the south being extremely hot and humid. Which he displays in the second stanza, and how he wishes he could just be in the same conditions as his owner. In the same quote i wrote about before, she writes “and as the fields unfold to whiteness,”, which is her use of imagery to depict that the fields they are working in are cotton fields.
I admire how you pointed out the use of local color in your analysis. In addition to the cornbread I would also state how Dove included "a salt pork breakfast" to indicate slavery. This was a common slave meal in the south. You did an excellent job of exemplifying the setting and the time period the poem was written toward. I would go a bit further into showing the significance. Written from the perspective of a house slave, I think that not only does the slave envy the owner, but feels pity towards the field slaves. In the last line it says how she "weeps", perhaps to show the guilt he/she feels for having a more fortunate slave life than the rest.
The inspiration for Rita Dove’s poem “Belinda’s Petition” came from a real slave who petitioned to the government for her freedom. Belinda was a woman who was originally born in Africa and was kidnapped early in her life. She was taken to Boston, Massachusetts to be sold as a slave. Massachusetts’ economy thrived on slavery and the slave trade. Belinda was brave enough to stand up for herself in front of the government. Through her petition, Belinda portrayed the pain, the agony, and the mental and emotional strain that she and other slaves suffered.
Dove uses Belinda’s actual petition to show the courage and strong will of Belinda. Dove capitalizes unnecessary words to put an emphasis on them. This emphasis helps to convey the passion and strong belief that Belinda felt towards the cruelty of slavery. When Belinda introduces herself in Dove’s poem, she states, “I am Belinda, an African, / since the age of twelve a Slave” (3-4). The capitalization of “Slave” indicates how she is categorized and how she is obviously upset with her inferior status (according to the prejudiced “Men with Faces like the Moon” (19) ). The capitalization of “Men,” “Faces,” and “Moon” depict that as the moon is the color white, the racist men are also white. This is in contrast to the slaves who are black. Although Belinda is seen as an inferior to these men, “The Fathers of this Nation” (7), she believes so deeply that slavery is inhumane and has the courage to persuade them to give her freedom.
In her poem “Lady Freedom Among Us,” Rita Dove draws the reader’s attention to the importance of this statue. Lady Freedom sits atop the dome of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C.. Lady Freedom herself symbolizes the freedom that all people have currently in the United States. Slavery no longer exists and everyone is given the same rights no matter the color of your skin. The use of anaphora gives off a strict and demanding tone. At the beginning of multiple stanzas, the word “don’t” is repeated. For example, “don’t lower your eyes” (1) and “don’t think you can ever forget her / don’t even try” (26-27) convey how important and special the statue is considered. Dove’s use of repetition help to enforce the idea of freedom and how people should never forget how the times have changed and how fortunate America is to give all of its people freedom. The fifth stanza states, “don’t cross to the other side of the square / don’t think another item to fit on a tourist’s agenda” (17-18). The reader can see that many tourists who come to Washington D.C. overlook the statue and misunderstand its true meaning. Dove’s repetition of “don’t” and her commanding tone let the reader know that Lady Freedom should not just be a quick check off of a tourist attraction list, but a reminder that although America endured rough times of racism, the country was able to overcome this issue and restore its original purpose of freedom and equality for everyone.
I really like your examination of Rita Dove’s use of anaphora in this poem. However, I think you should have also included her use of anaphora with the repetition of “with her” (8-10) in stanza 3. She also includes the final sentence in that stanza “she has risen among us in blunt reproach” (11). The repetition adds the “strict and demanding” tone you mentioned by describing Lady Freedom’s appearance and how dominant she is as a symbol in the nation. This visual imagery also helps the reader understand Lady Freedom as this large symbol for those who want more freedom and rights.
Your analysis of this poem got me thinking about the reasons that Dove might have used such a demanding tone when talking about Lady Freedom. While it is true that every American is entitled to certain freedoms today, it is arguable that these freedoms can be undermined by those for whom they are not convenient. Dove creates the image of Lady Freedom “risen among us in blunt reproach” (11) to show that she is no longer proud of what she sees. Dove uses her poetry to warn people that freedom will not stand aside: “she’s not going to budge” (28). Her solution is for people to accept freedom as a guiding principle in their lives because Lady Freedom is “one of the many / and she is each of us” (31-32).
Poem: “Claudette Colvin Goes to Work” By Rita Dove
In the poem “Claudette Colvin Goes to Work” By Rita Dove, Claudette Colvin is given appreciation for her courage in defending civil rights. Light and dark diction, symbolism to her life, and alliteration create an image of Colvin’s legacy. The line “I’m the crazy girl off the bus” (line 27) refers to a major aspect in her actions supporting the Civil Rights Movement. As a young woman, 15 years old, Colvin was the first to declare her constitutional rights and not leave her bus seat for a white woman. This was prior to Rosa Park’s famous encounter on the same aspect of civil rights. Reference to her African American heritage is found in the line, “Sometimes I wait until it’s dark enough for my body to disappear” (line 13). Although Colvin was the first to stand up for black rights on a bus, she was soon pregnant and the Civil Rights Movement voted against her representation. The light and dark diction such as, “twilight, “lightbulbs”, “golden”, “bad-light”, and “dark” are continually used throughout the poem. They represent the high points and low points which made up her life. In school, Colvin was very studious and planned on being the President. These dreams however, were never actualized. In the last stanza, there is visual imagery of her job, a nurse assistant. This sadly proves that her career did not focus on the Civil Rights Movement later in her life.This Alliteration is used to emphasizes the way in which African Americans were treated. Dove writes, “So ugly, so fat, so dumb, so greasy-” to show how poorly they were viewed in American society. In addition, the “I” brings the reader closer to the perspective of Claudette Colvin, and creates a more realistic effect for Dove’s audience.
Your analysis on “Claudette Colvin Goes to Work” by Rita Dove helped me better understand the purpose of the poem and the struggles that African Americans faced during this time period. You mentioned light and dark diction, which is something that I did not notice right away when I read this poem. You also talked about how Colvin desired to be President when she grew up. In the last stanza, Dove describes her occupation: “...I’m there all night, adjusting the sheets, / emptying the pans” (30-31). I feel that although Colvin did not fulfill her dream of becoming the President, she is still able to help others, as shown in the last stanza: “I help those who can’t help themselves / I do what needs to be done…” (33-34). This shows that although she is not able to become President because she is black, but she is still able to find light in her dark situation.
In her poem “Rosa,” Rita Dove describes Rosa Parks’ famous 1955 refusal to give up her seat on a bus to a white person. Rosa Parks was not the first person to do so – Claudette Colvin was arrested for the same “crime” before Parks’ arrest. Contrary to popular belief, Parks was not just a working woman who had become tired of being treated as an inferior to white people during her daily commute. She had been secretary of the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP since 1953, and her refusal to give up her seat on the bus was a calculated move to advance the civil rights movement. Dove shows this fact in her poem through the use of consistent punctuation structure and diction relating to precision. The pattern of end stops, enjambment, and caesurae is the same in the first and third stanzas as well as the second and fourth stanzas. Dove structures her poem in this manner to enhance the sense of precision and calculation that her diction creates. In the first stanza, Dove uses antithesis in the phrase “the time right inside a place / so wrong it was ready” (2-3) to suggest that Parks selected the segregated bus in December 1955 because it was the perfect place to make a stand against injustice. And Parks knew exactly how to make her stand – “Doing nothing was the doing” (7). Dove increases the sense of Parks’ premeditation by describing aspects of her appearance with diction relating to precision: “trim name,” “sensible coat,” and “clean flame of her gaze.” Parks’ gaze was “carved by camera flash,” (9) creating the idea that her actions were meant to be seen by the media and become a national issue. In “Rosa,” Dove shows that Parks’ premeditated action was just what was needed to effect change.
I like your analysis of the antithesis and Dove’s composure of Rosa Parks. The background information was very insightful and added a lot of depth to the analysis. I did not think about how the use of punctuation stabilized Dove’s facts. I do not quite understand what you mean by saying, “And Parks knew exactly how to make her stand – “Doing nothing was the doing” (7).” However, overall I learned a lot about this poem as well about the life of Rosa Parks. For example, I did not know that she was part of the NAACP.
Rita Dove writes in her poem “Rosa” about Rosa Parks and her refusal of giving up her bus seat in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama. Her refusal of giving up her bus seat sparked the civil rights movement and caused more African Americans to question their rights. Dove uses her specialized diction and structure related to Rosa, and repetition to emphasis certain parts of the poem. The poem is structured with four triplet stanzas, with short, simple sentences. This structure is an indirect representation of Rosa herself, as Rosa was a quiet, simple, and humble person, just like the poem. She also uses phrases such as “trim name” (4) to describe her. This shortness of lines and simpleness of the stanzas could express the insignificance of black people during this time, and how they were so small and unnoticed and Rosa changed this. Dove also uses several forms of repetition to describe the scene. She uses alliteration in “clean”, “carved”, and “camera” (8-9), as well as “flame” and “flash” (8-9) to express visual imagery of Rosa and how she was now in the spotlight. In addition, the words “flame” and “flash” are used after “clean” and “camera” to give personification to those words, thus adding action to the stanza. She also uses assonance at the end of poem in the words “purse” and “courtesy” (12) to add a soft but strong tone at the end. This could represent the event as a whole because Rosa did something small but created such an impact for the civil rights movement.
In the first stanza, when the author writes , “Intolerable: that civilized word. / Aren’t we civilized too? Shoes shined, / each starched cuff unyielding, / each dovegray pleated trouser leg” (1-4), articles of clothing mentioned on numerous accounts are used to magnify how physical appearance identify status. Although one may be without poverty, the narrator still questions equality due to his/her skin color. In addition, the author utilizes the repetition of the word “each” to portray how no matter how hard a black individual tries to look equal to the opposing race, segregation is inevitable and ubiquitous.
Written from the perspective of an African American, Dove parallels the era of segregation with other historical events to depict the wrongness of racial superiority. At the second half of the first stanza, Dove writes, “ a righteous sword advancing / onto the field of battle / in the name of the Lord…”. Correlating to the crusades, the passage suggests the prevalence of discrimination throughout history. During this times, crusaders proposed two options to the people they were conquering: to decease or to convert to catholicism and entered into the realm of heaven. This concept is apparent in the second stanza, where it states, “ but the stars - / tiny, missionary stars.”. The missionary stars are symbolic to the crusader uniforms where a cross declares a “better” status. This relates to the civil rights era because many black individuals were faces upon two options: forced into slavery or stoned, leached, discriminated against if they did not obey.
Lastly, the pervasiveness of poverty shows irony due to the poet’s previous use of “in the name of the Lord…”. In Proverbs 22:2, the bible claims how “ the rich and the poor have a common bond, the LORD is the maker of them all.” Since the crusaders promoted Catholicism for the wrong reasons, a “free passage to heaven”, Dove suggests how discrimination against blacks should not be prevalent because all men are supposedly created equal under god. Yet mankind rebelliously creates rules of their own, thus making it “intolerable”.
The poem Freedom ride was about the Freedom riders, a group of 13 black and white women in the early 60’s who rode a bus from washington DC, through virginia, Georgia, and alabama, onwards to end in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Riders were violating the Jim Crow Laws by sitting in white designated areas. In the poem, Rita Dove uses expressionism to accuratly display the reason for revolting against the Jim Crow laws. In the first stanza, Dove writes, “But there’s just more cloud cover, \ and germy air \” (6). This quote describes how the men and women who write the buses every day feel. Dove takes us through their discomfort by describing the bus. In the beginning of the second stanza, Dove writes “Pull the cord a stop too soon, and \ you’ll find yourself walking” (12). This bit makes us feel the embarrassment and the social stress that people of color felt every day on public transportation, as it implies that if you pulled the cord to stop at the wrong station, you were obligated to get out, as the people around you believed you to be a nuisance. In the same quote, Dove vividly shows Person Vs. Society, as the quote implies that others on the bus were very rude and would want you to get off the bus if you inconvenience them for even just a second. Dove uses flashback by repeating fire imagery in the first stanza, and in the last one. This repetition of the fire idea makes the reader feel like the the civil rights movements were rising up from the flames.
Excerpt from The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticat and "Parsley" by Rita Dove
The excerpt from The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticat describes Haitians trying to escape the Dominican Republic during the Parsley Massacre. The Parsley Massacre was during 1937 which was a genocidal massacre against Haitians living in the Dominican Republic. It was lead by the Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo. To tell if someone was from Haiti or the Dominican Republic, soldiers would hold up a piece of parsley and ask them to pronounce it. Depending on how they said “parsley,” or “Perejil” in Spanish, it would determine where they were from and if they were killed or not. In the excerpt, two characters are not even given the chance to pronounce it and they are tortured and punished: “... I didn’t get my chance… Our jaws were pried open and parsley stuffed into our mouths” (Danticat). Danticat describes the soldiers brutality towards Yves and Amabelle using visual imagery: “Yves fell headfirst, coughing and choking. His face was buried in a puddle of green spew” (Danticat). While reading this, I felt disgusted that someone could be so cruel as to force innocent people to choke on parsley, stone them and beat them. This torture is also discussed in Rita Dove’s poem “Parsley.” The title is an obvious reference to the Parsley Massacre. However, at a quick glance, the title gives off an innocent feeling. What could be so horrible about the plant parsley? Due to my background knowledge of this event and after reading the poem and relating it to the excerpt, I interpreted that the word “parsley” symbolizes the power held in language. In the fourth stanza, Dove states, “El General has found his word: perejil. / Who says it, lives” (13-14). This reinforces the idea that dictator Trujillo decided people’s fate by the way they pronounced such an innocent word.
Your interpretation of this poem is interesting. You suggest that the word “parsley” symbolizes the power held in language. I agree with this interpretation, but I would add that “parsley” not only represents the power of language, but the power of race or origin. Trujillo used the word “parsley” because he knew that people from Haiti would not be able to pronounce it. These were people that he viewed as inferior, as Dove shows when she writes, “His mother was no stupid woman; she could roll an R like a queen.” Though Dove compares the Haitians to his mother to show Trujillo’s racist views that Haitians are ‘stupid,’ this comparison also reveals the absurdity of such racism, which is based on whether or not people can “roll an R.”
In her poem “Parsley,” Rita Dove describes the Parsley Massacre in the Dominican Republic. In the first section of the poem, entitled “The Cane Fields,” Dove describes the massacre from the eyes of its victims. She uses repetition of the phrases “parrot imitating spring” and “out of the swamp the cane appears” to represent the thousands of times that Haitians were forced to say “Perejil” before being murdered. In the poem, the “cane” represents the sugarcane that grows in the humid climate where the Haitians worked. In the sixth stanza, Dove writes, “The cane appears / in our dreams, lashed by wind and streaming. / And we lie down. For every drop of blood / there is a parrot imitating spring.” This visual imagery suggests that the cane also represents the physical beatings that Trujillo’s victims had to endure. In this section of the poem, the “parrot imitating spring” is present in four of the six stanzas, contributing to the feeling that Trujillo is continuously present as the cause of the Haitians’ suffering. Edwidge Danticat conveys a similar feeling in The Farming of Bones when the character Amabelle questions Trujillo’s choice of the word parsley: “Was it because it was so used, so commonplace, so abundantly at hand that everyone who desired a sprit could find one? We used parsley for our food, our teas, our baths, to cleanse our insides as well as our outsides. Perhaps the Generalissimo in some larger order was trying to do the same for his country.” Danticat uses the ubiquity of parsley to symbolize Trujillo’s constant presence and power over his victims’ lives.
In the second section of Dove’s poem, entitled “The Palace,” Dove describes the mentality of Rafael Trujillo when he decides to massacre thousands of Haitians because they cannot pronounce the word “Perejil.” Trujillo starts by asking himself “Who can I kill today” (31). Through a string of loosely connected thoughts – from his mother’s death to his hatred of sweets – Trujillo lands on the word ‘parsley’ as the determinant of whether thousands of people will live or die. Dove describes Trujillo’s thoughts and memories to give a face to the evil behind the Parsley Massacre and convey the disturbing idea that evil can be creative.
Your analysis of the Cane Fields along with the parrot was very interesting, and slightly different than that of my own. The anaphora which represented the thousands of Haitian deaths was insightful. I agree with the symbolism of the cane as a weapon, as the abuse of the Haitians by Trujillo’s henchmen was cruel and unforgiving. It would have been nice to include the symbolism of “The Palace” as you briefly analyzed this as well as Trujillo’s mental state in the second paragraph. However, throughout the major aspects of “Parsley”, the rest of your analysis was very thorough .
