In the poem Canary, the writer makes an important connection between the title of the poem and the character described. The fact that Dove chooses the Canary to represent and symbolize the poem gives the reader a genuine idea of the content of it. Being a songbird that lives most of it’s life locked up in a cage reflects the life of the talented Billie Holiday, as she was also trapped and not free from her awful past. Furthermore, the author also shows the clandestine life of the jazz singer through different literary techniques, that can be seen, for example, in the first stanza: “Billie Holiday’s burned voice / had as many shadows as lights,” (Line 1-2). We can begin by noticing the personification applied to describe Holiday’s voice, since it was “burned” or on fire. This gives the reader an auditory image of her ardent and stentorian voice, as well as it being effete and exhausted. Furthermore, the author also uses a metaphor to describe her voice, since she compared it to the shadows of lights. Dove now creates a more visual kind of image to the reader, as they picture a pattern of shadows and lights in their heads, enabling a sense of mystery in the tone of the poem. However, the purpose of these two lines are to reflect a metaphoric symbol of Holiday’s life, burnt and mysterious as her powerful voice. The use of symbolic features are seen through a pattern that flows in Dove’s writing, emphasizing on the tones and images of the derisive life of Billi Holiday.
Dove demonstrates admiration for Frida Kahlo’s paintings, especially in the first stanza, by creating a rhythmical syntax that reflects the flowing beauty of her artwork. She could also be writing through Diego Rivera, her husband, to show his love for her. First of all, this poem is a sonnet, which is a 14-line poem that uses rhyme schemes and similar line length. This makes the poem more even and connects lines, similar to the connected strokes of paintbrush. The use of consonance in repeating the “p” sound furthers the effect of connectedness, as in “parrots, in the stern petticoats of the peasant, / who painted herself a present-- ” (Dove 3). Not to be forgotten, the title also uses paint diction by using the words “primary colors”, terms usually associated with the fine arts. Dove also conveys the beauty of not only her paintings but also of Frida herself. For example, she uses elegant bird diction to describe her unibrow in the metaphor “one black wing / perched over her eyes” (Dove 1). This also could reflect the striking elegance Frida gives herself in her self portraits, particularly her portrait(s) with parrots, which is probably the painting Dove is referring to. There is also an allusion to her physical disabilities; as a child she was diagnosed with polio and later in life she was in a bus accident, confining her to a wheelchair. The reference to her spine in “her spine resides in the romance of mirrors” refers to her physical pain and confinement. Furthermore, the fact that this stanza is talking about her elegance and love of painting suggests that she found strength in creating artwork to help her through her disabilities. In the second stanza, there is an unrelated reference to her support of communism by mentioning her “beloved dead”, Lenin, Marx, and Stalin, who were all leaders of Russian communism. Capitalizing “Beloved Dead” and in the next line rhyming it with “footstead” emphasize her faithfulness in these communist figures.
Your analysis is very interesting. I agree with you about the technique Dove uses to reflect the flowing beauty of her art, as well as her own physical beauty. I also like the way you compared it with the structure of the poem, being a 14-lined sonnet which connection resembles to the strokes of a brush. Furthermore, the fact that you analyzed the line in the poem that mentions her spine injury from the accident reminds me of the movie 'Frida Kahlo' itself, since it showed how Frida actually looked for life and meaning throughout art, as you have mentioned.
In the poem “Tou Wan Speaks to Her Husband, Liu Sheng”, the visual imagery used to describe the tomb alludes to the wealth and power of the dynasty in which the occupants lived. The “figurine household/poised in servitude/and two bronze jugs, worth more/than a family pays in taxes/for the privilege to stay/alive, a year, together…”, as well as the incense burner demonstrate the enormous wealth that Liu Sheng had as an emperor (Dove 13). The “two thousand jade wafers/with gold thread puzzled/to a brilliant envelope” adds to that as well as the fact that the jade, bronze, and iron objects found in the tomb reflect the developing culture at that time, and how the kingdom was thriving because the people were able to master these crafts (41). Throughout the poem, there is a tone of subservient respect from the narrator, Liu Sheng’s wife. She addresses him as “my/only conqueror” as well as “my/constant/emperor”, suggesting that he not only rules the people and the land but her as his wife, and also giving insight to the role and expectations of women in that time period and culture (6, 21). In the second quote, enjambment is used to isolate the word “constant”, signifying that even though the emperor is dead, Tou Wan still serves him. In the opening stanza, the lines “I will build you a house/of limited chambers/but it shall last/forever” describe, using metaphor, the tomb as a house for the dead to live in for the afterlife, and illustrate the respect that the deceased emperor still commands (1).
I totally agree with your observation of the mass material wealth and the subservience of women. I also found it interesting that the syntax in isolating "constant" put emphasis on serving him not only in life but in death. One thing you didn't mention that I think adds to your analysis is the somewhat sarcastic tone of the poem. "my constant emperor" does show Tou Wan's insubordination, but is done in an exaggerated way to show her disgust at having to serve him. This is further exemplified by the phrases "but you're bored" and "the palace girl you most frequently coveted." Very thoughtful analysis, Amber!
In the poem Nestor’s Bathtub, Rita Dove uses a plentiful amount of visual imagery in her poem to convey the work and struggles of Nestor’s wife. As Rita Dove expresses in her poem, “legend got it all wrong: Nestor’s wife was the one to crouch under” (1-3). Although tales and legend state that Nestor was a vicious warrior and conqueror, it was infact Nestor’s wife that was the one you truely needed to bow down to. Dove writes, “But where was Nestor-/ on his throne before the hearth,/ counting the jars of oil/ in storeroom 34, or/ at the Trojan wars/ while his wife with her white hands/ scraped the dirt from a lover’s back/ with a bronze scalpel?” (6-13). While Nestor is enjoying his rest in front of the fireplace and going through his wealth and possessions in a storeroom, his wife is busy doing grueling physical labor, taking care of him. The image of her white hands with a bronze scalpel is painted in our minds not only to furthermore show the reader of the demanding work that is tasked to her, but to also symbolize her job. Similar to how a pickaxe and hammer crossing one another are used to symbolize the difficult and dangerous job of a coal miner, the white hands of Nestor’s wife with a scalpel can be viewed the same way. In addition, Rita Dove uses other words that enhance the visual imagery of the poem such as “blasted” (16), “force” (17), and “exploding” (18). These specific words are commonly used to describe war scenes in novels and books, eluding that just how Nestor sees himself in constant action and danger from his duties, so does his wife with hers, even though legend never portrays her that way, let alone mention her.
In the poem Canary by Rita Dove, it talks about a legendary jazz vocalist name Billie Holiday. Although she is considered and known to be one of the greatest jazz singer of all time, Holiday went through many difficulties and faced many injustices throughout her lifespan. In the poem, Rita Dove uses allusion and the contrasting diction to represent Holiday’s fluctuating life. The first stanza, is full of juxtaposition between words such as shadows, lights, mournful, sleek, gardenia, and ruined face. In the first and second line, where Dove describes Holiday’s sultry voice, she says it “had as many shadows as lights.” The word “shadow” (2) symbolizes the hardship that she went through such as getting raped, losing herself to drugs, and serving a brief time in jail due to prostitution. The word “light” (2) symbolizes her limelight, success, and being recognized for her talent. “Shadow” represents the bad time in Holiday’s life, whereas “light” represents her better days. The other literary device that really stood out to me was the use of allusion. The last line in the poem where it says “if you can’t be free, be a mystery” (11) refers to how Holiday couldn’t find satisfaction and freedom among her fame, and she had to rely upon drugs. Her drug addiction became a way for her to find freedom among her chaotic life.
Wow, this is a really thorough analysis. I agree with the fact that Nestor's wife's hard work went unnoticed and unappreciated, and I like how many ways you proved that. I'd never thought of comparing her hands and scalpel to some other symbol of strength and hard work. Somethign else I noticed about this, though, is that she "scraped the dirt from a lover's back" (12). This suggests that besides hard work, she also had lovers other than Nestor, furthering her alienation from her husband. This could also suggest how women were viewed as just objects of love and didn't mean much to their husbands. To connect your poem to the bigger picture, this famous bathtub is associated with Nestor, when it was really his wife that spent more time in the house. Indeed, I couldn't even find any information on her!
In “Catherine of Alexandria”, Rita Dove uses contrast to paint a different image of Saint Catherine, one that could be viewed as a feminist figure. The poem, which is split into four stanzas and a total of sixteen lines, features very few breaks, with most pauses coming in the form of caesuraes, with some ends in the latter stanzas. In the first stanza, Dove describes Catherine as a women who is "deprived of learning and the chance to travel" (1/2), and suggests that this lack of opportunity was what lead Catherine to seek sainthood, seeing no other option, stating that "no wonder sainthood came as a voice" (3/4). This presents a unique perspective on Catherine's early life, as opposed to the Christian account, which states that Catherine was instead visited by Madonna and Child. Dove even suggests that Catherine was not as pure and holy as Sainthood accounts, suggesting that she engaged in sexual acts as opposed to leading the life of a virgin, "and what went on each night was fit for nobody's ears" (7/8). Dove acts as a second voice for Catherine, even opposing the recounting of Jesus, "For nobody's ears but Jesus." (8/9). In the final stanza, Dove makes a final assertion that was indeed pregnant, "a kept promise, a ring of milk." (15/16). By contrasting her retelling of the life of Catherine with the retelling of the Church, Dove portrays as Catherine as an independent woman, choosing her own decisions in life rather than be commanded by the primarily male Christian church.
In the poem “Tou Wan Speaks to Her Husband, Lui Sheng” Rita dove subtly hints that Tou Wan does not love her husband. Rita dove shows the role that the wife of a very powerful man has. Tou Wan could not say everything she wanted to say to her husband because of the role she had to play. Rita Dove shows her discontent of her husband subtly so it is believable to the reader. She shows her discontent for her husband when she says “here when the stench of your own diminishing drives you to air (but you will find none)” (stanza 4-5 lines 5-8, 1) It must have been a belief that when you died that your soul would move on to a better place and leave your body. Tou Wan says that her husband will not move on, and basically says he will rot in his own stench for eternity. She obviously doesn’t like her husband. It is also hinted that her husband was cheating on her. “I will set you a lamp. (And a statue of the palace girl you most frequently coveted)” (stanza 6 lines 3-6) This also shows the roles women had as wives, because it hints that she was faithful to him, but he cheated on her with a palace girl and his wife was expected to be ok with it. And she is ok with it! She even is willing to put a statue of the women he slept with in his tomb. Maybe this is because she really doesn't love her husband and she just didn't care what he did.
The House Slave is a poem, in which Rita Dove uses double entendre, auditory imagery, and similes to convey the grim life of a slave. In the beginning, when the slaves are first awoken by the horn, Dove uses personification in “the first horn lifts its arm over” (1). This makes the horn seem more aggressive and merciless towards the slaves’ hardships. Auditory imagery is also used at the mention of a “rustling”, “the second horn”, and the “whip curls” (9), which all recreate their dreadful daily lives. Written through the persona of a slave, auditory imagery adds personality to the characters when the narrator hears her sister: “Oh! pray,” she cries, “Oh! pray!” (11). The sharp contrast in whites’ and blacks’ lives is also portrayed in the poem; this is done through the use of similes. While the slaves wake up at the crack of drawn, “their mistress sleeps like an ivory toothpick” (6). Comparing her to ivory reflects the fact that she is white, as well as indicating the opulent lifestyle she lives by suggesting she owns ivory objects. A reference to white people is also used “as the fields unfold to whiteness” (13). This double entendre is referring to both the massive fields of cotton the slaves must harvest as well the widespread superiority of white people. Another simile is used as the slaves “spill like bees among the fat flowers” (14). Bees, commonly associated with workers, reflect the tedious work of the many slaves working in the fields. The “fat flowers” could also be a double entendre for not only the blooms of cotton, but also the fat or lazy white people who don’t have to do the strenuous work of the slaves.
This is a really interesting analysis - the use of double entendre in the fields unfolding to whiteness never occurred to me. I also agree with the personification and the simile used. Another example to support your analysis would be the use of consonance in the beginning of the poem: "and in the slave quarters there is a rustling--" and "cornbread/and water gourds grabbed" where the repetition of sound creates a sense of the hurry as slaves prepare for another grueling day in the fields, especially in the "s" sounds, which emulate the noises of rustling (2,4).
This is a great interpretation! I agree with your analysis of line 6 "while their mistress sleeps like an ivory toothpick." But I also viewed the comparison between mistress and toothpick as how toothpicks are dangerous and sharp, so maybe Rita Dove is trying to tell the audience that mistresses are bad and dangerous. Toothpicks are easily broken as well...
Yes, perhaps to show that the mistress is one of their nagging enemies and rulers. However, usually toothpicks are not thought of as threatening and dangerous. I also think the focus of this part of the poem is to compare the easy, lazy life of the whites to the awful reality of the slaves, rather than the mistress being dangerous. However, your idea is possible, too! Furthermore, toothpicks are often used to describe someone as weak or gaunt, as in "he's as skinny as a toothpick". The toothpick could refer to her being skinny and unproductive while the muscular slaves do all the strenuous work.