Both “Parsley” by Rita Dove and the excerpt from “The Farming of Bones” by Edwidge Danticat portray the story of the Parsley Massacre (1937). This genocide was led by Dominican Dictator Rafael Trujillo and persecuted Haitians living in the Dominican Republic. They would show citizens a piece of parsley and ask them to pronounce the word “Perejil” in Spanish. If they were Haitians, they would not be able to pronounce the “r”, and they would then be killed. In “Parsley”, Rita Dove uses historical symbolism, anaphoras, and violent/morbid diction to emphasize Trujillo’s destruction while creating a dominant effect of despair in the reader. The “parrot imitating spring in the palace” represents the wealth and power in a society, especially for Trujillo. Dove writes, “he is all the world there is” which depicts his dictatorship and cruelty towards the Haitians. Later, “We cannot speak an R-” illustrates how the Haitians could not say the word “Perejil”, leading to their death. In addition, the anaphora “Katalina” symbolizes this same aspect, as the correct word they could not pronounce is Katarina. At the end of four stanzas in the section “1. The Cane Fields”, the anaphora “out of the swamp the cane appears” is repeated. This is a constant reminder of the lower class and condition of the Dominican Republic (the location is never explicitly stated). Diction such as “death”, “kill”, “skull”, “died” and “lashed” create a morbid and frightening mood for the audience. The title “Parsley” is explained in the end of the poem as Dove writes, “He will order many, this time, to be killed//for a single, beautiful word”. This shows how Trujillo chose such a beautiful word that was used to honor a birth of a new son, and twisted it to mean the death of thousands.
Your analysis on the poem was very interesting, and you pointed out several things i did not notice. The anaphora of the word “Katalina” clearly is connected to the Haitian “rolling of the letter R”, and how the racist attitudes of the Dominicans was expressed in the poem. I also like your analysis of the diction that represents how frighten the Haitian people are. I also like your analysis of the word “parsley” and how it is described as “such a beautiful word”, which is interesting because the poem is about a subject which is considered gruesome.
The significance towards the use of violent and morbid diction was something that I personally didn't notice. I completely agree with the fact that it creates a frightening mood towards the audience, allowing them to sympathize with those who had to endure the horrific massacre. Yet, although the first portion of the poem is directed towards the victim, I believe the section of "The Palace" allows readers to experience the dictator's view as well. It seems as though his purpose to the killing was correlated to the decease of his mother, allowing readers to feel a sence of sorrow and understanding towards his actions.
In the poem “Parsley” by Rita Dove, she writes about the Parsley Massacre in the Dominican Republic. This poem can be connected to and excerpt in The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticat, which is a story about a girl named Annabelle who tries to escape from the Dominican soldiers. In the poem, Dove uses several symbols to express the events from this massacre. One symbol that repeats over and over is the parrot, which seems to be with “the General” throughout the poem. The phrase “a parrot imitating spring” is repeated in Stanza 1, 2, 4, and 6. In line 2, Dove describes the parrot’s feather “parsley green”, which could be connected to it “imitating spring” which is typically associated with the color green. Even more interesting, she specifically names the color “parsley green”, which relates to the Parsley Massacre and the death of thousands of Haitians in 1937. The parrot represents the Haitian people, as it is closely related with them throughout the poem. In the quote, “For every drop of blood/there is a parrot imitating spring” (17-18). If the parrot is actually imitating spring, then that could symbolize the Haitian people getting discriminated and dying from the Dominicans. They were forced to pronounce the word “perejil” or parsley in English. To tell the difference between Dominican and Haitian accents, they could hear them roll the R sound in the word. In the quote “Even/a parrot can roll an R!” (59-60), this is more evidence that the parrot is a representation of the Haitian people. It is even described to be trapped in a cage, which could be the suppression from “the General”.
Your analysis on the symbolism of the parrot is very interesting. I did not make this connection until I read your post. I agree with you that it symbolizes the Haitian people. I also noticed another historical symbol in the poem “Parsley.” The word “cane” is repeated throughout the poem, which is a direct reference to Trujillo’s cane fields that Haitians worked in. In lines 15-16, Doves states, “The cane appears / in our dreams lashed by wind and streaming.” The “cane” represents the brutality that the Haitians might have experienced while working and how it haunts them, even in their sleep. It shows that the Dominicans not only decided the Haitian people’s fate through the pronunciation of “parsley,” but they also suffered physical abuse.
Parsley By Rita Dove is a poem about Parsley genocide massacre in the fall of 1937, also referred to as El Corte, against the Haitian population. This was an intended ethnic cleansing. Tens of thousands of people were mindlessly killed. Dove writes “We cannot speak and r-\”, (7) she accurately displays expressionism of the fear of the people who reside on the border. The last word of the sentence, which is intended to be run is cut off as a tool of expressionism, to display their exhaustion, as well as their fear of being caught due to not running fast enough. Dove also uses the motif of “there is a parrot imitating spring” (1), suggests trying to maintain happiness. Because spring to animals represents when the winter is over, and the harsh part is through, and life begins to rebuild after the harsh winter. But in the second part of the poem, the parrot is mentioned, but there is no mention of imitating spring, as happiness has been killed. The general is characterized as being a sinister, beast like man. His teeth are mentioned more than you’d think they should be, they were described as being “shining” (14) or being jagged, “gnawed to arrowheads” to characterize him as being beast like.
Alluding to the historical event of the Parsley Massacre, Dove ventures to bring attention the horrors experienced during Rafael Trujillo’s dictatorship in her poem “Parsley”. In the 1930s when General Trujillo assumed control over to Dominican Republic, he attempted to purify the population. In The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticat, the recurrence of “green spew”, “parsley”, and “perejil” stands as a direct parallel to the Parsley Massacre. During this era, fearing that Haitians were stealing cattle and crops from the Dominican Republic, General Trujillo demanded the execution of Haitians, approximately 20,000. Soldiers were able to distinguish an individual’s ethnicity through the pronunciation of the spanish word “perejil”, parsley in english, The simple rolling of the “r” sound determined one’s fate. This theme is prevalent in the fifth stanza of “Parsley” where Dove writes, “ El General has found his word: perejil. / Who says it, lives” (13-14).
Throughout the poem Dove uses repetition on numerous accounts of phrases such as “ parrot imitating spring”, “the cane appears”, and “teeth gnawed to arrowheads”. Not only does these serve as visual imagery and support rhythms of the villanelle in her writing, but abides symbolic importance to the word parsley. Although each phrase contains the same ideas when repeated, there is slight diversity that correlated to the different ways of pronouncing perejil: with or without a trill. This provides emphasis on the value of one simple phrase that determines life vs. death.
Written in the perspective of Persephone’s beloved mother Demeter, Dove utilizes the poem, “Persephone, Falling in order to warn children abduction based on her own experience. Originating from Greek mythology, Demeter the goddess of corn, grain, and harvest laid a curse on plants due to the mourning of her missing daughter. In the first stanza Dove writes, “on his glittering terrible / carriage, he claimed is due.” The phrase associates to the moment in which Persephone, daughter of Demeter, was taken by the Greek god Hades, ruler of the underworld. He kidnapped her into becoming her wife. Although Zeus ventures to return her back to the earth, because she had eaten in the underworld, she was forever tied there 4 months of the year, the winter season. Thus, during her absence, Demeter withered plants to portray her grieving, and returned them back to life during the spring during Persephone’s return.
The verse, “One narcissus among the ordinary beautiful / flowers” (1-2) is directed toward Demeter’s daughter. The use of narcissus plays an important role due to its sacredness towards the goddess. Dove’s diction towards words like these reveals the value a daughter endures to a mother figure.
Amid the whole second stanza, the Dove creates new purpose, not to share Persephone’s story but to warn others not to fall astray to strangers. She writes, “Don’t answer to strangers. Stick / with your playmates.” (11-12). It is often stated during many childhoods not to get into a stranger’s car. The poem uses realism in order to depict the evident dangers trust towards unknown people have.
Your analysis on how Rita Dove’s poems in “Mother Love” relate to the Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone are very similar to my analysis. You talked about the time where Hades holds Persephone captive in the underworld for a few months before returning her to Demeter. I explained the symbolism of this act in my analysis. You also talked a little bit about how Demeter values her daughter and how this is shown through diction. This is similar to my idea of how Dove used vulgar diction to show her anger towards the abduction of her daughter in “Demeter, Waiting.” The vulgar diction helps to show how the love she has for Persephone is so strong that a horrific event like this can make some go crazy and use such words that show her anger.
Through the collection of her poems in “Mother Love,” Rita Dove alludes her pieces directly to the Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone. In “Heros,” Dove describes someone picking “A flower in a weedy field” (1) which correlates to when Persephone picked a narcissus on Mt. Aetna in Sicily. Dove goes on to explain how this flower was picked that belonged to a woman and her “miserable garden” (8) that “gave her strength every morning / to rise!” (9-10) for it was the last one in her garden. The woman became upset with her, so the person who picked the flower decided to injure the woman and run away to avoid getting in trouble. Dove explains how just a simple, innocent act became out of control and disastrous. This is similar to when Persephone picked the narcissus flower and was abducted by the Greek god Hades.
Dove also uses her other poem “Demeter, Waiting” to relate to the Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone. Told through the view of the mother Demeter, Dove uses vulgar diction to show the outrage and hatred Demeter has for the kidnapper of her daughter. Dove writes, “Shit on the cicadas”... “I will wail and thrash until the whole goddamned golden panorama freezes over” (11-13). These lines show the anger Demeter has, how frustrated she is, and how all she wants is to have her daughter back. These line are included in the last stanza which describes how Demeter created the miserable winter season because of her insufferable time without her daughter. Lines 8-11 state, “I will drag my grief through a winter of my own making and refuse any meadow that recycles itself into hope.” Since Hades does not return Persephone to Demeter until after the winter season every year, the winter that Demeter created symbolizes this unbearable time for her, while the spring represents the happy and fresh, new beginning she gets with her daughter again.
I agree with your connection between Persephone and Hades and how she was abducted by Hades. I also like how you describe Demeter’s feelings about losing her daughter with vulgar diction as I did not see that in the poem. Your connection to the spring as a symbol of renewal and freshness, and how winter represents an “unbearable time for her”. I would have also mentioned the point of view in the poem “Demeter, Waiting” as it sounds like Demeter is talking to herself and how hopeless she feels as her daughter is gone. I would also mention the starting of the poem with the word “No” then ending it with “Yes”, which could symbolize her acceptance and loss of her daughter to Hades.
In the poem “Heroes”, Rita Dove uses this sonnet to connect a mother to their child in a poem that seems to be in a dreamlike state. This is evident with the constant use of enjambment, which could show how nothing ever stops and just like dreams, it continues on and on until the reader wakes up. Having only one line at the end of the poem could mean that the dream is disappearing and the reader is waking up. Other evidence that makes it a dream is the second point of view, which addresses that the person in the dream is the reader, which means that all of these actions are happening and there is nothing that would stop it. To connect it to the mother daughter theme, the women says “you’ve plucked the last poppy/in her miserable garden, the one that gave her strength every morning/ to rise!” (7-9). The poppy flower could represent the woman's daughter, which “gave her strength”, as mothers usually give their all to their daughters and their well being. However, now that her daughter was gone, she had no reason left to live on the earth, “So you strike her, she hits/ her head on a white boulder,” (14-15). This story could also be related to the Greek mythology about Demeter and Persephone, as the woman is represented by Persephone and the “fugitive” is Hades, who ends up kidnapping Persephone when she is out picking flowers.
I agree with your analysis of the enjambment which completely changes the tone of the poem. I wish that you had analyzed or considered the meaning of the title, and it's purpose/connection with the rest of the poem. The meaning of the last as the reader waking up was very eye-opening. I also believe that the poem connects to Demeter and Persephone, as it is not a question.
In the poem “Party Dress for a First Born” in the collection “Mother Love”, Rita Dove uses symbolism, the view of first person, and visual imagery to reference the involuntary actions of Persephone in the myth of Demeter and Persephone. In the first half of the first stanza, Dove writes of a girl who is “headless” and thinks of nothing”. This can be understood and symbolize how Persephone did not have a say in coming with Hades into his underground home and leaving her mother. Later, “sat down to a full plate” can be seen as reference to Persephone's refusal to eat the feasts which Hades would provide for her. Throughout the entire poem, first person point of view is used. This creates a more personal connection with Dove’s audience, as well as sympathy for the person narrating. In the end of the first stanza, Dove writes, “When I ran to my mother, waiting radient/ as a cornstalk at the edge of the field./nothing else mattered: the world stood still”. This visual imagery portrays how eager Persephone was to return to Earth and her mother. The second stanza alludes to a wedding as “women arrayed there, petals waiting to loosen”. The visual imagery can connect to the Title, “Part Dress for a First Born”, as that is referencing a wedding dress. In the end of the second stanza, Dove writes, “I will smile, all while wishing them dead”. Persephone was arranged to marry Hades in a deal which let her visit her mother above the underworld, but kept her under for the other half of the year. She does not desire to live with Hades, and this line creates a mood of despair.
The poem Breakfast of Champions by Rita Dove from a first glance, one would think it would be about what Rita Dove's daughter eats for breakfast every day, but as you read it you find it to be quite the opposite. Rita Dove's expressionism in the poem vividly displays to the reader the subjects depression. In the first stanza, Dove writes “to find a place fit for mourning,” (3) While using a play on words with morning and mourning, she starts off here by depicting her emotions as melancholy and, obviously, mourning. Two lines away she writes “I’ll dive into a grateful martini tonight,” (5). We can clearly see that she is referring to an alcohol addiction, she uses this as a crutch in her life. When she says “dive into a grateful”, it’s as if she’s relating her martini to a bed, and after a long hard day, she would sink down and relax and just let the bed consume her, as she does with her alcohol. at the end of the stanza, Dove writes, “[...], here’s weather to match \ my condition: the first pair of canada Geese” (8-9). during the middle of the fall, Geese migrate south from canada to get out of the harsh winter. As this happens, the weather begins to become gloomy, and dark. Which is what Dove means to say when she says the weather matches her condition, gloomy, dark, and depressing.
I think you really captured the tone of this poem in your analysis. I was wondering what the setting of the poem has to do with this tone of depression. Dove writes, “I’ve crossed a hemisphere… to find a place fit for mourning” and “I rummage the pantry’s stock for raisins and cereal,” which suggests that the narrator has traveled a long way, possibly on a vacation. This vacation seems to be the opposite of a normal vacation; instead of escaping stress for a nice break, the narrator has come to this place to embrace her “mourning” and depression. It is possible that the narrator seeks recovery, as suggested by the lines, “a sonic hospital graph / announcing recovery” (11-12).
In her poem “Primer,” Rita Dove uses trite diction, consonance, and diminutive diction to recount the narrator’s embarrassing experience of being bullied as a child. Her use of trite diction such as “In the sixth grade,” “beat me up,” “show them all,” and “grow up” serves to create a tone of remembering one’s perceptions as a child. This allows the reader to understand how the narrator felt in sixth grade despite the fact that the poem is written in the past tense. Dove also uses consonance of the letter ‘s’ to create a tone of discomfort. For example, she uses consonance in the lines, “three skinny sisters / in rolled-down bobby socks. Hissing / Braniac! And Mrs. Stringbean!” (2-4) to emphasize the unfriendliness of the bullies. Rita Dove’s use of diminutive diction serves to show that the narrator views her past worries as trivialities that she has since been able to overcome. This is evident when she describes her past tormentors as “skinny sisters in rolled-down bobby socks.” She also uses diminutive diction when describing her mother: “my five-foot-zero mother drove up / in her Caddie to shake them down to size” (10-11). This shows that although her mother had more power than the bullies, the narrator still views her as small. The narrator disliked being weak and needing protection from her mother, so she decided, “I’d show them all: I would grow up” (14). This is presumably what the narrator has done since the sixth grade, and she is now able to look back upon her childhood resolution with a slightly humorous tone.
In her poem “Chocolate,” Rita Dove describes a piece of chocolate right before someone is about to eat it. In the first stanza, Dove uses visual imagery to describe the piece of chocolate as, “Velvet fruit, exquisite square” (1). In the rest of the stanzas, the author writes about how this piece of chocolate makes this person feel. My interpretation of this is that Dove uses chocolate as a metaphor for someone that is falling in love with another person. Chocolate is often associated with Valentine’s Day, love, and celebrating one’s affectionate relationship with someone else. In lines 4-5 Dove states, “how you numb me / with your rich attentions!” These lines represent how the person who is falling in love is lovesick and is so attracted to someone that they make their body go “numb.”