In the poem “David Walker (1785-1830)”, Dove uses visual imagery, metaphor, and simile to portray the radical abolitionist David Walker. In the first stanza, an italicized sentence reads: “They strip and beat and drag us about/like rattlesnakes.” (2) This rhetoric-like statement depicts, using simile, not only the brutal treatment of slaves that Walker wanted to end but also that they were considered sub-human, like snakes. The same stanza also describes part of his work: “All day at the counter--/white caps, ale-stained pea coats. Compass needles,/eloquent as tuning forks, shivered, pointing north.” (5) Here, Walker’s clothing shop is described but the compass needles, pointing north in the direction of freedom for blacks, hints at something else. In the third stanza, his downfall begins: “The jewelled canaries in the lecture halls tittered,/pressed his dark hand between their gloves./Every half-step was no step at all.” (18) The metaphor in “jeweled canaries” describes the affluence of some of his audience, the rich, the well decorated, and their disapproval of his ideas. The idea of not being able to take steps forwards indicates that Walker had no real following or anyone that agreed with him, and his movement was not progressing. The following lines about the man on the corner illustrated that some people were content (or forced to be complacent) about how they were living, and had no intention of rising in bloody revolt. The last stanza leads to Walker’s death: “The abolitionist press is perfectly appalled./ Humanity, kindness, and the fear of the Lord/ does not consist in protecting devils.” (26) The first line of the passage addresses the abolitionists’ disapproval of Walker’s ideas and methods; the second and third line seem to be opposing rhetoric from Walker’s point of view arguing that the white slavers were no better than devils (use of metaphor) and that they should not be forgiven.
I agree with the way you analyzed the contrast between the him, and his white affluent audience seen in Dove's use of a metaphor. However, there is another example that can further support your idea that is seen in "pressed his dark hand between their gloves" (19). The fact that Dove symbolizes the white race through the glove not only show the race opposition, but also a contrast between social class, since gloves are seen as a more elegant and a fancy form of accessory.
In The House Slave, Rita Dove dominates her writing throughout the use of strong oxymoron’s, which emphasize her main, overall point in the poem. An example of this is seen In the last line of the second stanza, in which Dove describes the white, female owner “like an ivory toothpick” (6), showing a vague contrast between her elegancy, and her insignificance. Through this comparison, the reader can picture a cliche type of white, unemployed women from the sixties, typically pictured in movies and films as dumb and senseless; Dove captured this in just two simple words. Then, in the third stanza, an oxymoron can be seen in the way Dove describes the punishment of the slaves with the use of a more eluding, and subtle diction, seen in: “the whip curls across the backs of the laggards” (9). This choice of words offers the reader a less vivid and severe image of the reality of the torture, giving the poem a more mild and tranquil mood. Thus, the reader can picture the whip curling in a smooth and gentler manner across the slaves back, which is contrary to the reality of the situation. Finally, a last contrast in ideas can be seen in the second to last stanza, where the protagonist is “shivering in the early heat” (12). Dove shows the weakness and lack of strength and vitality in her character, since she is feeling cold when it is actually hot. Furthermore, this makes the reader relate to the characters feelings, since we can feel her instability and vulnerability reflected through her lack of health, which eventually resembles the state in which the majority of African-Americans have suffered during that time period. The fact that Rita Dove chose to use a number of oxymoron can seem relevant to the theme of the poem, as she is describing a time period where the contrast between blacks and white was significant, as the ones used in her poetry.
In the poem titled The Transport of Slaves From Maryland to Mississippi, Rita Dove uses visual imagery and similes, to describe the chaotic scene of slaves breaking free from their captors while being transported, on august 22, 1839. These literary techniques not only paint a picture in the reader’s mind, but also give insight on the pure mayhem and anarchy that was unfolding on that wagon trip. In the first stanza of the poem Dove writes, “Left for dead in the middle/ of the road, dust hovering around the body/ like a screen of mosquitoes/ shimmering in the hushed light./ The skin across his cheekbones/ burst open like baked yams-/ deliberate, the eyelids came apart-/ his eyes were my eyes in a yellower face” (3-10). This description paints an image of brutality and bloodshed in the reader’s mind, as violence and death resonates in the poem as a background beat, to the slaves’ struggle for freedom in this conflict. Just the mentioning of the burst open skin across the cheekbones, is enough for the easily queasy to understand the severity of this escape attempt while feeling somewhat nauseated, but Rita Dove relentlessly includes more to double that effect, and make readers feel uncomfortable with the plentiful amount of gore. The mentioning of his eyes were my eyes, attempts to show a sense of humanity in between the waves of rampage in the poem, and links two people that seem very distant from one another, closer together. Rita Dove includes in the third stanza, “The last thing/ the driver saw were the trees, improbable as broccoli,/ before he was clubbed from behind. Sixty slaves/ poured off the wagon, smelly, half-numb, free” (20-23). Mentioning the last thing the driver saw before he was ambushed from behind, makes readers sympathetic for this man, as he was carelessly unaware of his imminent death. He was never given a chance to react to the situation, and he could have acted differently from what the slaves originally presumed he was going to do. Maybe he didn’t enjoy the idea of slavery and of owning another man, maybe he wanted to help the enslaved people but couldn’t find a way, maybe this was the only job available for him so he can earn a living...maybe he was innocent. Rita Dove emphasizes in this poem the complicated and often problematic issues that arise from slavery, and how both brutality and humanity coincide with one another in this seemingly violent and dark period in our nation’s history.
I think that you captured the chaos in the poem well. It was a full revolt by many slaves against only two white slaves. It was short lived tho, as the slaves were caught shortly after the break out.
The poem “Belinda’s Petition” caught my eye for numerous reasons. One of the main reasons I like this poem is the sense of flow that Rita Dove creates throughout the poem. throughout the entire poem Dove capitalizes certain words that do not require capitalization for emphasis, and in doing so she creates a flow for the reader to read the poem with. For example, in the first stanza Dove capitalizes the last word on each line. It forces emphasis on each individual line and even creates a pause in the reader's mind after each line. Almost forcing the reader to think about each line. Dove shows Belinda’s contempt and bitterness the Senate and the House by using negative diction and capitalizing the first letter of the negative diction. Dove even uses a little bit of sarcastic diction when she says “As to the Accusation that i am Ignorant:” capitalizing the negative diction creates a sarcastic tone and characterizes Belinda as a strong woman who is staying under control despite her major hardships. The capitalization of keywords creates a feel that Belinda is almost yelling at the Senators that have done her wrong. It creates a feeling of guilt on the other side. It shows that Belinda was going on the offensive rather than the defensive. I believe Rita Dove looked up to Belinda, and she was inspired to write a poem about her because she saw herself in Belinda. They are both intelligent women who are making the best out of the situations that they were given and fighting back against the tyranny and the belligerents who have done them wrong.
I agree with you on how Rita Dove must have looked up to Belinda, as she has taken much time and effort into producing a worthy enough poem to be in her name. I feel like this is true for all the persons she has written poems for, as it must have taken some kind of interest to first spark the idea of composing a poem for that said individual. Through this poem, and the way Rita Dove presents Belinda in her poem, I feel that Dove must have respected Belinda’s boldness to go up against authority, and prove to them how they have wronged her and her rights. This event must have been unbelievable of an African American female to do in this time period. She was the Rosa Parks of the 18th century. Perhaps Rita Dove also sees part of herself in Belinda, and that Belinda helps define her and where her heritage comes from. This might be one of the driving forces for Dove, and her actions are attempts at living up to her role model.
In this poem, Rita Dove writes about the unfortunate event that happened to Solomon Northrup. Although it is a short poem, it conveys a very powerful and sad story. Solomon Northrup was a freeman who was abducted and was sold into slavery. What stood out to me the most was the structure of the poem. I noticed that the first stanza starts out with a lot of lines, but then as the poem progressed, the succeeding stanzas contains fewer lines. The decreasing of lines might indicate the freedom that Solomon has, which is less and less. The growing despair and feeling of loneliness is seen on the last line “I woke and found myself alone, in darkness and in chains” (Dove 15). Since the lines are decreasing by one line, it could just put more significance of Solomon’s story. Another thing that caught my attention was Solomon’s credulous and naive mindset, which Dove writes “Why should I have doubted them?” (Dove 6). This line suggests that Solomon is a very friendly, innocent, trusting (somewhat), and unsuspecting type of man because he wasn’t aware of the danger that was lying right in front of him. Since his kidnappers offered him opportunities, he was open to it and quickly befriend the two men because “why should I have doubted?” The line also foreshadows Northrup’s future.
In the poem ‘Lady Freedom Among Us’, Rita Dove portrays freedom and humanity, emphasizing these ideas using a wide range of literary devices. In the first and second stanza, we can see how the poet physically describes Lady Freedom, a statue located in Washington DC. She begins by using words such as “old fashioned” (7), “leaden” (8), “stained” (8), “whiskers” (8), and “heaped” (8) to create a temporary image on the reader's mind of an uncivilized and unfancy women, still illustrating the statue as it is. However, this dull diction abruptly changes to suite the reality of this national symbol, by using words such as “feathers” (11), “stars” (11), and “rainbowed” (12) to convert the mood and atmosphere of the poem. The adjustment that Dove makes from one stanza to the other reflects how poorly the statue of the Freedom Lady is seen amongst the American citizens, since few actually recognize its symbol and meaning. In the line “don’t think another item to fit on a tourist agenda” (15) shows how people dismiss on the importance of this figure, as people may not even understand why she is there, looking at it as if it were one of many tourist attractions. Therefore, Dove expresses exasperation and displeasement in her tone, seen through a strong halt in the 8th stanza: “don’t think you can ever forget her / don’t even try” (25-26). What the poet is trying to express here is the importance and relevance of this statue to everyone, since it represents freedom, as well as humanity. She does this by trying to create a firm and tenacious voice, making the reader acknowledge the importance of this figure. The poet also emphasized the power and symbolism in Lady Freedom in the last stanza, as we have “crown her with sky” (29), a metaphor showing how immeasurable her recognition is supposed to be. The fact that we are supposed to crown her with the Sky creates an image on the reader's mind of a rather spiritual, and holy figure, as well as giving her power and influence, since she is a symbolic representation of freedom. Therefore, Dove represents Lady Freedom as being “one of the many” (30), and being “even the least of you” (15), determining her emblematic representation and the reason why she is figured in the Capital City in one of the most important countries in the world.
This is a really interesting analysis, I agree with you about the diction and tone used in the poem, as well as the imagery used. Another thing from the text that would support your analysis is the anaphora where Dove uses the word "don't" multiple times in commanding, imperative diction, really driving home the importance of the statue that is not to be ignored, emphasizing the tone of exasperation and displeasement that you mentioned.
In the poem Rosa, Rita Dove utilizes the power of consonance, parallel structure and syntax of short words and sentences to express the significance of Rosa Park’s defiance. Parallel structure can be seen at the beginning of the poem, as the first line coincides with one of the last lines. “How she sat there” (1) is parallel with “How she stood up” (10) in order to make the reader see a meaningful antithesis. By sitting and refusing to stand, Rosa Parks stood up for the rights of African-Americans. A similar paradox can be seen when Rita states, “Doing nothing was the doing” (7). At first glance, this sounds nonsensical and forces the reader to take a closer look, and realize that by doing nothing (i.e. refusing to stand up), she did more than any blacks had previously; to stand up for her rights. This line also suggests that by doing something seemingly insignificant, Parks created one of the most powerful acts in the entirety of the civil rights movement. Furthermore, the syntax demonstrates the significance of an insubstantial act. By creating a powerful poem out of only a few words, short sentences, and short stanzas, Dove reenacts the fact that although Parks was humble and merely said “no” to a white person, the effect of her action was enormous. As for consonance, the repetition of the letters “c” and “f” can be seen in the third stanza. Dove writes, “the clean flame of her gaze / carved by a camera flash” (8-9). The “clean flame” is referring to the pure strength and unfaltering defiance of Parks that was necessary to defend her rights. “Carved by a camera flash” indicates how this defiant gaze will forever be ingrained into American history because of her fame and photos taken of her. The harsh sounds of “c” and “f” portray how pervasive her confidence was throughout the civil rights movement and just how forcefully she protected her rights and the rights of all African Americans.
I completely agree with your analysis of the poem Rosa. Throughout this poem, Rita Dove paints a picture of Rosa Park as someone is humble and reticent, but yet Rosa is very influential and powerful. My favorite line in this poem is line 7 because it really shows how a simple action that is compared to "doing nothing" can be powerful and it can generate a major impact.
In the poem “QE2. Transatlantic Crossing. Third Day.” Dove uses visual imagery, metaphor, personification, and repetition of sound to create tone to portray the scene of an African American on a cruise ship, away from home and racial injustices. In the first stanza, the lines “Panel of gray silk. Liquefied ashes. Dingy percale tugged over/the vast dim earth” to establish the color of the ocean and the sky as dim but still with texture and movement (1). The line continues: “ill fitting, softened by eons of tossing/and turning, unfurling its excesses, recalling its losses,/no seam for the mending, no selvage to catch and align” and in this passage, personification is used to depict the sea as restless and always moving, giving it a sense of being something incredibly large as well as alive (2). It also continues the metaphor of fabric from the first line, with diction referring to seams, excess cloth, the selvage, and being ill-fitting. The second stanza describes the scene of people on the ship, and the lines “Mist, calm seas./This is a journey for those who simply wish to be/on the way—to lie back and be rocked for a while, dangled/between the silver spoon and golden gate.” further set the mood of calm and tranquility (10). The phrase “on the way” sets up the antithesis of at once moving to other places and being still that is the ship. The silver spoon and golden gate could refer to the sun and moon as they rise and set over the horizon of the ocean, or the luxuries on the cruise. The rest of the stanza compares the journey by ship to riding the bus, using repetition of sound in “how many coins to send/clicking into the glass bowl” and “what it’s like to climb the steel stairs and sit down” to aid in the visual imagery, though the narrator has never taken the bus before (15, 17); The phrase “going home” is used as comparison to being “on the way” on the ship (18). The “exalted fluorescence of the midnight route,/exhaustion sweetening the stops” provides a contrast of the vividness of the night in the city compared to the ship (19). Lastly, the narrator says that “I can’t erase an ache I never had” leading the reader to the conclusion that he or she might never have personally known the struggle and misery of racial discrimination and inequality, and have only had a calm life on this ship (27).