In lines 10-14, Dove writes, “Knotted smoke, dark punch / of earth and night and leaf, / for a taste of you / any woman would gladly crumble to ruin.” I interpreted these lines as the person he or she is attracted to is very irresistible and this person cannot wait to fall in love and dive into this relationship. This is similar to how some people love chocolate, as it is also irresistible to them. To show this, Dove writes, “Enough chatter: I am ready / to fall in love” (15-16). I also felt that this feeling is similar to the feeling that one may get when they are around someone they are attracted to. They just want to be affectionate with them because they are so caught up in love. This haste and uncontrollable feeling is also found in lines 8-9 where Dove writes, “Pleasure seeker, if I let you / you’d liquefy everywhere.” The word “liquefy” symbolizes how someone’s significant other can make their partner’s insides melt because of how in love they are. I also felt that Dove’s use of first person point of view also gives a more realistic feeling to where the reader can relate to a time where they were completely head-over-heels for someone.
I agree that the poem “Chocolate” is an allegory for a person falling in love. However, something I also noticed was that the poem has somewhat of a humorous tone, which could be interpreted as mocking the facility with which people can fall in love. When Dove writes, “If I don’t eat you quickly, / you’ll melt in my palm” (6-7), it could signify that the love would not last in the long run. This idea is reinforced at the end of the poem when Dove writes, “Enough chatter: I am ready / to fall in love!” (15-16). Instead of falling love because it was “meant to be,” this person wants to be in love so badly that she will not spend time getting to know the person first. Dove suggests that for the narrator of the poem, falling in love with a man is as simple as falling in love with a piece of chocolate.
In the poem “All Souls’,” Rita Dove explores the theme that too much change leads to a loss of simplicity and purpose in life. She does this through the use of a setting that takes readers back to the early days of mankind, that “first unchanging instant” in which “two souls” left behind the noisy world of their animal ancestors to walk into “a silence larger than all their ignorance.” At the beginning of the poem, Dove writes, “Starting up behind them, / all the voices of those they had named: / mink, gander, and marmoset, / crow and cockatiel” (1-4). This references how mankind had started to differentiate itself from other animals by giving them names. The animals’ voices are coming from “behind them” because the humans are leaving them behind in pursuit of further development and change. In the second stanza, Dove challenges the idea that change is good through the use of irony when she writes, “Of course the world had changed / for good. As it would from now on every day, with every twitch and blink” (9-11). This claim represents the point of view of the two people in the poem, who view change as good without stopping to consider why. Later in the stanza, Dove shows that change would eventually have a negative impact on mankind: “Now that change was de rigueur, / man would discover desire, they yearn / for what he would learn to call / distraction. This was the true loss” (12-15). Change, represented by the “silence larger than all their ignorance,” became all that the two souls knew in life. When Dove writes, “In time / they hunkered down to business, / filling the world with sighs” (26-28), she creates the idea that constant change is no change at all, and that it will only cause unhappiness. At the end of the poem, the two souls strain “to make out the words to a song / played long ago, in a foreign land” (31-32). This “song” is a reference to the noise made by the animals in the beginning of the poem. While the humans had once viewed this noise as a “din” (22), they now heard it as a song. This represents how people seek change only to realize that what they had in the first place was all that they needed.
I really liked your analysis on the poem “All Souls’”. I was a little confused, and your analysis helped me understand more about the poem. I agree with your interpretation of the first four lines of the first stanza, especially the part about them leaving behind to change and evolve. In the second stanza I also agree, and how it shows the two perspectives from the souls. However, I would have liked to see your perspective on the third stanza, such as why are they “standing outside the gates?” (19) Or why does Dove have a random (or purposeful) sentence in the middle of the stanza? I was very confused with this stanza, and didn’t know if you analyze this as well.
I agree with your analysis throughout the entire poem. The analysis of bringing the reader back to a prehistoric time period was insightful and created a clearer understanding of the poem in my mind. When Dove writes, “Of course the world had changed / for good. As it would from now on every day, with every twitch and blink”, I believe this is foreshadowing for the negative impacts of change in mankind later in history. Everything was very thorough, however I wish an explanation of why Dove chose the title “All Souls” was included. I enjoyed your presentation of all the themes and morals in the poem.
Along with Casey, I too was confused on this poem at first glance. Yet, after reading your analysis on how it was placed in a prehistoric time period, I would include the direct connection to the biblical story in Genesis of Adam and Eve, the "two souls" in the poem. When they were first created by God, they were free to "rule" the garden of Eden, thus giving purpose to the naming of the animals. Dove writes how "man would discover desire, then yearn / for wt he would learn to call / distraction." This distraction resides as sin. In the story, Eve eats the forbidden fruit of knowledge, introducing sin, and leading mankind forever to be bound in sin. When they are "standing outside of the gates", this relates to how God shunned them out, making them regret their sin, wishing to go back in. I believe Dove's theme may be to exemplify the Christianity where it is often stated how despite achieving all the "distractions", mankind still strives to return as they once were, accepted and close with the Lord.
In the poem “Meditation by Fifty Yards, Moving Target”, Rita Dove demonstrates the theme of freeness and what a person experiences in the time before shooting a gun. She separates the poem into four parts, each named differently and describes a different “cycle” of a part before firing a gun. The title describes this action as a “Meditation” which could represent firing a gun as something more than just killing, but more as a premeditated action which could represent someone’s life. In the second stanza in the section Open Air, Dove writes “the hand/had always yearned for this solemn fit, this gravitas, and now had found its true repose.” (14-17) She uses calming diction in the words “solemn”, “gravitas”, and “repose” to describe this “meditation” and how a person right before shooting a gun has an intense concentration before firing the bullet. In the next stanza, Dove repeats the word “Don’t” several times to describe what the shooter thinks before firing the bullet. The whole stanza uses several imperative sentences, as if someone is directing the shooter before squeezing the trigger. In the last stanza in the section The Bullet, the whole stanza personifies the bullet as if it is a person. The poem also switches to a first-person point of view, to describe the bullet’s perspective. She also doesn’t use full sentences or any capitalization, to indirectly show that the bullet is an object and is not a human, which would usually use a capital “I” and full descriptive sentences to characterize what is happening. She uses several metaphors and visual imagery to describe the it, as the bullet “slice the air” (40) and is going down its “glory road” (45), which could be the gun’s barrel. The “light” and “flame”(46) describes how the bullet ignited and it heading towards “o beautiful body”(47), which is the bullet’s target.
I agree with your analysis of “Meditation at Fifty Yards, Moving Target” by Rita Dove. I liked how you explained the last stanza titled, “The Bullet.” I also interpreted it the same way as you did. However, in your analysis you did not talk about the section titled, “Gender Politics.” What do you think was Dove’s purpose in including this section about men vs. women? I was confused at what she was trying to convey to the reader through this section. Also in the last stanza of “Gender Politics,” Dove states a question to the reader. What is she referencing to? What is she trying to get the reader to think about? This part confused me. Maybe it confused you too if you did not include it in your analysis.
In the poem “Cozy Apologia”, the author, Rita Dove, uses the juxtaposition of chivalry in the past vs. present, the symbol of Hurricane Floyd, and reference to her own personal life to create a dominant tone of adoration while revealing her unique love with Fred (her husband). Dove writes, “ There you'll be, with furrowed brow / And chainmail glinting, to set me free” and “I could pick up anything and think of you-”. These lines portray her husband as a knight in shining armor. It also describes how deeply in love she is with him, as everything she sees reminds her of him and their love. In comparison, “Of teenage crushes on worthless boys/ Whose only talent was to kiss you senseless./ They all had a sissy names-Marcel, Percy, Dewey” illustrates a very different picture. The teenage boys represent all of her past crushes who seem pointless and are “boys” instead of “men”. The lines “Were as thin licorice and as chewy,/ sweet with a dark and hollow center” reveal how shallow relationships with anyone other than her lover are compared to the intellectual and deep connection she shares with Fred. Starting in the second stanza, Dove frequently mentions Hurricane Floyd. Hurricane Floyd occurred relatively soon before her wedding, and was very impactful. However, the impact was overcome as her love was stronger and she feels safe with him. The line, “We’re content, but fall short of the divine” shows how their relationship was not quite perfect, but extremely close and as close to perfect as possible. Lastly, the title “Cozy Apologia” means a warm justification/explanation of her love “for Fred”. The poem as a whole is a gift to him explaining why her love for him is so unique and deep.
The Poem Cozy Apologia By Rita Dove is about a girl who is expressing her feelings for a boy she is inlove with. The Poem itself is written almost as like a diary post, expressing all of her feelings and her emotions. Dove uses Romantic imagery to romanticize the boy that the girl is talking about, to make him seem flawless, she also characterizes him as being very manly and warrior like, “I could choose any hero, any cause or age \ And, sure as shooting arrows to the heart,” (4). Not only does this romanticise the man she writes of, it characterizes him as very masculine and heroin like, as he’s depicted as using a bow and arrow. Dove uses her rhyme scheme to create a rhythm to her poem, to make it sound like a song. This adds to the romanticising of the boy due to it making the poem being like and Ode. The rhyme scheme of it being at the end of every line also makes the poem feel somewhat cheezy, which was intentional due to it being about a girl writing romantic poetry about a boy she's in love with. It also supports the idea that she's young and naive. The 3 stanzas represent 3 different stages of the relationship; the crush, going steady, and being married. In the first stanza Dove writes about the boy, but never does she mention anything about the two of them actually being together. This is her simply romanticizing about the idea of him. In the third stanza she writes “(Twin desks, computers, hardwood floors): \ We're content, but fall short of the Divine.” (3). Mentioning desks, hardwood floors, and appliances creates imagery of a house. This suggests that the two of them have moved in together. “content, but fall short of Divine” (4), would suggest that they have little money, and have just enough to scrape by, but they have one another so they are content.
A craving for chocolate is something almost everyone will experience during their lifetime. The alluring scent, charming looks, and overpoweringly seductive texture it obtains: simply irresistible. Rita Dove in her poem “Chocolate” uses this same object to render the concept of love. The poet opens using visual imagery to describe the chocolate itself directly. She writes, “Velvet fruit, exquisite square” (1) and “Knotted smoke, dark punch of earth and night and leaf,” (10-11) showing the physical characteristics of the chocolate. The use of “exquisite” emphasizes the admirability of the sweet, further making it more desireable to humans. Although overused and cliche, chocolate is traditionally used by men in order lure women with charm. When Dove states how “for the taste of you / any woman would gladly / crumble to ruin.” (12-14), the poet uses sarcasm to state how even though a women would seemingly be “glad” to posses the satisfaction of the chocolate, or a man’s love, she will crumble to ruins foolishly if she does. Throughout her poem, I believe Dove’s motif is to depict the false hope rooted from men who use materialism to show that they “love”to a women. Although it seems to be “love”, the relationship between two individuals revolved around objects such as chocolate truly resembles “lust”. The whole poem simply describes physical aspects of the chocolate and the one-sided emotion of the woman, when a stable relationship needs both people completely.
In the poem “Fox,” Rita Dove describes a girl who comes across as very content with herself and happy with the life she lives. In the first stanza, Dove describes the girl’s feelings and thoughts. She writes, “She knew what / she was and so / was capable / of anything / anyone / could imagine. / She loved what / she was” (1-10). The second stanza describes how the girl knows what she wants and what she has. Dove writes, “She imagined / nothing. / She loved / nothing more / than what she had, / which was enough / for her, / which was more / than any man / could handle” (11-20). This girl that Dove describes is contradictory to the typical girl in society today. The stereotypical girl is usually not confident in herself, especially in the teenage years when they do not have a lot of confidence in themselves and are usually insecure. The girl in the poem is the opposite. She “knew what / she was and so / and was / capable of anything / anyone / could imagine” (1-6). These lines show the confidence that she has to be comfortable enough with herself to accept who she is. Some young girls in today’s society also look for love and acceptance from a boyfriend rather than finding acceptance through themselves. The girl in the poem “loved / nothing more / than what she had, / which was enough / for her” (13-17). Dove goes on to say that this “was more / than any man / could handle” (18-20). Through these lines, the reader is able to see that the girl in the poem has enough self-confidence in herself to where she does not need acceptance from a man. This is also contradicting to typical young girls in today’s society.
I really like your analysis and your overall theme of the poem. I can see where you said how girls in this generation do not always accept themselves, and look for others to accept them for who they are. I especially agree with your analysis on the second stanza, where she begins to describe how "she imagined/nothing" and how "she loved/nothing more/than what she had" to your overall thesis. This poem addresses a major problem in our society, where girls feel very self-conscious about how they act, look, and like in this day and age. I would have also liked you to add why she made the lines in each stanza so short, because I was confused why Dove did this.
I agree with your idea that the woman in this poem contrasts with the stereotype of the girl who is self-conscious and worries about what other people think of her. I interpreted the final lines of the poem, “which was more / than any man / could handle,” to mean that men are not used to strong, self-confident women. Dove suggests that it is a shame that men are used to women who seek acceptance and self-worth from others. Dove suggests that this woman is “capable of anything” and that she is “there for the taking, imagine.” Despite this, no man will be in a relationship with her because men are unable to accept a woman who is “enough for [herself]” and doesn’t need a man to stroke her self-confidence.
In the poem “Fox Trot Fridays”, Rita Dove uses several short, choppy couplets to relate the poem to how the fox trot dance works. The title showed that this poem would be about a specific dance. She adds the word “Friday” to add more context to the poem, as people typically are more relaxed on fridays and are able to look forward to the end of the week. This is showed in the first stanza, where it says “there’s a day/each week to tuck in” (1-2). The phrase “tuck in” could symbolize relaxation, as someone would “tuck” themselves into bed on friday after school or work. In most of the lines, Dove uses enjambment to express the constant movement and flow of the dance. Also it is in a couplet format, so each line could symbolize both people in the dance, as most ballroom dancing has a man and a woman. This is proven in Stanza 6, where she writes “one man and/one woman,” (11-12), as she separates both genders into separate lines. She also adds several small phrases what alludes to dancing, such as “stride brush stride” (4), “quick-quick” (5), “heel-ball-toe”, and “rib to rib” (13), and then ends it with the word “Smooth” in Stanza 3 to show how fluid the poem is in relation to the dance. Dove also uses allusion to “Nat King Cole’s/ slow satin smile,” (7-8), as he is famous for making foxtrot beat songs. The alliteration in the “s” sound allows the same “smooth” tone of the poem. In line 15, she uses allusion to the foxtrot style “Paradise” which is known use “the sweep” of feet of both dancers. She ends the poem with “to count all the wonders in it.” (17) to emphasize how relaxing it is to do this dance and how smooth the dance is again.
I found your analysis on “Fox Trot Fridays” very interesting. I liked how you showed the direct correlation between Dove’s poem and the Foxtrot dance through her style and how she structured her poem. In her collection “American Smooth,” Dove also includes other poems she wrote about other dances. For example, I found the poems “American Smooth” and “Ta Ta Cha Cha” which allude to dancing as well. Although all of these poems are similar in the way that they are all about dances, they differ in structure. For example, in “American Smooth,” Dove’s structure is very different than that of “Fox Trot Fridays.” The whole poem is made up of only one stanza, instead of short and choppy couplets. What do you think was Dove’s purpose in writing in different forms about ideas that relate to each other?
In the poem “The Sisters: Swansong,” Rita Dove describes the deaths of a group of upper-class sisters who lived a life of comfort. She uses local color that describes lives of luxury and compliant diction to prove her ultimate claim: that the sisters “died of insignificance” (25). The phrases “rattling key chains and cocktail jewelry,” “mourned in satin and chrysanthemums,” and “each plumper than the mirror saw us” create the image of wealth and comfort. However, the tone is slightly judgmental, reflecting the idea that this wealth was misspent on trivial items that brought little or no happiness to the women. Moreover, the poem describes how the sisters had even become tired of this life of luxury when it says they were “Glad to be rid of pincurls / and prayers, bunions / burning between / ironed sheets” (7-10). Dove uses irony in this phrase by describing the small problems that made life difficult for women who lived such comfortable lives. Dove’s use of compliant diction, such as “We exited obligingly,” “praised God and went our way quietly,” and “Does it matter who went first?” serves to show that the sisters were so apathetic towards life that they did not care much whether or not they died. This reveals a theme of “The Sisters: Swansong” that wealth can lead to ennui rather than happiness and fulfillment. The phrase “swan song” means “the last act of manifestation of someone; a farewell appearance.” Despite their money, the sisters’ final appearance in the world was one of discontent and insignificance.
I completely agree with your analysis of "The Sisters: Swansong”. The entire poem seems to mock the existence of the sisters. Their insignificant complaints of life were trivial and ironic due to their luxurious lifestyles. The definition of Swansong helped me to understand the purpose for Dove's choice in titling the poem. There is melancholy diction throughout the poem which creates a dominant effect of pity for these naive girls. Their innocence in finding something worth happiness during their lifetime is truly despairing. The visual imagery of the domestic sphere alludes to their purpose being at home. However, if they live a luxurious lifestyle, they most likely do not do the chores which women traditionally did in the past. This is an additional factor in creating the insignificance of the lives they led.
In the poem “Rhumba” by Rita Dove, the author uses structure, the Spanish language, and rhythm to create an effect of the reader dancing. The first stanza, four lines, includes both Spanish and English translations. Dove writes, “yo vengo aqui I come here/para cantar to sing/la rumba the rumba/de mi adoración of my adoration”. Using Spanish allures to the fact that Rumba (a type of dance) originated from the Hispanic culture. In addition, Dove and her husband Frank would go to parties where they would dance the Rumba and other ballroom dances. This introduction seems to be a song to which the dancers are moving to. The rumba consists of two parters who are trying to attract one another. Both partners must lure the other dancer towards them through the dramatic and beautiful movement. The structure of the poem is slightly split down the middle, while leaving a few lines to overlap in the center of the two columns. This can symbolize the independence of the two dancers, and how they can come together to create a passionate couple. Each column can be read separately, or all together line after line. The short bursts of line may represent the different moves and footsteps the reader is taking throughout the dance. It also adds to the effect of a rhythm and beat to the song of the poem. The title was a little confusing because the dance is spelled “Rumba”, however Dove titled this poem “Rhumba”. I was not sure why this was chosen and what significance it had.
What initially caught my eye when reading the poem “Wiederkehr” by Rita Dove was the title. Derived from the German language, Wiederkehr in english translates to recurrence, repetition, and anniversary. Dove writes the poem from the view of Persephone, Greek goddess of the underworld abducted by Hades. When taking a closer look at the myth, I found that Persephone, because she ate a fruit during her stay in the underworld, abides forever bound for 4 months of the year despite Zeus’ efforts to return her to her mother Demeter.
A sonnet, Dove uses visual imagery, “to watch the smile / begun in his eyes / end on the lips” to describe the physical aspects of Hades. Persephone’s observation seems to almost be seductive to her. Yet, further along in the poem, Dove writes “He never asked/ if I would stay” (11-12) to portray the pain the goddess experience. Since she is forever bound with him, she is unable to escape despite her true feelings. “Rain” stated in line 10 plays symbolic importance to the poem. Often associated with cleansing of anything rain or water touches, this ties back to the title “Wiederkehr”. Part of the weather cycle , rain reoccurs. This associates with Persephone at the moments in which she returns captive to Hades. He constantly endeavors to seduce her at her return to gain “happiness”(1) simply out of lust instead of love. In addition, Dove writes “I sat to hold thee rain untouched / inside of me” (10-11) to depict that renewal was not present in her innate feelings. Persephone is forever trapped.
Heros embodies a poem about someone who mistaken the last poppy flower in someone's garden as being a dying flower. Dove uses characterization to show that the boy who picked the flower did this with the best intentions. He didn’t wish for the old woman to be brokenhearted, if that truly was what “gave her the strength every morning” (9) He didn’t intend for the the old lady to be mourning, he just wanted to preserve what little life the poppy flower had left in it. At the beginning of each stanza is the continuation of the last sentence of the last stanza. I believe dove uses this diction to display an idea that even though you think something maybe over, it still can carry on, and it may not be over. As the boy thought that him picking the flower and putting it in a jar would be the end of the story, but there was much more to tell, as the lady would then be heart broken by the loss of her only flower. Dove also uses characterization to show that the woman who she refures to in the poem has suffered a great loss, possibly the loss of her child in world war 2, and the poppy flower reminds her of him due to the graves of who fought in the war is also home to a large poppy flower garden. The poem ends with “it was going to die.” (25). This displays two things; that all things end in death, as the poem ended in a statement about death in its own stanza, as well as the ignorance of both sides.
Please initiate your comments about the poetry in the section "Historical Figures"--due by 11:00 pm Thursday 10/29.
ReplyDeletePoem:
ReplyDelete“Sonnet in Primary Colors” By Rita Dove
This is for the woman with one black wing
perched over her eyes: lovely Frida, erect
among parrots, in the stern petticoats of the peasant,
who painted herself a present--
wildflowers entwining the plaster corset
her spine resides in the romance of mirrors.
Each night she lay down in pain and rose
to her celluloid butterflies of her Beloved Dead,
Lenin and Marx and Stalin arrayed at the footstead.
And rose to her easel, the hundred dogs panting
like children along the graveled walks of the garden, Diego's
love a skull in the circular window
of the thumbprint searing her immutable brow.
Rita Dove's “Sonnet In Primary Colors” uses personalized symbols, morbid imagery, and spring-love diction to emphasize a theme of pain and beauty, which creates a closer connection for the reader and Frida Kahlo.
Dove writes, “woman with one black wing” and “searing her immutable brow”. These symbolize Kahlo’s signature unibrow which set her apart as strong, beautiful, and unique. The reference to her wing creates an image that Kahlo can soar and fly to great heights, as she did in the world of art. Her “immutable brow” alludes to her bold and brave soul, which managed to embrace beauty while living in a reality of pain.
The morbid imagery which Dove uses inflicts a tone of agony within her audience. Dove writes, “the plaster corset”, “lay down in pain”, “Beloved Dead”, and “Diego’s love a skull”. Her “plaster corset” refers to a horrific trolley car accident which occurred earlier in her life and led to numerous health problems, including immobilization in a cast for her spine. The pain is also implied throughout the poem as her problematic but passionate relationship with Diego Rivera, and the life-altering accident that tortured Frida Kahlo with pain for the rest of her life.
Diction such as “wildflowers”, “rose”, “butterflies”, “beloved”, “love” and “garden” are woven throughout the poem. This diction creates a mood of young spring love and adds an element of beauty. They include terms used in both nature and in expressing love. Frida Kahlo’s appreciation of inner and outer beauty influence the reader to see her with both respect and love.
The title “Sonnet in Primary Colors” expresses Frida Kahlo’s love of painting and beauty through bold and colorful displays. However, a sonnet is traditionally considered to have 14 lines and this piece of poetry only consists of 13. This can be explained as the aspects of pain that took from Kahlo’s life, leaving her incomplete. Her lack of mobility limited her creativity in painting and art. It can also symbolize the boldness and quest for honesty and uniqueness within her life.
I agree with your analysis on the different moods created throughout this poem. You talked about how Rita Dove’s use of morbid imagery creates a tone of agony. Although I agree with you, I also believe it creates a sense of sympathy from the reader. The morbid imagery describing Frida Kahlo’s life after her trolley car accident makes the reader feel bad for her because it traumatized her for the rest of her life. It also gave Khalo a restricted lifestyle by always being held back by immobilization and pain. Nobody would want to live a life so miserable like this. Our interpretations of how Dove’s language affects the reader are different, but I also agree with your perspective. While reading this poem, different tones were impressed upon me, as it may have been upon you and other readers as well.
Delete
ReplyDeletePoem: “Nestor’s Bathtub” by Rita Dove
Throughout the poem “Nestor’s Bathtub,” the author Rita Dove uses repetition and symbolism to bring out the true actions of his wife. At the beginning of each stanza, a phrase about the old legend of Nestor and his wife is presented: “As usual, legend got it all wrong…” (1), “Legend, as usual…” (14), and “For the sake of the legend…” (26). The repetition of these phrases gives the reader an insight of what Nestor’s wife really did in contrast to what most people believed what happened. According to the legend in Greek mythology and considering the social norms during this time period, Nestor the King of Pylos was the one who was supposed to be pampered and participating in pleasurable and enjoyable activities. Through these repeating phrases, the reader can see that this was not the case. Nestor’s wife was getting pampered behind his back. While her husband was “on his throne before the hearth counting the jars of oil” (7), or “at the Trojan wars” (10), the wife was indulging herself in pleasures: “Nestor’s wife was the one to crouch under jug upon jug of fragrant water” (2). This may cause a feeling of surprise on the reader as it was normal for men to be treated very well while women were supposed to be the ones completing chores and doing work.
Dove also uses symbolism to show the wife’s dishonest actions in secrecy. She describes Nestor’s wife with “white hands.” “White hands” symbolizes that she does not have to do a lot of strenuous work or chores, and is used to being pampered while her husband is away. Dove also explains that with her white hands she “scraped the dirt from a lover’s back” (12). This shows that the wife committed adultery while her husband was away, which is another pleasure she allowed herself to commit. The symbolism of “white hands” bring out the true actions of Nestor’s wife that he did not know about and show the contrast between the truth and the legend.
Your analysis of this poem was very insightful and I agree with your thoughts. When you refer to the repetition, it can also be called an anaphora. The background information for the context of Nestor’s life helped a lot to explain the poem. The mention of reversed roles for Nestor and his wife were similar to my ideas. In addition, Nestor’s wife was seldom mentioned in the legend, and was another aspect of the reversal. Both the symbolism of the “white hands” and “scraped the dirt from a love r’s back” showed Nestor’s wife’s “true” life in this poem which contradicts the legend.
DeletePoem: Canary, by Rita Dove
ReplyDeleteIn rita Doves poem "Canary", the second stanza is writes, "(Now you're cooking, drummer to bass,// magic spoon, magic needle.// take all day if you have to// with your mirror and your bracelet of song.)" Rita dove uses lots of imagery in this one stanza. She starts by having the drummer say "cooking", and he could have used any other word, but he used cooking as reference to drugs due to how you prepare Heroin. Also the use of "magic spoon", "magic needle", and "bracelet of song." These are all references to taking Heroin, as you need a spoon, a needle and a tourniquet. Rita Dove uses diction to describe Billie Holiday's drug use amongst her peers by putting the stanza in parenthesis. When you're reading a passage and you come across something that is in parenthesis you read over it, but you don't say it aloud. Due to the whole stanza being about her drug use, it suggests that all her peers know about her drug use and acknowledge it, but they never talk about it or say anything, because they're not suppose to, as you're not suppose to say something thats in parenthesis. Rita Dove also uses diction to walk us through Billie Holiday's drug use by making each stanza shorter than the last one, suggesting that she is slowly spiraling downward into nothing, which is true because Billie Holiday died of drug use at a really young age.
I really like your analysis of the poem, especially the part about the length of the stanzas changing to show the how slowly she was dying to her use of drugs. Rita Dove used lots of imagery, which you mentioned, especially in the second stanza. To connect the imagery of “cooking” to the drug heroin was very interesting, as you continued to present more evidence like “magic spoon, magic needle”. Also, I would have mentioned the significance of the 4th stanza, and how Rita Dove uses this to express the “freeness” and feeling of heroin, as she refers to it as a “mystery”.
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ReplyDeletePoem: “Catherine of Alexandria” by Rita Dove
ReplyDeleteRita Dove illustrates in her ballad a mood of innocence using Catherine of Alexandria’s struggles to remain as a virgin. The Christian saint converted hundreds into believing in Jesus during her lifetime. Even during her imprisonment, approximately 200 people visited her in search of Christ. Yet, at the age of 18, she was persecuted at by Maxentius, the Roman Emperor. Before her decease, history claims how the emperor attempted to win her over by proposing marriage.
When the poet writes, “ in your bed - and what went on each night was fit for nobody’s ears”, she strives to simulate the temptation of sexuality. However in the third stanza, Dove uses enjambment, “but Jesus’”, to exemplify how despite her present thoughts, they always revert back to her Lord. This acts as a parallel of Alexandria's decision to claim Jesus as her spouse and stay a virgin instead of choosing the lustful life provided by Maxentius.
In the last stanza Dove writes, “ the nightshirt bunches above your waist - a kept promise, a ring of milk.” to display the longing of motherhood. The bible states how Mary was a virgin but was able to give birth to Jesus, one who was to rule all nations. Perhaps this was the goal for Alexandria as well. The kept promise of childbearing despite her virginity through her devotion.
~Issabell Melz
Your analysis is very interesting, and I agree with your ideas. I like how you drew connections between your background research about Maxentius and the poem. I would also add that the struggles of Jesus, described in the lines “His / breath of a lily. / His spiraling pain” served to strengthen Catherine of Alexandria in her endeavor to remain a virgin. The visual imagery of “breath of a lily” could symbolize how Jesus “breathed” purity into Catherine, as the lily is often a symbol of beauty and purity (and in this case virginity). Jesus’s “spiraling pain” is a parallel to Catherine’s suffering, and Dove suggests that Catherine’s “kept promise” is a result of the strength she gained from this relationship.
DeletePoem: “Catherine of Siena”, by Rita Dove
ReplyDeleteCatherine of Siena was a famous saint who lived in Italy during the 14th century. She suffered a bad childhood and was very lonely during her times as she preached to people about Jesus. To emphasize this loneliness, Rita Dove uses anaphora on the word “You” to describe the reader is by himself/herself against struggles. Throughout the poem, the writer does not mention Catherine’s name at all, but only the word “you” to show that the reader is the character in the story, and this character is experiencing a sense of loneliness and longing for a friend. The main motif in this poem is aloneness, so Rita Dove uses imagery to help describe the this. Catherine of Siena traveled to other cities to preach to people, so the author uses the phrase in Stanza 1 “You struck the boulder at the roadside since fate has doors everywhere” to show that faith can be everywhere on Catherine’s travels. The last line in Stanza 1 describes heaven as “warm and dark”, as dark could symbolize the feeling of emptiness in the “you” person and “warm” could symbolize the longing for “someone to talk to”. Also, the description of “warm and dark” vs. heaven is contrasting imagery.
In the first three lines of Stanza 2, Rita Dove describes Catherine’s isolation when she was younger. Again, the writer refers to the word “you” again to emphasize the feeling of isolation towards the reader. In the last two lines of Stanza 2, the anaphora of “No one” shows that the “you” person or Catherine has only done these last two things, and that the person will be lonely and isolated forever.
“Tou Wan Speaks to Her Husband, Liu Sheng” by Rita Dove
ReplyDeleteIn her poem “Tou Wan Speaks to Her Husband, Liu Sheng,” Rita Dove describes the preparations that Tou Wan makes for her husband’s burial. Lui Sheng was a prince of China during the Han dynasty (206 BC to AD 220). His and his wife’s tombs contained the first jade burial suits to be discovered by archaeologists. The tombs were located in caves hollowed out of a mountainside and contained objects that included gilded bronze double cups, an incense burner in the shape of flame-like peaks, and an oil-burning lamp. In her poem, Rita Dove combines physical descriptions of the known objects in the tomb with the first-person perspective of Tou Wan to bring her ancient characters to life and illustrate an interesting dynamic between the two.
Dove uses sarcasm and syntax to show that Tou Wan’s apparent love for her husband is only a veil that conceals her resentment for her position of subservience to a man she despises. Dove’s use of sarcasm is evident in Wan’s reference to her husband by various epithets such as “my only conqueror” and “my constant emperor.” These epithets emphasize the servile position that women were expected to take towards their husbands; Wan’s address sounds more like that of a peasant to a king than of a wife to her husband. Wan’s resentment is also conveyed through the use of syntax. Dove creates two streams of thought within the poem – Wan’s servile, socially acceptable address to her husband and her personal, resentful thoughts. The latter is set apart by ellipses and parentheses as in the lines “and two bronze jugs, worth more / than a family pays in taxes / for the privilege to stay / alive, a year, together…” In these lines, Wan criticizes both her husband’s extravagance and his lack of care for his people. However, the idea fades off with the use of the ellipsis and Wan resumes her role of subservient wife. In the lines “when the stench of your / own diminishing / drives you to air (but / you will find none),” Wan gives the opinion that her husband will never be able to “find air,” or be free from his sins. Dove’s use of parentheses is similar in the lines “I will set you / a lamp. (And a statue / of the palace girl you most / frequently coveted.)” In both quotes, parentheses convey Wan’s negative views of her husband in a suppressed way, representing the way that women had to conceal their true feelings.