Your analysis on this poem was very interesting to read, and is one that I completely agree with. This poem by Rita Dove uses a great amount of visual imagery to give action and movement to the poem, and does it in a fantastic way. Along with visual imagery, metaphors, personification, and repetition, the use of auditory imagery also helps to portray the scene on the cruise ship. For example, “the chime of the elevator” (6), is often associated with elegant hotels that you can commonly find on TV shows, when the baggage boy is escorting the guests to their room. This gives readers an idea about the type of ship this character is on, without directly writing in the poem, and uses something other than visual imagery to describe the scene. Other examples of auditory imagery can be seen in other parts of the poem as well, and helps bring readers to the same conclusion as this one has.
The poem “Claudette Colvin Goes to Work” stood out to me, because it is about a not well known civil activist. It follows 19 year old Claudette Colvin ordinary trip to work on the city bus, just as most african american citizens did everyday. Throughout the entire poem Rita Dove uses a variety of negative diction to create a sad almost grim feel. Dove uses the words “scourge twilight fickle dissolve” These words give the reader of the poem insight into what it feels like to be Claudette on a daily basis. She felt hopeless to the racism and the oppression she faced every day. Claudette was a brave young women. She did the same thing that Rosa Parks did that made her so famous, but Claudette did not receive the mass amount of media attention that Rosa did. Claudette was asked to move to the back of the bus to free up a seat for a white person, but in her bravery she said no. She was a very humble person. Dove shows how humble she is when she says “I help those who can’t help themselves / I do what needs to be done” (5-6) I believe that Rita Dove looks up to Claudette. Dove admires her tenacity, because even after Rosa Parks became famous for the same thing Claudette did Claudette still continued to fight for her cause and never give up. Dove also admires how humble Claudette is and her bravery. It takes a lot of guts to stand up for yourself against massive tyranny like Claudette did, and we can only hope that we have the strength to do so ourselves.
I agree with your point on Dove's negative diction, although I think that she uses them specifically to set a more dark and intense atmosphere to her poem. This can be seen in words such as "shadows" (2), and "bad light" (11), as well as "dark" (14) and "smoke" (18). These words help the reader create a visual image of the narrative of the poem. I also agree with your comparison with Rosa Parks, yet Claudette being more tenacious and recognized by Dove.
In Climbing In by Rita Dove, enjambment and end-stop are used multiple times in the poem to emphasize certain ideas and/or objects. An example of end-stop in the poem, would be “Teeth” (1). Located on the first line on the first stanza of the poem, it is isolated from the rest of the stanza by being the sole word in that line. It is the very first word you read in the poem, with a pause before continuing onto the rest of the piece. By doing so, Rita Dove lets the mind of the reader focus on that one specific word, and what it might foreshadow. Enjambment can be seen in the second stanza of the poem in which Dove writes, “ like the dime/ cutting my palm/ as I clutch the silver pole/ to step up, up” (4-7). By breaking up one thought or sentence into multiple lines, it allows each line to have its own emphasis on one part of the complete thought. In the first line of the stanza, the focus is on the dime. It makes readers paint a picture of that dime in their mind and nothing else. After reading the next line, readers can then conceptualize that dime cutting the palm of the character's hand. It then emphasizes the reader’s focus on the silver pole. This technique allows the mind to imagine each image in a more detailed and clearer way when they are read individually, than if they are all placed on one line. It also helps create a more aesthetically pleasing poem with shorter lines, then it would be with longer ones.
In Rita Dove’s poem, “The situation is intolerable,” it explore the difficulty and prejudice that African-Americans faced during the time of the civil rights movement. Through the point of view of an African-American, Dove uses as angry tone to portray how black people felt towards their nonexistent freedom and independence during the time. Dove writes in stanza two, “tiny, missionary stars- / on high, serene, studding / the inky brow of heaven” (12-14). This part in the poem could be interpreted as a tone of hope and faith. The people are looking up at the stars and heaven to find strength, support, inspiration, and encouragement to fight for their rights. The word “intolerable” is used twice in the poem - one in the beginning and one at the end. The first “intolerable” (1), is used to represent how African-Americans are tired of being treated so unfairly and unjust. The people are now prepared and are all set to take action for the rights that they should have. The second “intolerable” (19), symbolizes their fight with poverty and how their situation is quite unbearable. But despite their situation being a bit much, it is much better than not taking a stand. Overall, the whole poem gave a negative mood, and it really puts into perspective about the struggles that many black people faced during the civil rights movement.
I agree with your analysis, especially in the part about the stars as the people's inspiration and strength, and with the first instance of the word "intolerable" being used to represent the unjust treatment of the African Americans. However, I think that the second use of "intolerable" could also refer to how passiveness about the situation is intolerable, and that they should fight for their rights instead of sitting there and doing nothing about them, as a dynamic change from the first appearance and meaning of the word.
In the first part of the poem Parsley, titled 1. The Cane Fields, Rita Dove uses anaphora, symbols, and kinetic diction to give the reader a feeling of suspense, as well as to portray the theme of the Haitians’ fear of the brutalities they faced. Anaphora conveys these ideas through the repetition of “out of the swamp the cane appears” (3). The cane fields refer to the thousands of Haitians that were forced to do strenuous work to harvest fields of sugar cane. Repeating this line demonstrates the monotony and relentlessness of working in the fields. In addition, the wording of something appearing reflects the fear of soldiers approaching the Haitians in the field to kill them, creating a double entendre. This isn’t the only place anaphora is used; the phrase “a parrot is imitating spring” is also repeated several times. Since parrots are known to be imitators, the parrot can symbolize the Haitians trying to imitate the trill of the R in the word “perejil”, therefore tricking the soldiers into believing that they are Dominicans. The repetition of this phrase further expresses the fearfulness of the Haitians; they repeatedly thought about how to say the Spanish word with a Dominican accent, as their life depended on it. Not only does this repetition show how obsessed and fearful to Haitians were, but also makes the poem feel suspenseful. At any minute, the soldiers may demand an answer and put their life at stake. As for kinetic imagery, Dove uses harsh verbs and movements to exemplify the brutalities of the cane fields and the massacre. The personified phrase, “rain punches through” (7), and “lashed by the wind” (16) use violent verbs to create a hateful and abusive tone that reflects the Dominicans’ animosity towards the Haitians.