I agree with your view on how Tou Wan resents her husband. In the Chinese culture, it is often practiced how women are suppose to be one step behind men. Yet, I do believe this woman obtains genuine love for her husband. In the first stanza, Dove writes, " I will build you a house of limited chambers but it shall last forever." The chamber signifies her love and how Wan is willing to continue to endeavor for the relationship to remain. She unfailingly purchases materialistic goods in order to prove her compassion. In addition, the use of "my only conqueror" exemplifies her will of remaining with Lui Sheng and only him. Yet, Dove writes "you are bored" to display the motif of this poem, to revel her sorrowful emotions of how he fails to love her back.
Delete“The Abduction” by Rita Dove
ReplyDeleteRita Dove’s poem “The Abduction” describes the kidnapping of Solomon Northrup, a free African American who lived in New York. While traveling to Washington D.C. for a musician’s job, Northrup was kidnapped and sold into slavery. After achieving freedom, he became an abolitionist who is now known for his 1853 memoir, Twelve Years a Slave.
In the poem, Dove uses stanzas that decrease from five lines to one line to mirror Northrup’s transition between acceptance and slavery and create a sense of finality. The quintet at the beginning of the poem describes Northrup’s feeling of acceptance into society. In her description of the celebration, Dove creates palpable excitement and rhythm through the use of parallel structure, alliteration, and auditory imagery. In the first line, “The bells, the cannons, the houses black with crepe,” auditory imagery is combined with parallel structure to create the feeling of a great festival. The people who “clotted the avenue” (line 3) represent the free society into which Solomon Northrup feels accepted. He shows his feeling of inclusion when he says, “I among them, Solomon Northrup / from Saratoga Springs, free papers in my pocket” (3-4). The alliteration of “p” and “s” contribute to the excited tone in the first stanza of the poem. In the second stanza, Dove foreshadows Northrup’s disillusionment when she writes, “Why should I have doubted them? The wages were good” (6). The brevity of Northrup’s justification for trusting his kidnappers shows his repressed knowledge that he had never been fully accepted into free society. The third stanza, located in the middle of the poem, describes Northrup’s kidnapping and his sudden transition from free man to slave. Dove uses visual imagery in the line, “I was lifted – the sky swiveled, clicked into place” (12) as a metaphor for how Northrup’s life “tipped” (11) and changed direction in an instant. Dove’s diction in the phrase “clicked into place” is very interesting – it creates a sense of finality, as if slavery were inevitable for Northrup. In the fourth stanza, Dove contrasts Northrup’s previous feeling of acceptance into society with his newfound feeling of exclusion through the use of kinesthetic imagery in the phrases, “I floated on water I could not drink,” “the pillow was stone,” and “I climbed no ladders in that sleep” (13-14). Northrup’s immobility in this stanza contrasts with the atmosphere of excitement, movement, and freedom that pervades Dove’s first two stanzas, foreshadowing what is to come for Northrup during his life as a slave. The final stanza is a single line: “I woke and found myself alone, in darkness and in chains” (15). This single line completes the transition from freedom to slavery, leaving the reader with a feeling of finality and hopelessness.
I completely agree with the aspect of your analysis which includes the transition from five lines to one in each stanza. The chaos which is created by using multiple types of imagery lead the reader to feel as Northrup felt. He spiraled from this chaos and freedom, to the simple evil of slavery. The analysis for the fourth stanza was very interesting and I liked your perspective on his newfound exclusion in society. Everything piece of freedom has been altered, and Northrup finds himself in chains.
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ReplyDeletePoem:
ReplyDeleteThe House Slave
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DeletePoem: The Abduction by Rita Dove
ReplyDeleteIn the poem “The Abduction”, Rita Dove tells the story of Solomon Northrup and his kidnapping into becoming a slave. This story inspired the book and movie 12 Years a Slave, which is his autobiography. Each stanzas’ lines slowly get smaller, so in Stanza 1, there are 5 lines, and in Stanza 2, there are 4 lines, and so on. Dove uses this to show Solomon Northrup’s life slowly slipping away from him in a connotative sense.
In the first stanza, Dove describes an allusion, which is a parade for “the great Harrison”(2) or President Harrison after he died. She uses personification to describe the scene in the sentence “The Citizenry of Washington/clotted the avenue…” (2-3). The author continues using visual imagery to describe Solomon Northrup, as he is holding his “free papers” in his pocket, “violin under” his arm, and is standing by his “new friends Brown and Hamilton” (4-5).
In the second stanza, she opens it with the sentence “Why should I have doubted them?” (6) This doubt foreshadows Solomon's inevitable death. Rita Dove then used more visual imagery to describe what Solomon Northrup was doing. She describes Hamilton and Brown with this imagery, saying “ Brown’s tall hat collected pennies at the tent flat, Hamilton's feet did a jig on a tightrope” (7-8). However, Browns and Hamilton's actions seem questionable, as they didn't seem the type to be starting a band and paying Solomon to be in it.
In the third stanza, It foreshadows Solomon Northrup's eventual demise. It says he drank “wine, like a pink lake, tipped” (11), meaning he was drugged then he “was lifted-the sky swiveled, clicked into place (12). This imagery describes how he was trapped into a box or something and now trapped. In the last two stanzas, it uses visual imagery to describe the conditions of the ship he was on, “in darkness and in chains” (15).
Poem: David Walker (1785-1830)
ReplyDeleteRita Dove’s “David Walker” portrays the publishing of “Walker's Appeal, in Four Articles; Together with a Preamble, to the Coloured Citizens of the World, but in Particular, and Very Expressly, to Those of the United States of America”. It also alludes to Walker’s personal life and how the pamphlet influenced him. These aspects are described through the use of Walker’s personal thoughts, alliteration, and symbolism pertaining to Walker, and cause the reader to sympathize with the hardships of slavery. Throughout the poem, Dove writes italicized lines which can be understood as Walker’s thoughts. The first one is, “They strip and beat and drag us about like rattlesnakes”. This view of first person brings the reader closer to the situation. It creates a realness for the issue of slavery, and emphasizes how even though Walker was free, he knew it was his duty to fight for universal freedom. Later, the line “Men of colour, who are also of sense” seems to be something from the Appeal pamphlet. The end of this stanza portrays how outraged everyone else was at this statement. Dove writes, “Free to travel”, which shows how Walker is a free man. However, he feels the pain and suffering of the enslaved, and enforces abolition as though it were his own freedom he is fighting for. Walker wrote these poems as a push to the enslaved to fight for their rights. The alliteration in the continuous use of the word “pamphlets” showed how people would go to great lengths to smuggle his pamphlets to others. The last stanza of the poem symbolizes how Walker mysteriously died after publishing his third edition. Dove’s questioning, “is that all?”, connects to the suspicion that Walker was poisoned.
I really like your analysis of David Walker. However, I believe you should have included that some of the sentences have italics in them that are actually quotes in the book and show the point of view of the slaves. I know you included one of the quotes with it, but you should have added a few more to show the whole perspective of the slaves. I like your analysis of the alliteration of the word “pamphlet” to show the “length” of how far he would go to spread his abolitionist ideas. I also like your connection with the quote “is that all?” to actual real world allusion of David Walker dying to poison.
DeleteI think your analysis is very interesting. I especially like how you interpreted the phrase “Free to travel.” When reading “David Walker” for the first time, I was confused why Dove would start her poem with this phrase. According to your analysis, Dove does this to show Walker’s unselfishness and empathy for those who are not as lucky as he is to be free. This is a good way of characterizing Walker while also letting the reader know that he is a free man. Another thing I noticed about this phrase is its similarity to the beginning of the poem “Catherine of Alexandria:” “Deprived of learning and / the chance to travel” (1-2). The idea of travel as a representation of freedom and autonomy seems to be a common motif in Dove’s work.
DeleteI agree with your analysis, especially the point about how Walker fought because he believed it was his duty. But did you consider that maybe Walker was writing these in a point of irony? And that he felt like he shouldn't be fighting, yet it was made his duty by his peers, although he has little freedom.
Delete“The House Slave” by Rita Dove
ReplyDeleteAs the house slave in the ballad observes fellow captives in the field, Dove endeavors to illustrate the emotion of guilt. The poet uses the setting of dawn in the interests that it is the hour when slaves prepare to work. In the third stanza, Dove writes, “ At the second horn, / the whip curls across the backs of the laggards-” (8-9). During this era, lamentably, it was socially acceptable for whites to enact violence towards enslaved African Americans in order to show their superiority. In this case, the poet shows how whipping was depicted if slaves failed to report to their duties on time. The narrator says “in the slave quarter there is rustling-” (2) to display the actions of panicked slaves in order to avoid punishment.
In the last stanza, the simile, “ they spill like bees among fat flowers”(14), manifests to compare the field slaves as worker bees collecting the south’s most prominent cash crop, cotton. House slaves usually live in more improved conditions than field slaves and frequently have better food. In addition, they are not obligated to rise at the ringing of the horn. The character says “ I cannot fall asleep again” to show how even though he/she can sleep in more, they are unable to due to the torturous horrors of suffering.
Finally, Dove uses repetition of “Oh! pray,” (11) in order to expose the desperation of enslaved field workers on the farms. Helpless, this phase emphasized how the sister turns to faith during the tortures of the back-lashing. Dove includes how during moments like these, the House slave is unable to help because of fear, further accentuating the sorrowful emotion experienced. The narrator simply cries and realizes at the final line that “it is not yet daylight” (15) which correlates to the endless dismay that will continue throughout.
~Issabell Melz
DeleteIn your analysis, you talked about how the emotion of guilt is impressed upon the reader. I agree with you, however I felt the emotion of sympathy when I read “The House Slave” as well. Throughout the poem, the reader is able to see the fearful life that slaves endured 24/7. They were always afraid of making a mistake or somehow angering their owner as they would be whipped and punished harshly. Slaves were in fear for their safety all day and all night, which you talked about in your last sentence in your analysis. Although I cannot even imagine the fear that these slaves felt, I have compassion for them and feel very fortunate and lucky to live in an era where slavery is not an issue.
The House Slave by Rita Dove
ReplyDeleteThe house slave is a poem about a slave who is working on a plantation for a white land owner. The poem speaks about how he doesn’t like his living conditions, and is envious of what his owner has. In the poem, Dove uses local color to display the setting. in the first stanza she writes “[...] over the dew-lit grass/” (1), and she then mentions “cornbread” (3), this use of local color lets the reader feel where they are, because cornbread is a predominantly southern food, so it lets the reader really know that they’re in the south. She uses the same technique in the last stanza, “and as the fields unfold to whiteness,\and they spill like bees among the fat flowers,\”. This use of local color shows us that the setting is on a plantation in a place where things grow easily, so clearly a tropical climate, which the only places that have a tropical climate in the US would be the deep south. Which also gives us a feeling of the slaves hard work and his uncomfort, due to the south being extremely hot and humid. Which he displays in the second stanza, and how he wishes he could just be in the same conditions as his owner. In the same quote i wrote about before, she writes “and as the fields unfold to whiteness,”, which is her use of imagery to depict that the fields they are working in are cotton fields.
I admire how you pointed out the use of local color in your analysis. In addition to the cornbread I would also state how Dove included "a salt pork breakfast" to indicate slavery. This was a common slave meal in the south. You did an excellent job of exemplifying the setting and the time period the poem was written toward. I would go a bit further into showing the significance. Written from the perspective of a house slave, I think that not only does the slave envy the owner, but feels pity towards the field slaves. In the last line it says how she "weeps", perhaps to show the guilt he/she feels for having a more fortunate slave life than the rest.
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ReplyDelete“Belinda’s Petition” by Rita Dove
The inspiration for Rita Dove’s poem “Belinda’s Petition” came from a real slave who petitioned to the government for her freedom. Belinda was a woman who was originally born in Africa and was kidnapped early in her life. She was taken to Boston, Massachusetts to be sold as a slave. Massachusetts’ economy thrived on slavery and the slave trade. Belinda was brave enough to stand up for herself in front of the government. Through her petition, Belinda portrayed the pain, the agony, and the mental and emotional strain that she and other slaves suffered.
Dove uses Belinda’s actual petition to show the courage and strong will of Belinda. Dove capitalizes unnecessary words to put an emphasis on them. This emphasis helps to convey the passion and strong belief that Belinda felt towards the cruelty of slavery. When Belinda introduces herself in Dove’s poem, she states, “I am Belinda, an African, / since the age of twelve a Slave” (3-4). The capitalization of “Slave” indicates how she is categorized and how she is obviously upset with her inferior status (according to the prejudiced “Men with Faces like the Moon” (19) ). The capitalization of “Men,” “Faces,” and “Moon” depict that as the moon is the color white, the racist men are also white. This is in contrast to the slaves who are black. Although Belinda is seen as an inferior to these men, “The Fathers of this Nation” (7), she believes so deeply that slavery is inhumane and has the courage to persuade them to give her freedom.
ReplyDelete“Lady Freedom Among Us” by Rita Dove
In her poem “Lady Freedom Among Us,” Rita Dove draws the reader’s attention to the importance of this statue. Lady Freedom sits atop the dome of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C.. Lady Freedom herself symbolizes the freedom that all people have currently in the United States. Slavery no longer exists and everyone is given the same rights no matter the color of your skin. The use of anaphora gives off a strict and demanding tone. At the beginning of multiple stanzas, the word “don’t” is repeated. For example, “don’t lower your eyes” (1) and “don’t think you can ever forget her / don’t even try” (26-27) convey how important and special the statue is considered. Dove’s use of repetition help to enforce the idea of freedom and how people should never forget how the times have changed and how fortunate America is to give all of its people freedom. The fifth stanza states, “don’t cross to the other side of the square / don’t think another item to fit on a tourist’s agenda” (17-18). The reader can see that many tourists who come to Washington D.C. overlook the statue and misunderstand its true meaning. Dove’s repetition of “don’t” and her commanding tone let the reader know that Lady Freedom should not just be a quick check off of a tourist attraction list, but a reminder that although America endured rough times of racism, the country was able to overcome this issue and restore its original purpose of freedom and equality for everyone.
I really like your examination of Rita Dove’s use of anaphora in this poem. However, I think you should have also included her use of anaphora with the repetition of “with her” (8-10) in stanza 3. She also includes the final sentence in that stanza “she has risen among us in blunt reproach” (11). The repetition adds the “strict and demanding” tone you mentioned by describing Lady Freedom’s appearance and how dominant she is as a symbol in the nation. This visual imagery also helps the reader understand Lady Freedom as this large symbol for those who want more freedom and rights.
DeleteYour analysis of this poem got me thinking about the reasons that Dove might have used such a demanding tone when talking about Lady Freedom. While it is true that every American is entitled to certain freedoms today, it is arguable that these freedoms can be undermined by those for whom they are not convenient. Dove creates the image of Lady Freedom “risen among us in blunt reproach” (11) to show that she is no longer proud of what she sees. Dove uses her poetry to warn people that freedom will not stand aside: “she’s not going to budge” (28). Her solution is for people to accept freedom as a guiding principle in their lives because Lady Freedom is “one of the many / and she is each of us” (31-32).
DeletePoem: “Claudette Colvin Goes to Work” By Rita Dove
ReplyDeleteIn the poem “Claudette Colvin Goes to Work” By Rita Dove, Claudette Colvin is given appreciation for her courage in defending civil rights. Light and dark diction, symbolism to her life, and alliteration create an image of Colvin’s legacy. The line “I’m the crazy girl off the bus” (line 27) refers to a major aspect in her actions supporting the Civil Rights Movement. As a young woman, 15 years old, Colvin was the first to declare her constitutional rights and not leave her bus seat for a white woman. This was prior to Rosa Park’s famous encounter on the same aspect of civil rights. Reference to her African American heritage is found in the line, “Sometimes I wait until it’s dark enough for my body to disappear” (line 13). Although Colvin was the first to stand up for black rights on a bus, she was soon pregnant and the Civil Rights Movement voted against her representation. The light and dark diction such as, “twilight, “lightbulbs”, “golden”, “bad-light”, and “dark” are continually used throughout the poem. They represent the high points and low points which made up her life. In school, Colvin was very studious and planned on being the President. These dreams however, were never actualized. In the last stanza, there is visual imagery of her job, a nurse assistant. This sadly proves that her career did not focus on the Civil Rights Movement later in her life.This Alliteration is used to emphasizes the way in which African Americans were treated. Dove writes, “So ugly, so fat, so dumb, so greasy-” to show how poorly they were viewed in American society. In addition, the “I” brings the reader closer to the perspective of Claudette Colvin, and creates a more realistic effect for Dove’s audience.