Your analysis is very interesting! I would have never thought of how the phrase “parrot imitating spring”, could also symbolize the Haitians attempting to imitate the thrill of the R in perejil. This is intriguing, and makes me wonder what other things I might have failed to realize in this poem. Rita Dove packs so many techniques and bits of information in her poems, that it’s sometimes hard trying to find all of them. It’s almost like a puzzle, where you have to take your time figuring out how it all fits together, in order to complete it all. On the contrary, kinetic imagery is one technique that I quickly noticed in this poem. The verbs and movements she chooses to use does impact the way you feel about what is occurring in the poem, and subconsciously triggered flashbacks to times when I had felt severe pains that felt similar to what was being described (granite it was most likely nowhere near the intensity of pain they were suffering from). Rita Dove uses kinetic imagery in a similar way in other previous poems that we have read so far from her, and I imagine we will see even more of that in future poems to come.
I agree with your analysis, and I think that the use of "parrot imitating spring," represent how the Haitian people tried to imitate those who could pronounce the word "perejil" correctly, just like how a parrot mimic others. I wonder why Rita Dove decided to use the word "spring." Well when I think of spring, it makes me happy and satisfied to see how all of the plants and flowers begin to grow, blossom, and bloom again. Springtime also reminds me of freshness and new beginning.
In the poem “Parsley”, Dove uses anaphora, point of view, and flashback to portray the rule of the dictator Trujillo. In part 1, The Cane Fields, anaphora is very prominently used; the phrase “a parrot imitating spring” foreshadows that there are no better times ahead for the Haitians, and that everything good has become only a mere “imitation” under the general’s cruelty, and the repetition is a constant reminder as well as mimicking a parrot repeating things (1). The phrase “Out of the swamp the cane appears/to haunt us” refers to the sugar cane plantations the Haitians were forced to work in, and the constant fear of being tormented and killed by Trujillo’s soldiers (3). The phrases “rain punches through” and “lashed by wind and streaming” are kinesthetic imagery, using harsh weather to metaphorically describing the brutality of the dictator’s regime, as well as setting the tone of hopeless of the Haitians’ fear and suffering (7, 16). In this first part, Dove also uses the pronoun “we”, making these stanzas from the perspective of the Haitians, as well as heavier use of enjambment and shorter stanzas as compared to the second part to create an effect of the desperation they felt. The second part, The Palace, is in third person but from Trujillo’s perspective. The stanzas are larger and are composed of longer, more complex sentences to contrast with the diction from the first part, changing the tone to more of one suiting someone who lives in a palace. His mother’s “room in the palace, the one without/curtains” seems to have been stripped bare of everything except the parrot practicing spring (reinforcing that any good remaining is only an imitation), similar to how he has utterly removed everything deemed unworthy in the Dominican Republic – such as the Haitians who could not roll an R (28). The use of flashback here in describing Trujillo’s mother – whose death while preparing for Day of the Dead is ironic – and his experience in war somehow makes the dictator seem more human in a way, despite his killing of thousands of innocent people. The return of the phrase “the fields of sugar/cane, lashed by rain and streaming” along with “He sees his mother’s smile, the teeth/gnawed to arrowheads” ties his flashbacks of his mother to the present situation of the Haitians – and how the former could be the cause for the latter (50).
I found interesting how you connected the parrot with the repetition and anaphora of the phrase "a parrot imitating springs", and how Dove repeats this line the same way parrots repeat things. I hadn't thought of this. I could add to your idea of the cane how Dove connects it to the second part of the poem with his own mother's cane, and how he buried it with her. Do you think there is any resemblance between his mother's death and the death of the thousands of Haitians?
In the poem Parsley, Rita Dove utilizes visual imagery as well as auditory imagery, to convey the pain and abuse the Haitians faced from a brutal general. In the third stanza of the poem Dove writes, “we lie down screaming as rain punches through/ and we come up green. We cannot speak an R-/ out of the swamp, the cane appears” (7-9). This is a powerful stanza, as it makes readers visually see and hear innocent men and women in fear of their life, terrified that they’ll be killed because they are unable to pronounce the R sound in the word parsley. This imagery both disgusted and angered me, as I paused to wonder how a human can conscientiously kill another from just a simple difference in accent. Is it simply because of racial hatred, or something else? Rita Dove effectively uses imagery in this stanza to evoke emotion from the reader, and uses it as a means to urge readers on to finish reading the poem, in hopes that it might bring some kind of conclusion as to why this is occurring. This stanza, coincides with the passage from The Farming of Bones, by Edwidge Danticat. Rita Dove might very well be describing the scene where Amabelle, Yves, and Odette are being forced parsley down their throats, to the point of certain death. The phrase “we come up green” (8) from Rita Dove’s poem, might be describing Yves, as he “was buried in a puddle of green spew” (Danticat). Unable to manage to overwhelming amount of parsley being stuffed inside of his mouth by the soldiers, he subsequently choked to death from this bizarre and brutal form of torture. Similar to line 7 in the third stanza, lines 15 and 50 brings the reader back to this horrific scene when it repeats “lashed by rain and streaming”.
In the poem Parsley Dove uses personification point of view and anaphora to illustrate exactly how harsh the rule was under the vicious dictator General Trujillo. Dove gives us a little bit of the scenery of the poem in the first stanza. There is a parrot in a palace with a sugarcane plantation outside the palace. This means that there is someone wealthy that owns all of the land that the sugarcane is on and maybe even own or control the people who work the sugarcane. The poem is mostly told from the point of view of the very poor Haitian sugarcane workers who were practically slaves for General Trujillo. At the beginning of the poem Dove continues to wright in the point of view of the Haitian sugarcane workers in order to accurately portray the hopelessness of their situation. For example Dove writes “Out of the swamp the cane appears//to haunt us, and we cut it down” (3-4). In that quote Dove personifies the sugarcane as a moving and almost eire thing. This shows us how hard working sugarcane is. Sugarcane workers are often beaten and forced to work horribly long shifts. It is such hard manual labor that the sugarcane workers believe that it is just there to haunt them. We know that the workers are Haitian and that General Trujillo has some sort of hatred towards Haitians. Dove shows this on lines 3-5 when she says, “El General/ searches for a word; he is all the world/ there is”. Haitian people have trouble saying the letter “r” so General Trujillo makes people say a word with an r in it, like parsley. This also shows how much power General Trujillo has over the Haitians, because “he is all the world there is”. From the Haitian perspective he is all the world. He has all the power over you, he decides whether pr not you live to work another day or die and “come up green”.
In Rita Dove’s poem, Parsley, she writes about the devastating and tragic genocide that took place in the Dominican Republic during the fall of 1937. The mass killing earned the name of “Parsley Massacre” because under the brutal control of the Dominican dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, Dominican soldiers were ordered to ask people to pronounce the word “perejil,” which in English means “parsley.” It was a test to identify who was Haitian. Their first language is Creole, and because of this it was remarkably difficult for Haitians to pronounce the word accurately. An estimation of about 20,000 Haitians were mercilessly murdered. In the poem, there were many anaphoras, violent diction, and multiple references to historical events. In first section of the poem, “The Cane Field,” it is written through the Haitian people’s point of view. Throughout the first section, she uses the repetition of the phrase “parrot imitating spring,” and it is seen in line 6, 12, and 18. The phrase represents how 20,000 Haitians were forced into saying the word parsley in Spanish, which ultimately led to their impending death. There was also a repetition of the word “cane” and the word “cane” is also in the title for the first part of the poem. Cane represents the sugarcane plantation where many Haitians slaved on. It is also a symbolization of the living condition and lower class they are. The second part of the poem is entitled, “The Palace.” Again, the word “parrot” and “cane” is repeated here as well. In this section, there were many random subjects that Dove touched base on. It went from “his mother, how she died in the fall” (23), to “Who can I kill today” (31), and to how “... the general / has hated sweets.” (39-40).
I enjoyed reading your analysis. The Parsley Massacre was a brutal and vicious event that took place, and is one of the darker sides of human history. It amazes me how someone could commit such an atrocity with no remorse whatsoever. This is one of my favorite poems from Rita Dove so far, mainly because it has to do with history. I had no idea this event ever took place before reading this poem, and now after reading and analyzing it, I can say that I learned something from history because of this poem. For Rita Dove to dedicate a poem to this event, suggests that it’s important to her in some way, and that she wants to spread awareness to her readers, that might not be aware that this horrible massacre even took place.
In the poem Parsley, Rita Dove is expressing General Trujillo’s psychotic thoughts during his dictatorship in the 1930’s, using a range of literary devices. General Trujillo, during his control over the Dominican Republic’s state, ordered his soldiers to kill anyone who could not correctly pronounce the word “perejil” (parsley in spanish), discriminating those belonging to the Haitians which would pronounce the word “pelejil”. This way, Trujillo’s troops could identify Haitians from native Dominicans. To begin with, Rita Dove divides her poem into two sections, one titled The Cane Fields, and the other The Palace, both connected and interrelated. In the first section, the poet emphasizes the phrase “parrot imitating spring” and “out of the swamp the cane appears”, which she repeats in each stanza. From the other section, we know that the cane references Gral Trujillo mother’s cane, which right after she died, he “planted her walking cane at the grave” (24). The fact that the poet repeatedly emphasizes the cane shows the paranoia suffered by the dictator, as he continually feels grief because of his mother’s death. Rita Dove also shows Gral Trujillo’s psychotic behavior seen in Dove’s auditory images, such as “stomps to her room” (27-28), “knot of screams” (32) and “at the sound of artillery” (53-54). Dove creates a maniatic visual imagery as well, seen in the line “He laughs, teeth shining out of the swamp” (15) and “he see’s his mother smile, teeth gnawed to arrowheads” (58-59). This makes the reader visualize a threatening and frightening image of Gral Trujillo, smiling in a rather sarcastic and psychotic manner. Furthermore, another obsessive behavior and thought that Gral Trujillo had and that is assimilated in the expert is the fact that the people could not pronounce the letter R properly. In the poem, Dove describes this compulsory behavior in “his mother was no stupid; she could roll an R like a queen. Even a parrot can roll an R!” (64-65). In the expert, we can see how actually rolling the R was tough for some people since “the trill of the r (...) was sometimes too burdensome a joining for my tongue” (Danticat, 8-9). The fact that people couldn’t pronounce the letter r in a “correct” isn’t actually something fallacious, but actually reflects how masochist and maniac the Dominican Republic’s dictator was.
Your discussion brought up conclusions I had never thought of before. I hadn't considered that the poem could represent Trujillo's psyche and insanity. I was wondering how the two drastically different sections of the poem integrated into one poem, and your explanation of the two different uses of "cane" suggested that Trujillo may have been demented and confused because of his mother's death. Rita Dove may be suggesting that his confusion led him to carry out inhumane and terrible actions. In addition, you described Trujillo's mother as frightening because her teeth were "gnawed to arrowheads" (59). Why do you think Dove would depict her as frightening? Or maybe, just like the Haitians, her teeth were gnawed to arrowheads in order to show her similarity to the Haitians Trujillo was killing. Thanks for making me think!
In the poem Primer, Rita Dove uses consonance and enjambment to create a dominant effect of excitement as well as to portray the narrator’s independence and her mother’s support. Consonance appears mostly in the repetition of the “s” sound, such as “three skinny sisters / in rolled-down bobby socks. Hissing” (2-3). The letter “s” is often used to create a dramatic effect. In this case, the repeated “s” excites the reader and adds to the narrator’s powerful declaration of independence: “I’d show them all: I would grow up” (14). In addition, the letter “s” reminds the reader of the word “strength”, which is a major characteristic of the narrator. However, this strength does not just come from the reader’s claim to independence; the mother protects her daughter from the bullies, which lets her child know that she has support and someone who loves her. Even though the narrator wants to seem independent, she feels a certain pride in her mother’s protection and needs her for support. Furthermore, Primer, the title, refers to a substance that protects surfaces from decay. Likewise, the mother’s protection serves as a “primer” from bullying to the daughter. This idea is further articulated by the consonance in “my five-foot-zero mother” (10). Even though the mother is only five feet tall, the “f” sound expresses her assertiveness. Overall, the use of consonance conveys the theme of the unfaltering love between a mother and her daughter, even when the daughter is in her rebellious teenage years. The syntax also helps to demonstrate the narrator’s love and strength. First of all, the poem is not broken up into stanzas, but kept in one long continuous form. In addition, enjambment is used at the end of most lines, which further creates a non-stop flow of the poem. This continuous stream reflects the narrator’s unfaltering strength against the bullying, and, more importantly, the never-ending love between a mother and her child.
Wow your analysis blew me away. We had similar ideas and even some that I hadn’t noticed before. Like the use of cossance and yow you related the repetition of the vowel “s” with strength in the character. After reading your analysis, I had realized something I hadn’t before. When the character says, “I’d show them all: I would grow up”. I feel like this symbolizes, not only the relationship with her mom and wanting to show her that she’s not a little kid anymore, but also to the bullies. She’s hoping that her taking the higher road and growing up will set an example to them That hopefully, they will grow up and stop teasing her and other kids. Thanks for posting!
I enjoyed your analysis very much! I didn't really pay much attention to the repetition of consonance such as "s" and "f," but your observation helped me understood the poem more. I viewed this poem differently as well! I took lines 12-14 much differently than how you did. Instead of viewing the teenager as "rebellious," I viewed her as wanting to be independent and wanting to find her confidence. Her mother played a huge role in this because in lines 8-11, she talks about how the only reason she survived their torments was all thanks to her mom. Here, she talks about her mother in a very positive light, and you can tell that she really admires her mother's self-confident. She wants to prove to herself and her bullies that she will be independent from now on and hopefully grow up to be just like her mom.