DeleteYour analysis on “Claudette Colvin Goes to Work” by Rita Dove helped me better understand the purpose of the poem and the struggles that African Americans faced during this time period. You mentioned light and dark diction, which is something that I did not notice right away when I read this poem. You also talked about how Colvin desired to be President when she grew up. In the last stanza, Dove describes her occupation: “...I’m there all night, adjusting the sheets, / emptying the pans” (30-31). I feel that although Colvin did not fulfill her dream of becoming the President, she is still able to help others, as shown in the last stanza: “I help those who can’t help themselves / I do what needs to be done…” (33-34). This shows that although she is not able to become President because she is black, but she is still able to find light in her dark situation.
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ReplyDeletePoem: “Rosa” by Rita Dove
ReplyDeleteIn her poem “Rosa,” Rita Dove describes Rosa Parks’ famous 1955 refusal to give up her seat on a bus to a white person. Rosa Parks was not the first person to do so – Claudette Colvin was arrested for the same “crime” before Parks’ arrest. Contrary to popular belief, Parks was not just a working woman who had become tired of being treated as an inferior to white people during her daily commute. She had been secretary of the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP since 1953, and her refusal to give up her seat on the bus was a calculated move to advance the civil rights movement. Dove shows this fact in her poem through the use of consistent punctuation structure and diction relating to precision. The pattern of end stops, enjambment, and caesurae is the same in the first and third stanzas as well as the second and fourth stanzas. Dove structures her poem in this manner to enhance the sense of precision and calculation that her diction creates. In the first stanza, Dove uses antithesis in the phrase “the time right inside a place / so wrong it was ready” (2-3) to suggest that Parks selected the segregated bus in December 1955 because it was the perfect place to make a stand against injustice. And Parks knew exactly how to make her stand – “Doing nothing was the doing” (7). Dove increases the sense of Parks’ premeditation by describing aspects of her appearance with diction relating to precision: “trim name,” “sensible coat,” and “clean flame of her gaze.” Parks’ gaze was “carved by camera flash,” (9) creating the idea that her actions were meant to be seen by the media and become a national issue. In “Rosa,” Dove shows that Parks’ premeditated action was just what was needed to effect change.
DeleteI like your analysis of the antithesis and Dove’s composure of Rosa Parks. The background information was very insightful and added a lot of depth to the analysis. I did not think about how the use of punctuation stabilized Dove’s facts. I do not quite understand what you mean by saying, “And Parks knew exactly how to make her stand – “Doing nothing was the doing” (7).” However, overall I learned a lot about this poem as well about the life of Rosa Parks. For example, I did not know that she was part of the NAACP.
Poem: Rosa by Rita Dove
ReplyDeleteRita Dove writes in her poem “Rosa” about Rosa Parks and her refusal of giving up her bus seat in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama. Her refusal of giving up her bus seat sparked the civil rights movement and caused more African Americans to question their rights. Dove uses her specialized diction and structure related to Rosa, and repetition to emphasis certain parts of the poem. The poem is structured with four triplet stanzas, with short, simple sentences. This structure is an indirect representation of Rosa herself, as Rosa was a quiet, simple, and humble person, just like the poem. She also uses phrases such as “trim name” (4) to describe her. This shortness of lines and simpleness of the stanzas could express the insignificance of black people during this time, and how they were so small and unnoticed and Rosa changed this. Dove also uses several forms of repetition to describe the scene. She uses alliteration in “clean”, “carved”, and “camera” (8-9), as well as “flame” and “flash” (8-9) to express visual imagery of Rosa and how she was now in the spotlight. In addition, the words “flame” and “flash” are used after “clean” and “camera” to give personification to those words, thus adding action to the stanza. She also uses assonance at the end of poem in the words “purse” and “courtesy” (12) to add a soft but strong tone at the end. This could represent the event as a whole because Rosa did something small but created such an impact for the civil rights movement.
“The situation is intolerable” by Rita Dove
ReplyDeleteIn the first stanza, when the author writes , “Intolerable: that civilized word. / Aren’t we civilized too? Shoes shined, / each starched cuff unyielding, / each dovegray pleated trouser leg” (1-4), articles of clothing mentioned on numerous accounts are used to magnify how physical appearance identify status. Although one may be without poverty, the narrator still questions equality due to his/her skin color. In addition, the author utilizes the repetition of the word “each” to portray how no matter how hard a black individual tries to look equal to the opposing race, segregation is inevitable and ubiquitous.
Written from the perspective of an African American, Dove parallels the era of segregation with other historical events to depict the wrongness of racial superiority. At the second half of the first stanza, Dove writes, “ a righteous sword advancing / onto the field of battle / in the name of the Lord…”. Correlating to the crusades, the passage suggests the prevalence of discrimination throughout history. During this times, crusaders proposed two options to the people they were conquering: to decease or to convert to catholicism and entered into the realm of heaven. This concept is apparent in the second stanza, where it states, “ but the stars - / tiny, missionary stars.”. The missionary stars are symbolic to the crusader uniforms where a cross declares a “better” status. This relates to the civil rights era because many black individuals were faces upon two options: forced into slavery or stoned, leached, discriminated against if they did not obey.
Lastly, the pervasiveness of poverty shows irony due to the poet’s previous use of “in the name of the Lord…”. In Proverbs 22:2, the bible claims how “ the rich and the poor have a common bond, the LORD is the maker of them all.” Since the crusaders promoted Catholicism for the wrong reasons, a “free passage to heaven”, Dove suggests how discrimination against blacks should not be prevalent because all men are supposedly created equal under god. Yet mankind rebelliously creates rules of their own, thus making it “intolerable”.
~Issabell Melz
Freedom Ride by Rita Dove
ReplyDeleteThe poem Freedom ride was about the Freedom riders, a group of 13 black and white women in the early 60’s who rode a bus from washington DC, through virginia, Georgia, and alabama, onwards to end in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Riders were violating the Jim Crow Laws by sitting in white designated areas. In the poem, Rita Dove uses expressionism to accuratly display the reason for revolting against the Jim Crow laws. In the first stanza, Dove writes, “But there’s just more cloud cover, \ and germy air \” (6). This quote describes how the men and women who write the buses every day feel. Dove takes us through their discomfort by describing the bus. In the beginning of the second stanza, Dove writes “Pull the cord a stop too soon, and \ you’ll find yourself walking” (12). This bit makes us feel the embarrassment and the social stress that people of color felt every day on public transportation, as it implies that if you pulled the cord to stop at the wrong station, you were obligated to get out, as the people around you believed you to be a nuisance. In the same quote, Dove vividly shows Person Vs. Society, as the quote implies that others on the bus were very rude and would want you to get off the bus if you inconvenience them for even just a second. Dove uses flashback by repeating fire imagery in the first stanza, and in the last one. This repetition of the fire idea makes the reader feel like the the civil rights movements were rising up from the flames.
Eirik Haugbro
ReplyDeleteExcerpt from The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticat and "Parsley" by Rita Dove
The excerpt from The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticat describes Haitians trying to escape the Dominican Republic during the Parsley Massacre. The Parsley Massacre was during 1937 which was a genocidal massacre against Haitians living in the Dominican Republic. It was lead by the Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo. To tell if someone was from Haiti or the Dominican Republic, soldiers would hold up a piece of parsley and ask them to pronounce it. Depending on how they said “parsley,” or “Perejil” in Spanish, it would determine where they were from and if they were killed or not. In the excerpt, two characters are not even given the chance to pronounce it and they are tortured and punished: “... I didn’t get my chance… Our jaws were pried open and parsley stuffed into our mouths” (Danticat). Danticat describes the soldiers brutality towards Yves and Amabelle using visual imagery: “Yves fell headfirst, coughing and choking. His face was buried in a puddle of green spew” (Danticat). While reading this, I felt disgusted that someone could be so cruel as to force innocent people to choke on parsley, stone them and beat them. This torture is also discussed in Rita Dove’s poem “Parsley.” The title is an obvious reference to the Parsley Massacre. However, at a quick glance, the title gives off an innocent feeling. What could be so horrible about the plant parsley? Due to my background knowledge of this event and after reading the poem and relating it to the excerpt, I interpreted that the word “parsley” symbolizes the power held in language. In the fourth stanza, Dove states, “El General has found his word: perejil. / Who says it, lives” (13-14). This reinforces the idea that dictator Trujillo decided people’s fate by the way they pronounced such an innocent word.
Your interpretation of this poem is interesting. You suggest that the word “parsley” symbolizes the power held in language. I agree with this interpretation, but I would add that “parsley” not only represents the power of language, but the power of race or origin. Trujillo used the word “parsley” because he knew that people from Haiti would not be able to pronounce it. These were people that he viewed as inferior, as Dove shows when she writes, “His mother was no stupid woman; she could roll an R like a queen.” Though Dove compares the Haitians to his mother to show Trujillo’s racist views that Haitians are ‘stupid,’ this comparison also reveals the absurdity of such racism, which is based on whether or not people can “roll an R.”
Delete"Parsley" by Rita Dove
ReplyDeleteIn her poem “Parsley,” Rita Dove describes the Parsley Massacre in the Dominican Republic. In the first section of the poem, entitled “The Cane Fields,” Dove describes the massacre from the eyes of its victims. She uses repetition of the phrases “parrot imitating spring” and “out of the swamp the cane appears” to represent the thousands of times that Haitians were forced to say “Perejil” before being murdered. In the poem, the “cane” represents the sugarcane that grows in the humid climate where the Haitians worked. In the sixth stanza, Dove writes, “The cane appears / in our dreams, lashed by wind and streaming. / And we lie down. For every drop of blood / there is a parrot imitating spring.” This visual imagery suggests that the cane also represents the physical beatings that Trujillo’s victims had to endure. In this section of the poem, the “parrot imitating spring” is present in four of the six stanzas, contributing to the feeling that Trujillo is continuously present as the cause of the Haitians’ suffering. Edwidge Danticat conveys a similar feeling in The Farming of Bones when the character Amabelle questions Trujillo’s choice of the word parsley: “Was it because it was so used, so commonplace, so abundantly at hand that everyone who desired a sprit could find one? We used parsley for our food, our teas, our baths, to cleanse our insides as well as our outsides. Perhaps the Generalissimo in some larger order was trying to do the same for his country.” Danticat uses the ubiquity of parsley to symbolize Trujillo’s constant presence and power over his victims’ lives.
In the second section of Dove’s poem, entitled “The Palace,” Dove describes the mentality of Rafael Trujillo when he decides to massacre thousands of Haitians because they cannot pronounce the word “Perejil.” Trujillo starts by asking himself “Who can I kill today” (31). Through a string of loosely connected thoughts – from his mother’s death to his hatred of sweets – Trujillo lands on the word ‘parsley’ as the determinant of whether thousands of people will live or die. Dove describes Trujillo’s thoughts and memories to give a face to the evil behind the Parsley Massacre and convey the disturbing idea that evil can be creative.
Your analysis of the Cane Fields along with the parrot was very interesting, and slightly different than that of my own. The anaphora which represented the thousands of Haitian deaths was insightful. I agree with the symbolism of the cane as a weapon, as the abuse of the Haitians by Trujillo’s henchmen was cruel and unforgiving. It would have been nice to include the symbolism of “The Palace” as you briefly analyzed this as well as Trujillo’s mental state in the second paragraph. However, throughout the major aspects of “Parsley”, the rest of your analysis was very thorough .
Delete
ReplyDeleteBoth “Parsley” by Rita Dove and the excerpt from “The Farming of Bones” by Edwidge Danticat portray the story of the Parsley Massacre (1937). This genocide was led by Dominican Dictator Rafael Trujillo and persecuted Haitians living in the Dominican Republic. They would show citizens a piece of parsley and ask them to pronounce the word “Perejil” in Spanish. If they were Haitians, they would not be able to pronounce the “r”, and they would then be killed. In “Parsley”, Rita Dove uses historical symbolism, anaphoras, and violent/morbid diction to emphasize Trujillo’s destruction while creating a dominant effect of despair in the reader. The “parrot imitating spring in the palace” represents the wealth and power in a society, especially for Trujillo. Dove writes, “he is all the world there is” which depicts his dictatorship and cruelty towards the Haitians. Later, “We cannot speak an R-” illustrates how the Haitians could not say the word “Perejil”, leading to their death. In addition, the anaphora “Katalina” symbolizes this same aspect, as the correct word they could not pronounce is Katarina. At the end of four stanzas in the section “1. The Cane Fields”, the anaphora “out of the swamp the cane appears” is repeated. This is a constant reminder of the lower class and condition of the Dominican Republic (the location is never explicitly stated). Diction such as “death”, “kill”, “skull”, “died” and “lashed” create a morbid and frightening mood for the audience. The title “Parsley” is explained in the end of the poem as Dove writes, “He will order many, this time, to be killed//for a single, beautiful word”. This shows how Trujillo chose such a beautiful word that was used to honor a birth of a new son, and twisted it to mean the death of thousands.
Your analysis on the poem was very interesting, and you pointed out several things i did not notice. The anaphora of the word “Katalina” clearly is connected to the Haitian “rolling of the letter R”, and how the racist attitudes of the Dominicans was expressed in the poem. I also like your analysis of the diction that represents how frighten the Haitian people are. I also like your analysis of the word “parsley” and how it is described as “such a beautiful word”, which is interesting because the poem is about a subject which is considered gruesome.
DeleteThe significance towards the use of violent and morbid diction was something that I personally didn't notice. I completely agree with the fact that it creates a frightening mood towards the audience, allowing them to sympathize with those who had to endure the horrific massacre. Yet, although the first portion of the poem is directed towards the victim, I believe the section of "The Palace" allows readers to experience the dictator's view as well. It seems as though his purpose to the killing was correlated to the decease of his mother, allowing readers to feel a sence of sorrow and understanding towards his actions.
DeleteIn the poem “Parsley” by Rita Dove, she writes about the Parsley Massacre in the Dominican Republic. This poem can be connected to and excerpt in The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticat, which is a story about a girl named Annabelle who tries to escape from the Dominican soldiers. In the poem, Dove uses several symbols to express the events from this massacre. One symbol that repeats over and over is the parrot, which seems to be with “the General” throughout the poem. The phrase “a parrot imitating spring” is repeated in Stanza 1, 2, 4, and 6. In line 2, Dove describes the parrot’s feather “parsley green”, which could be connected to it “imitating spring” which is typically associated with the color green. Even more interesting, she specifically names the color “parsley green”, which relates to the Parsley Massacre and the death of thousands of Haitians in 1937. The parrot represents the Haitian people, as it is closely related with them throughout the poem. In the quote, “For every drop of blood/there is a parrot imitating spring” (17-18). If the parrot is actually imitating spring, then that could symbolize the Haitian people getting discriminated and dying from the Dominicans. They were forced to pronounce the word “perejil” or parsley in English. To tell the difference between Dominican and Haitian accents, they could hear them roll the R sound in the word. In the quote “Even/a parrot can roll an R!” (59-60), this is more evidence that the parrot is a representation of the Haitian people. It is even described to be trapped in a cage, which could be the suppression from “the General”.
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DeleteYour analysis on the symbolism of the parrot is very interesting. I did not make this connection until I read your post. I agree with you that it symbolizes the Haitian people. I also noticed another historical symbol in the poem “Parsley.” The word “cane” is repeated throughout the poem, which is a direct reference to Trujillo’s cane fields that Haitians worked in. In lines 15-16, Doves states, “The cane appears / in our dreams lashed by wind and streaming.” The “cane” represents the brutality that the Haitians might have experienced while working and how it haunts them, even in their sleep. It shows that the Dominicans not only decided the Haitian people’s fate through the pronunciation of “parsley,” but they also suffered physical abuse.
Parsley By Rita Dove is a poem about Parsley genocide massacre in the fall of 1937, also referred to as El Corte, against the Haitian population. This was an intended ethnic cleansing. Tens of thousands of people were mindlessly killed. Dove writes “We cannot speak and r-\”, (7) she accurately displays expressionism of the fear of the people who reside on the border. The last word of the sentence, which is intended to be run is cut off as a tool of expressionism, to display their exhaustion, as well as their fear of being caught due to not running fast enough. Dove also uses the motif of “there is a parrot imitating spring” (1), suggests trying to maintain happiness. Because spring to animals represents when the winter is over, and the harsh part is through, and life begins to rebuild after the harsh winter. But in the second part of the poem, the parrot is mentioned, but there is no mention of imitating spring, as happiness has been killed. The general is characterized as being a sinister, beast like man. His teeth are mentioned more than you’d think they should be, they were described as being “shining” (14) or being jagged, “gnawed to arrowheads” to characterize him as being beast like.
ReplyDeleteEirik Haugbro
Alluding to the historical event of the Parsley Massacre, Dove ventures to bring attention the horrors experienced during Rafael Trujillo’s dictatorship in her poem “Parsley”. In the 1930s when General Trujillo assumed control over to Dominican Republic, he attempted to purify the population. In The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticat, the recurrence of “green spew”, “parsley”, and “perejil” stands as a direct parallel to the Parsley Massacre. During this era, fearing that Haitians were stealing cattle and crops from the Dominican Republic, General Trujillo demanded the execution of Haitians, approximately 20,000. Soldiers were able to distinguish an individual’s ethnicity through the pronunciation of the spanish word “perejil”, parsley in english, The simple rolling of the “r” sound determined one’s fate. This theme is prevalent in the fifth stanza of “Parsley” where Dove writes, “ El General has found his word: perejil. / Who says it, lives” (13-14).
ReplyDeleteThroughout the poem Dove uses repetition on numerous accounts of phrases such as “ parrot imitating spring”, “the cane appears”, and “teeth gnawed to arrowheads”. Not only does these serve as visual imagery and support rhythms of the villanelle in her writing, but abides symbolic importance to the word parsley. Although each phrase contains the same ideas when repeated, there is slight diversity that correlated to the different ways of pronouncing perejil: with or without a trill. This provides emphasis on the value of one simple phrase that determines life vs. death.
Issabell Melz
Written in the perspective of Persephone’s beloved mother Demeter, Dove utilizes the poem, “Persephone, Falling in order to warn children abduction based on her own experience. Originating from Greek mythology, Demeter the goddess of corn, grain, and harvest laid a curse on plants due to the mourning of her missing daughter. In the first stanza Dove writes, “on his glittering terrible / carriage, he claimed is due.” The phrase associates to the moment in which Persephone, daughter of Demeter, was taken by the Greek god Hades, ruler of the underworld. He kidnapped her into becoming her wife. Although Zeus ventures to return her back to the earth, because she had eaten in the underworld, she was forever tied there 4 months of the year, the winter season. Thus, during her absence, Demeter withered plants to portray her grieving, and returned them back to life during the spring during Persephone’s return.
ReplyDeleteThe verse, “One narcissus among the ordinary beautiful / flowers” (1-2) is directed toward Demeter’s daughter. The use of narcissus plays an important role due to its sacredness towards the goddess. Dove’s diction towards words like these reveals the value a daughter endures to a mother figure.
Amid the whole second stanza, the Dove creates new purpose, not to share Persephone’s story but to warn others not to fall astray to strangers. She writes, “Don’t answer to strangers. Stick / with your playmates.” (11-12). It is often stated during many childhoods not to get into a stranger’s car. The poem uses realism in order to depict the evident dangers trust towards unknown people have.
Issabell Melz
Your analysis on how Rita Dove’s poems in “Mother Love” relate to the Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone are very similar to my analysis. You talked about the time where Hades holds Persephone captive in the underworld for a few months before returning her to Demeter. I explained the symbolism of this act in my analysis. You also talked a little bit about how Demeter values her daughter and how this is shown through diction. This is similar to my idea of how Dove used vulgar diction to show her anger towards the abduction of her daughter in “Demeter, Waiting.” The vulgar diction helps to show how the love she has for Persephone is so strong that a horrific event like this can make some go crazy and use such words that show her anger.
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ReplyDelete“Heros” and “Demeter, Waiting” by Rita Dove
Through the collection of her poems in “Mother Love,” Rita Dove alludes her pieces directly to the Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone. In “Heros,” Dove describes someone picking “A flower in a weedy field” (1) which correlates to when Persephone picked a narcissus on Mt. Aetna in Sicily. Dove goes on to explain how this flower was picked that belonged to a woman and her “miserable garden” (8) that “gave her strength every morning / to rise!” (9-10) for it was the last one in her garden. The woman became upset with her, so the person who picked the flower decided to injure the woman and run away to avoid getting in trouble. Dove explains how just a simple, innocent act became out of control and disastrous. This is similar to when Persephone picked the narcissus flower and was abducted by the Greek god Hades.
Dove also uses her other poem “Demeter, Waiting” to relate to the Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone. Told through the view of the mother Demeter, Dove uses vulgar diction to show the outrage and hatred Demeter has for the kidnapper of her daughter. Dove writes, “Shit on the cicadas”... “I will wail and thrash until the whole goddamned golden panorama freezes over” (11-13). These lines show the anger Demeter has, how frustrated she is, and how all she wants is to have her daughter back. These line are included in the last stanza which describes how Demeter created the miserable winter season because of her insufferable time without her daughter. Lines 8-11 state, “I will drag my grief through a winter of my own making and refuse any meadow that recycles itself into hope.” Since Hades does not return Persephone to Demeter until after the winter season every year, the winter that Demeter created symbolizes this unbearable time for her, while the spring represents the happy and fresh, new beginning she gets with her daughter again.
I agree with your connection between Persephone and Hades and how she was abducted by Hades. I also like how you describe Demeter’s feelings about losing her daughter with vulgar diction as I did not see that in the poem. Your connection to the spring as a symbol of renewal and freshness, and how winter represents an “unbearable time for her”. I would have also mentioned the point of view in the poem “Demeter, Waiting” as it sounds like Demeter is talking to herself and how hopeless she feels as her daughter is gone. I would also mention the starting of the poem with the word “No” then ending it with “Yes”, which could symbolize her acceptance and loss of her daughter to Hades.
Delete“Heroes” by Rita Dove
ReplyDeleteIn the poem “Heroes”, Rita Dove uses this sonnet to connect a mother to their child in a poem that seems to be in a dreamlike state. This is evident with the constant use of enjambment, which could show how nothing ever stops and just like dreams, it continues on and on until the reader wakes up. Having only one line at the end of the poem could mean that the dream is disappearing and the reader is waking up. Other evidence that makes it a dream is the second point of view, which addresses that the person in the dream is the reader, which means that all of these actions are happening and there is nothing that would stop it. To connect it to the mother daughter theme, the women says “you’ve plucked the last poppy/in her miserable garden, the one that gave her strength every morning/ to rise!” (7-9). The poppy flower could represent the woman's daughter, which “gave her strength”, as mothers usually give their all to their daughters and their well being. However, now that her daughter was gone, she had no reason left to live on the earth, “So you strike her, she hits/ her head on a white boulder,” (14-15). This story could also be related to the Greek mythology about Demeter and Persephone, as the woman is represented by Persephone and the “fugitive” is Hades, who ends up kidnapping Persephone when she is out picking flowers.
I agree with your analysis of the enjambment which completely changes the tone of the poem. I wish that you had analyzed or considered the meaning of the title, and it's purpose/connection with the rest of the poem. The meaning of the last as the reader waking up was very eye-opening. I also believe that the poem connects to Demeter and Persephone, as it is not a question.
DeleteIn the poem “Party Dress for a First Born” in the collection “Mother Love”, Rita Dove uses symbolism, the view of first person, and visual imagery to reference the involuntary actions of Persephone in the myth of Demeter and Persephone. In the first half of the first stanza, Dove writes of a girl who is “headless” and thinks of nothing”. This can be understood and symbolize how Persephone did not have a say in coming with Hades into his underground home and leaving her mother. Later, “sat down to a full plate” can be seen as reference to Persephone's refusal to eat the feasts which Hades would provide for her. Throughout the entire poem, first person point of view is used. This creates a more personal connection with Dove’s audience, as well as sympathy for the person narrating. In the end of the first stanza, Dove writes, “When I ran to my mother, waiting radient/ as a cornstalk at the edge of the field./nothing else mattered: the world stood still”. This visual imagery portrays how eager Persephone was to return to Earth and her mother. The second stanza alludes to a wedding as “women arrayed there, petals waiting to loosen”. The visual imagery can connect to the Title, “Part Dress for a First Born”, as that is referencing a wedding dress. In the end of the second stanza, Dove writes, “I will smile, all while wishing them dead”. Persephone was arranged to marry Hades in a deal which let her visit her mother above the underworld, but kept her under for the other half of the year. She does not desire to live with Hades, and this line creates a mood of despair.
ReplyDeleteThe poem Breakfast of Champions by Rita Dove from a first glance, one would think it would be about what Rita Dove's daughter eats for breakfast every day, but as you read it you find it to be quite the opposite. Rita Dove's expressionism in the poem vividly displays to the reader the subjects depression. In the first stanza, Dove writes “to find a place fit for mourning,” (3) While using a play on words with morning and mourning, she starts off here by depicting her emotions as melancholy and, obviously, mourning. Two lines away she writes “I’ll dive into a grateful martini tonight,” (5). We can clearly see that she is referring to an alcohol addiction, she uses this as a crutch in her life. When she says “dive into a grateful”, it’s as if she’s relating her martini to a bed, and after a long hard day, she would sink down and relax and just let the bed consume her, as she does with her alcohol. at the end of the stanza, Dove writes, “[...], here’s weather to match \ my condition: the first pair of canada Geese” (8-9). during the middle of the fall, Geese migrate south from canada to get out of the harsh winter. As this happens, the weather begins to become gloomy, and dark. Which is what Dove means to say when she says the weather matches her condition, gloomy, dark, and depressing.
ReplyDeleteEirik Haugbro
I think you really captured the tone of this poem in your analysis. I was wondering what the setting of the poem has to do with this tone of depression. Dove writes, “I’ve crossed a hemisphere… to find a place fit for mourning” and “I rummage the pantry’s stock for raisins and cereal,” which suggests that the narrator has traveled a long way, possibly on a vacation. This vacation seems to be the opposite of a normal vacation; instead of escaping stress for a nice break, the narrator has come to this place to embrace her “mourning” and depression. It is possible that the narrator seeks recovery, as suggested by the lines, “a sonic hospital graph / announcing recovery” (11-12).
Delete“Primer” by Rita Dove
ReplyDeleteIn her poem “Primer,” Rita Dove uses trite diction, consonance, and diminutive diction to recount the narrator’s embarrassing experience of being bullied as a child. Her use of trite diction such as “In the sixth grade,” “beat me up,” “show them all,” and “grow up” serves to create a tone of remembering one’s perceptions as a child. This allows the reader to understand how the narrator felt in sixth grade despite the fact that the poem is written in the past tense. Dove also uses consonance of the letter ‘s’ to create a tone of discomfort. For example, she uses consonance in the lines, “three skinny sisters / in rolled-down bobby socks. Hissing / Braniac! And Mrs. Stringbean!” (2-4) to emphasize the unfriendliness of the bullies. Rita Dove’s use of diminutive diction serves to show that the narrator views her past worries as trivialities that she has since been able to overcome. This is evident when she describes her past tormentors as “skinny sisters in rolled-down bobby socks.” She also uses diminutive diction when describing her mother: “my five-foot-zero mother drove up / in her Caddie to shake them down to size” (10-11). This shows that although her mother had more power than the bullies, the narrator still views her as small. The narrator disliked being weak and needing protection from her mother, so she decided, “I’d show them all: I would grow up” (14). This is presumably what the narrator has done since the sixth grade, and she is now able to look back upon her childhood resolution with a slightly humorous tone.
ReplyDelete“Chocolate” by Rita Dove
In her poem “Chocolate,” Rita Dove describes a piece of chocolate right before someone is about to eat it. In the first stanza, Dove uses visual imagery to describe the piece of chocolate as, “Velvet fruit, exquisite square” (1). In the rest of the stanzas, the author writes about how this piece of chocolate makes this person feel. My interpretation of this is that Dove uses chocolate as a metaphor for someone that is falling in love with another person. Chocolate is often associated with Valentine’s Day, love, and celebrating one’s affectionate relationship with someone else. In lines 4-5 Dove states, “how you numb me / with your rich attentions!” These lines represent how the person who is falling in love is lovesick and is so attracted to someone that they make their body go “numb.”
In lines 10-14, Dove writes, “Knotted smoke, dark punch / of earth and night and leaf, / for a taste of you / any woman would gladly crumble to ruin.” I interpreted these lines as the person he or she is attracted to is very irresistible and this person cannot wait to fall in love and dive into this relationship. This is similar to how some people love chocolate, as it is also irresistible to them. To show this, Dove writes, “Enough chatter: I am ready / to fall in love” (15-16). I also felt that this feeling is similar to the feeling that one may get when they are around someone they are attracted to. They just want to be affectionate with them because they are so caught up in love. This haste and uncontrollable feeling is also found in lines 8-9 where Dove writes, “Pleasure seeker, if I let you / you’d liquefy everywhere.” The word “liquefy” symbolizes how someone’s significant other can make their partner’s insides melt because of how in love they are. I also felt that Dove’s use of first person point of view also gives a more realistic feeling to where the reader can relate to a time where they were completely head-over-heels for someone.
I agree that the poem “Chocolate” is an allegory for a person falling in love. However, something I also noticed was that the poem has somewhat of a humorous tone, which could be interpreted as mocking the facility with which people can fall in love. When Dove writes, “If I don’t eat you quickly, / you’ll melt in my palm” (6-7), it could signify that the love would not last in the long run. This idea is reinforced at the end of the poem when Dove writes, “Enough chatter: I am ready / to fall in love!” (15-16). Instead of falling love because it was “meant to be,” this person wants to be in love so badly that she will not spend time getting to know the person first. Dove suggests that for the narrator of the poem, falling in love with a man is as simple as falling in love with a piece of chocolate.
Delete“All Souls’” by Rita Dove
ReplyDeleteIn the poem “All Souls’,” Rita Dove explores the theme that too much change leads to a loss of simplicity and purpose in life. She does this through the use of a setting that takes readers back to the early days of mankind, that “first unchanging instant” in which “two souls” left behind the noisy world of their animal ancestors to walk into “a silence larger than all their ignorance.” At the beginning of the poem, Dove writes, “Starting up behind them, / all the voices of those they had named: / mink, gander, and marmoset, / crow and cockatiel” (1-4). This references how mankind had started to differentiate itself from other animals by giving them names. The animals’ voices are coming from “behind them” because the humans are leaving them behind in pursuit of further development and change. In the second stanza, Dove challenges the idea that change is good through the use of irony when she writes, “Of course the world had changed / for good. As it would from now on every day, with every twitch and blink” (9-11). This claim represents the point of view of the two people in the poem, who view change as good without stopping to consider why. Later in the stanza, Dove shows that change would eventually have a negative impact on mankind: “Now that change was de rigueur, / man would discover desire, they yearn / for what he would learn to call / distraction. This was the true loss” (12-15). Change, represented by the “silence larger than all their ignorance,” became all that the two souls knew in life. When Dove writes, “In time / they hunkered down to business, / filling the world with sighs” (26-28), she creates the idea that constant change is no change at all, and that it will only cause unhappiness. At the end of the poem, the two souls strain “to make out the words to a song / played long ago, in a foreign land” (31-32). This “song” is a reference to the noise made by the animals in the beginning of the poem. While the humans had once viewed this noise as a “din” (22), they now heard it as a song. This represents how people seek change only to realize that what they had in the first place was all that they needed.
I really liked your analysis on the poem “All Souls’”. I was a little confused, and your analysis helped me understand more about the poem. I agree with your interpretation of the first four lines of the first stanza, especially the part about them leaving behind to change and evolve. In the second stanza I also agree, and how it shows the two perspectives from the souls. However, I would have liked to see your perspective on the third stanza, such as why are they “standing outside the gates?” (19) Or why does Dove have a random (or purposeful) sentence in the middle of the stanza? I was very confused with this stanza, and didn’t know if you analyze this as well.
DeleteI agree with your analysis throughout the entire poem. The analysis of bringing the reader back to a prehistoric time period was insightful and created a clearer understanding of the poem in my mind. When Dove writes, “Of course the world had changed / for good. As it would from now on every day, with every twitch and blink”, I believe this is foreshadowing for the negative impacts of change in mankind later in history. Everything was very thorough, however I wish an explanation of why Dove chose the title “All Souls” was included. I enjoyed your presentation of all the themes and morals in the poem.
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DeleteAlong with Casey, I too was confused on this poem at first glance. Yet, after reading your analysis on how it was placed in a prehistoric time period, I would include the direct connection to the biblical story in Genesis of Adam and Eve, the "two souls" in the poem. When they were first created by God, they were free to "rule" the garden of Eden, thus giving purpose to the naming of the animals. Dove writes how "man would discover desire, then yearn / for wt he would learn to call / distraction." This distraction resides as sin. In the story, Eve eats the forbidden fruit of knowledge, introducing sin, and leading mankind forever to be bound in sin. When they are "standing outside of the gates", this relates to how God shunned them out, making them regret their sin, wishing to go back in. I believe Dove's theme may be to exemplify the Christianity where it is often stated how despite achieving all the "distractions", mankind still strives to return as they once were, accepted and close with the Lord.
DeleteIn the poem “Meditation by Fifty Yards, Moving Target”, Rita Dove demonstrates the theme of freeness and what a person experiences in the time before shooting a gun. She separates the poem into four parts, each named differently and describes a different “cycle” of a part before firing a gun. The title describes this action as a “Meditation” which could represent firing a gun as something more than just killing, but more as a premeditated action which could represent someone’s life. In the second stanza in the section Open Air, Dove writes “the hand/had always yearned for this solemn fit, this gravitas, and now had found its true repose.” (14-17) She uses calming diction in the words “solemn”, “gravitas”, and “repose” to describe this “meditation” and how a person right before shooting a gun has an intense concentration before firing the bullet. In the next stanza, Dove repeats the word “Don’t” several times to describe what the shooter thinks before firing the bullet. The whole stanza uses several imperative sentences, as if someone is directing the shooter before squeezing the trigger.
ReplyDeleteIn the last stanza in the section The Bullet, the whole stanza personifies the bullet as if it is a person. The poem also switches to a first-person point of view, to describe the bullet’s perspective. She also doesn’t use full sentences or any capitalization, to indirectly show that the bullet is an object and is not a human, which would usually use a capital “I” and full descriptive sentences to characterize what is happening. She uses several metaphors and visual imagery to describe the it, as the bullet “slice the air” (40) and is going down its “glory road” (45), which could be the gun’s barrel. The “light” and “flame”(46) describes how the bullet ignited and it heading towards “o beautiful body”(47), which is the bullet’s target.
DeleteI agree with your analysis of “Meditation at Fifty Yards, Moving Target” by Rita Dove. I liked how you explained the last stanza titled, “The Bullet.” I also interpreted it the same way as you did. However, in your analysis you did not talk about the section titled, “Gender Politics.” What do you think was Dove’s purpose in including this section about men vs. women? I was confused at what she was trying to convey to the reader through this section. Also in the last stanza of “Gender Politics,” Dove states a question to the reader. What is she referencing to? What is she trying to get the reader to think about? This part confused me. Maybe it confused you too if you did not include it in your analysis.
In the poem “Cozy Apologia”, the author, Rita Dove, uses the juxtaposition of chivalry in the past vs. present, the symbol of Hurricane Floyd, and reference to her own personal life to create a dominant tone of adoration while revealing her unique love with Fred (her husband). Dove writes, “ There you'll be, with furrowed brow / And chainmail glinting, to set me free” and “I could pick up anything and think of you-”. These lines portray her husband as a knight in shining armor. It also describes how deeply in love she is with him, as everything she sees reminds her of him and their love. In comparison, “Of teenage crushes on worthless boys/ Whose only talent was to kiss you senseless./ They all had a sissy names-Marcel, Percy, Dewey” illustrates a very different picture. The teenage boys represent all of her past crushes who seem pointless and are “boys” instead of “men”. The lines “Were as thin licorice and as chewy,/ sweet with a dark and hollow center” reveal how shallow relationships with anyone other than her lover are compared to the intellectual and deep connection she shares with Fred. Starting in the second stanza, Dove frequently mentions Hurricane Floyd. Hurricane Floyd occurred relatively soon before her wedding, and was very impactful. However, the impact was overcome as her love was stronger and she feels safe with him. The line, “We’re content, but fall short of the divine” shows how their relationship was not quite perfect, but extremely close and as close to perfect as possible. Lastly, the title “Cozy Apologia” means a warm justification/explanation of her love “for Fred”. The poem as a whole is a gift to him explaining why her love for him is so unique and deep.
ReplyDeleteThe Poem Cozy Apologia By Rita Dove is about a girl who is expressing her feelings for a boy she is inlove with. The Poem itself is written almost as like a diary post, expressing all of her feelings and her emotions. Dove uses Romantic imagery to romanticize the boy that the girl is talking about, to make him seem flawless, she also characterizes him as being very manly and warrior like, “I could choose any hero, any cause or age \ And, sure as shooting arrows to the heart,” (4). Not only does this romanticise the man she writes of, it characterizes him as very masculine and heroin like, as he’s depicted as using a bow and arrow. Dove uses her rhyme scheme to create a rhythm to her poem, to make it sound like a song. This adds to the romanticising of the boy due to it making the poem being like and Ode. The rhyme scheme of it being at the end of every line also makes the poem feel somewhat cheezy, which was intentional due to it being about a girl writing romantic poetry about a boy she's in love with. It also supports the idea that she's young and naive. The 3 stanzas represent 3 different stages of the relationship; the crush, going steady, and being married. In the first stanza Dove writes about the boy, but never does she mention anything about the two of them actually being together. This is her simply romanticizing about the idea of him. In the third stanza she writes “(Twin desks, computers, hardwood floors): \ We're content, but fall short of the Divine.” (3). Mentioning desks, hardwood floors, and appliances creates imagery of a house. This suggests that the two of them have moved in together. “content, but fall short of Divine” (4), would suggest that they have little money, and have just enough to scrape by, but they have one another so they are content.
ReplyDeleteA craving for chocolate is something almost everyone will experience during their lifetime. The alluring scent, charming looks, and overpoweringly seductive texture it obtains: simply irresistible. Rita Dove in her poem “Chocolate” uses this same object to render the concept of love. The poet opens using visual imagery to describe the chocolate itself directly. She writes, “Velvet fruit, exquisite square” (1) and “Knotted smoke, dark punch of earth and night and leaf,” (10-11) showing the physical characteristics of the chocolate. The use of “exquisite” emphasizes the admirability of the sweet, further making it more desireable to humans. Although overused and cliche, chocolate is traditionally used by men in order lure women with charm. When Dove states how “for the taste of you / any woman would gladly / crumble to ruin.” (12-14), the poet uses sarcasm to state how even though a women would seemingly be “glad” to posses the satisfaction of the chocolate, or a man’s love, she will crumble to ruins foolishly if she does. Throughout her poem, I believe Dove’s motif is to depict the false hope rooted from men who use materialism to show that they “love”to a women. Although it seems to be “love”, the relationship between two individuals revolved around objects such as chocolate truly resembles “lust”. The whole poem simply describes physical aspects of the chocolate and the one-sided emotion of the woman, when a stable relationship needs both people completely.
ReplyDeletePoem: “Fox” by Rita Dove
ReplyDeleteIn the poem “Fox,” Rita Dove describes a girl who comes across as very content with herself and happy with the life she lives. In the first stanza, Dove describes the girl’s feelings and thoughts. She writes, “She knew what / she was and so / was capable / of anything / anyone / could imagine. / She loved what / she was” (1-10). The second stanza describes how the girl knows what she wants and what she has. Dove writes, “She imagined / nothing. / She loved / nothing more / than what she had, / which was enough / for her, / which was more / than any man / could handle” (11-20). This girl that Dove describes is contradictory to the typical girl in society today. The stereotypical girl is usually not confident in herself, especially in the teenage years when they do not have a lot of confidence in themselves and are usually insecure. The girl in the poem is the opposite. She “knew what / she was and so / and was / capable of anything / anyone / could imagine” (1-6). These lines show the confidence that she has to be comfortable enough with herself to accept who she is. Some young girls in today’s society also look for love and acceptance from a boyfriend rather than finding acceptance through themselves. The girl in the poem “loved / nothing more / than what she had, / which was enough / for her” (13-17). Dove goes on to say that this “was more / than any man / could handle” (18-20). Through these lines, the reader is able to see that the girl in the poem has enough self-confidence in herself to where she does not need acceptance from a man. This is also contradicting to typical young girls in today’s society.
I really like your analysis and your overall theme of the poem. I can see where you said how girls in this generation do not always accept themselves, and look for others to accept them for who they are. I especially agree with your analysis on the second stanza, where she begins to describe how "she imagined/nothing" and how "she loved/nothing more/than what she had" to your overall thesis. This poem addresses a major problem in our society, where girls feel very self-conscious about how they act, look, and like in this day and age. I would have also liked you to add why she made the lines in each stanza so short, because I was confused why Dove did this.
DeleteI agree with your idea that the woman in this poem contrasts with the stereotype of the girl who is self-conscious and worries about what other people think of her. I interpreted the final lines of the poem, “which was more / than any man / could handle,” to mean that men are not used to strong, self-confident women. Dove suggests that it is a shame that men are used to women who seek acceptance and self-worth from others. Dove suggests that this woman is “capable of anything” and that she is “there for the taking, imagine.” Despite this, no man will be in a relationship with her because men are unable to accept a woman who is “enough for [herself]” and doesn’t need a man to stroke her self-confidence.
DeleteIn the poem “Fox Trot Fridays”, Rita Dove uses several short, choppy couplets to relate the poem to how the fox trot dance works. The title showed that this poem would be about a specific dance. She adds the word “Friday” to add more context to the poem, as people typically are more relaxed on fridays and are able to look forward to the end of the week. This is showed in the first stanza, where it says “there’s a day/each week to tuck in” (1-2). The phrase “tuck in” could symbolize relaxation, as someone would “tuck” themselves into bed on friday after school or work. In most of the lines, Dove uses enjambment to express the constant movement and flow of the dance. Also it is in a couplet format, so each line could symbolize both people in the dance, as most ballroom dancing has a man and a woman. This is proven in Stanza 6, where she writes “one man and/one woman,” (11-12), as she separates both genders into separate lines. She also adds several small phrases what alludes to dancing, such as “stride brush stride” (4), “quick-quick” (5), “heel-ball-toe”, and “rib to rib” (13), and then ends it with the word “Smooth” in Stanza 3 to show how fluid the poem is in relation to the dance. Dove also uses allusion to “Nat King Cole’s/ slow satin smile,” (7-8), as he is famous for making foxtrot beat songs. The alliteration in the “s” sound allows the same “smooth” tone of the poem. In line 15, she uses allusion to the foxtrot style “Paradise” which is known use “the sweep” of feet of both dancers. She ends the poem with “to count all the wonders in it.” (17) to emphasize how relaxing it is to do this dance and how smooth the dance is again.
ReplyDeleteI found your analysis on “Fox Trot Fridays” very interesting. I liked how you showed the direct correlation between Dove’s poem and the Foxtrot dance through her style and how she structured her poem. In her collection “American Smooth,” Dove also includes other poems she wrote about other dances. For example, I found the poems “American Smooth” and “Ta Ta Cha Cha” which allude to dancing as well. Although all of these poems are similar in the way that they are all about dances, they differ in structure. For example, in “American Smooth,” Dove’s structure is very different than that of “Fox Trot Fridays.” The whole poem is made up of only one stanza, instead of short and choppy couplets. What do you think was Dove’s purpose in writing in different forms about ideas that relate to each other?
ReplyDelete“The Sisters: Swansong.”
ReplyDeleteIn the poem “The Sisters: Swansong,” Rita Dove describes the deaths of a group of upper-class sisters who lived a life of comfort. She uses local color that describes lives of luxury and compliant diction to prove her ultimate claim: that the sisters “died of insignificance” (25). The phrases “rattling key chains and cocktail jewelry,” “mourned in satin and chrysanthemums,” and “each plumper than the mirror saw us” create the image of wealth and comfort. However, the tone is slightly judgmental, reflecting the idea that this wealth was misspent on trivial items that brought little or no happiness to the women. Moreover, the poem describes how the sisters had even become tired of this life of luxury when it says they were “Glad to be rid of pincurls / and prayers, bunions / burning between / ironed sheets” (7-10). Dove uses irony in this phrase by describing the small problems that made life difficult for women who lived such comfortable lives. Dove’s use of compliant diction, such as “We exited obligingly,” “praised God and went our way quietly,” and “Does it matter who went first?” serves to show that the sisters were so apathetic towards life that they did not care much whether or not they died. This reveals a theme of “The Sisters: Swansong” that wealth can lead to ennui rather than happiness and fulfillment. The phrase “swan song” means “the last act of manifestation of someone; a farewell appearance.” Despite their money, the sisters’ final appearance in the world was one of discontent and insignificance.
I completely agree with your analysis of "The Sisters: Swansong”. The entire poem seems to mock the existence of the sisters. Their insignificant complaints of life were trivial and ironic due to their luxurious lifestyles. The definition of Swansong helped me to understand the purpose for Dove's choice in titling the poem. There is melancholy diction throughout the poem which creates a dominant effect of pity for these naive girls. Their innocence in finding something worth happiness during their lifetime is truly despairing. The visual imagery of the domestic sphere alludes to their purpose being at home. However, if they live a luxurious lifestyle, they most likely do not do the chores which women traditionally did in the past. This is an additional factor in creating the insignificance of the lives they led.
DeleteIn the poem “Rhumba” by Rita Dove, the author uses structure, the Spanish language, and rhythm to create an effect of the reader dancing. The first stanza, four lines, includes both Spanish and English translations. Dove writes, “yo vengo aqui I come here/para cantar to sing/la rumba the rumba/de mi adoración of my adoration”. Using Spanish allures to the fact that Rumba (a type of dance) originated from the Hispanic culture. In addition, Dove and her husband Frank would go to parties where they would dance the Rumba and other ballroom dances. This introduction seems to be a song to which the dancers are moving to. The rumba consists of two parters who are trying to attract one another. Both partners must lure the other dancer towards them through the dramatic and beautiful movement. The structure of the poem is slightly split down the middle, while leaving a few lines to overlap in the center of the two columns. This can symbolize the independence of the two dancers, and how they can come together to create a passionate couple. Each column can be read separately, or all together line after line. The short bursts of line may represent the different moves and footsteps the reader is taking throughout the dance. It also adds to the effect of a rhythm and beat to the song of the poem. The title was a little confusing because the dance is spelled “Rumba”, however Dove titled this poem “Rhumba”. I was not sure why this was chosen and what significance it had.
ReplyDeleteWhat initially caught my eye when reading the poem “Wiederkehr” by Rita Dove was the title. Derived from the German language, Wiederkehr in english translates to recurrence, repetition, and anniversary. Dove writes the poem from the view of Persephone, Greek goddess of the underworld abducted by Hades. When taking a closer look at the myth, I found that Persephone, because she ate a fruit during her stay in the underworld, abides forever bound for 4 months of the year despite Zeus’ efforts to return her to her mother Demeter.
ReplyDeleteA sonnet, Dove uses visual imagery, “to watch the smile / begun in his eyes / end on the lips” to describe the physical aspects of Hades. Persephone’s observation seems to almost be seductive to her. Yet, further along in the poem, Dove writes “He never asked/ if I would stay” (11-12) to portray the pain the goddess experience. Since she is forever bound with him, she is unable to escape despite her true feelings. “Rain” stated in line 10 plays symbolic importance to the poem. Often associated with cleansing of anything rain or water touches, this ties back to the title “Wiederkehr”. Part of the weather cycle , rain reoccurs. This associates with Persephone at the moments in which she returns captive to Hades. He constantly endeavors to seduce her at her return to gain “happiness”(1) simply out of lust instead of love. In addition, Dove writes “I sat to hold thee rain untouched / inside of me” (10-11) to depict that renewal was not present in her innate feelings. Persephone is forever trapped.
Heros embodies a poem about someone who mistaken the last poppy flower in someone's garden as being a dying flower. Dove uses characterization to show that the boy who picked the flower did this with the best intentions. He didn’t wish for the old woman to be brokenhearted, if that truly was what “gave her the strength every morning” (9) He didn’t intend for the the old lady to be mourning, he just wanted to preserve what little life the poppy flower had left in it. At the beginning of each stanza is the continuation of the last sentence of the last stanza. I believe dove uses this diction to display an idea that even though you think something maybe over, it still can carry on, and it may not be over. As the boy thought that him picking the flower and putting it in a jar would be the end of the story, but there was much more to tell, as the lady would then be heart broken by the loss of her only flower. Dove also uses characterization to show that the woman who she refures to in the poem has suffered a great loss, possibly the loss of her child in world war 2, and the poppy flower reminds her of him due to the graves of who fought in the war is also home to a large poppy flower garden. The poem ends with “it was going to die.” (25). This displays two things; that all things end in death, as the poem ended in a statement about death in its own stanza, as well as the ignorance of both sides.
ReplyDelete