In Rita Dove’s poem, “Heroes”, there is an allegory of how heroes are not always loved and appreciated. Sometimes doing the “right” thing isn’t always accepted by others, and in actuality the end result might even make things worse for both sides. In the poem, it’s been established how heroes are like everyone, and they too make mistakes even if they believe that they are being convenient and helpful. Heroes starts off with an imagery “A flower in a weedy field: make it a poppy” (1-2). Readers picture a poppy flower, positioned in a field that is “weedy.” Dove chose to write about poppy flowers because it represents beauty, consolation, eternal life, and loyalty/ faith between lovers. It’s quite ironic how poppies symbolizes “eternal life,” but the only reason why the main character picked it up was “because it begins to wilt” (3). After picking up the wilting flower, the narrator runs to the nearest house to ask for some help and support. But to his surprise, the woman began screaming at him because it just so happens that “plucked the last poppy / in her miserable garden, the one / that gave her the strength every morning / to rise!” (7-10). Since the flower gave the woman her strength, it tells the readers that the woman is weak, and she relies and depends greatly upon it. In lines 10-13, the main character is seen feeling guilty and reprehensible. He tries to make it up to her, but somehow he ends up killing the old woman. In the second to last stanza, the main character questions himself and ask why “did you pick that idiot flower?” (25) and he answered “you knew / it was going to die.” (27-28). My interpretation of the “idiot flower” is that it represents that old woman because like flowers, she will die someday as well.
We viewed this poem in very different ways! I'm glad you wrote about this, since I didn't understand how the title connected to the poem; now I understand how the narrator was a "hero" for picking the flower, but this heroism was not accepted. Also, the context of the poem parallels with the Greek myth of Persephone; she unknowingly picked a pretty flower and then fell into Hades trap, as Hades would force her to marry him. Therefore, the title also may be alluding to the fact that because of others' mistakes and foolishness, heroes have to step in, as the hero Zeus would have to come rescue Persephone. I also was intrigued by how you said poppies symbolize loyalty and faith between lovers. This is ironic because there was no loyalty between Hades and Persephone; she cried every day over the forced marriage. Nice attentiveness to the title!
I also viewed this poem in a very different way. I thought that the poppy could be Persephone (bright and beautiful, difficult for her to live in the underworld), the woman could be Demeter (the poppy - her daughter Persephone - gave her the strength to rise every morning, and without it, she was enmired in rage and grief) and Hades as the narrator who plucked the flower and kept it and drew the ire of Demeter. The title "Heroes" would be ironic because in the myth, Hades is viewed as more of the villain who abducted Persephone.
In the poem Used, Rita Dove writes about the tiring work of a mother, and her endless amount of love for her child, all while creating a flow that keeps readers interested in the poem. Rita Dove uses end rhyme, visual imagery, and repetition, to do so. One example would be the second of three stanzas in the poem in which Dove writes, “we’ve earned the navels sunk in grief/ when the last child emptied us of their brief/ interior light. Our muscles say We have been used” (5-7). Dove manages to use all three literary techniques, to create an impactful and well flowing stanza. Repetition is used in this stanza, by the repeated use of “we” in both the fifth line, and seventh line as well. The “we”, implies to the mothers who are caring for their child, and are giving their all in order to do so. It emphasizes that they, the mothers, are the ones who are infact doing all of this for their child, and that their bodies began showing signs of stress and use because of that. This constant exhaustion makes them feel that they are being used as their body is reflecting such a conclusion, but their love and devotion for their child overcomes such emotions. End rhyme is used at the end of lines 5 and 6 to flow these two lines together. It links the two ideas from those two separate lines together, thus making it easier for readers to realize so. As well as help create a flow in the poem, this particular example of end rhyme puts an emphasis on the words “grief” (5) and “brief” (6) as well. Visual imagery in Used, is utilized to keep the reader engaged, as well as establish Rita Dove’s overall theme, which is that mothers work tremendously hard for their children to raise them, but get little out it other than the love and bond between the two that form in the process.
In the poem “Exit”, Dove uses personification, visual imagery, and symbolism to portray the emotions of a young woman leaving home. The emphasis of the fact that “it is your street/you are leaving” introduces that the narrator is leaving a place she has belonged to for a long time, and her departure is almost unreal, not just “a street like in the movies” (3, 2). In the second stanza, personification is used in “The windows you have closed behind/you are turning pink, doing what they do/every dawn” gives a life to the home, and that it seemingly wakes every day like its inhabitants (6). The windows closing is also symbolic – other than being just what people do when they go out, it also represents turning one’s back on something, or a sense of finality in this case. The rest of the stanza: “Here it’s gray; the door/to the taxicab waits. This suitcase,/the saddest object in the world” uses the color gray, usually a connotation of sadness, to contrast with the pink of the dawn from before (8). Personification gives the taxicab a feeling of quiet expectation of its passenger, and the suitcase abject sorrow as an inadequate temporary replacement for a home. The last stanza starts: “Well, the world’s open. And now through/the windshield the sky begins to blush” and again uses personification to describe how the world and its opportunities had opened up to the young woman, and aids in the visual imagery of the gradation of color in the sky as the sun rises (11).
After first reading "Heroes," I had no understanding of the meaning behind the poetry. However, after reading it many other times, and color marking, I have found a concrete meaning behind Dove's work. "Heroes," represents the relationship between a mother and daughter. As a daughter there are moments when you try to "pick it because it begins to wilt," or help and obey your mother. Although you had good intentions, it was something that your mother didn't wish for you to do, which leads to anger or "screaming." When a daughter over-steps her boundaries, or doesn't act as her mother pleases, the relationship takes a major toll. In the poetry, this is expressed as "so you strike her, she hits her head on a white boulder, and there's nothing to be done but break the stone into gravel..." The daughter's initial action was one of a hero, because they wanted to save the poppy, or do as her mother pleased, however it turned out the opposite. Now that there is a damper in the relationship between the mother and daughter, the daughter feels guilty. Her guilt was never intended, which relates to human nature. As humans, we often try to impress others, or step in with the intention of helping a situation, and only sublimate it in a negative way. No matter the circumstance, every daughter desires to be their mothers "hero," but achieving that title is much harder than it may seem.
In the poem Meditation at Fifty Yards, Moving Target, Rita Dove uses variation in syntax, anaphora, and consonance to discuss different points of view on guns, thus concluding that one topic can be seen from several drastically different perspectives. In the first stanza, titled Safety First, Dove creates a bulky paragraph with long lines and lots of commands to create a stentorian tone. This stanza reflects the view of those wary of weapons and concerned about their potential dangers. On the contrary, the second section, Open Air, implies a point of view from someone who is passionate about using artillery, as if it’s their form of meditation, like the title of the poem suggests. The use of anaphora in repeating the words “don’t” and “squeeze” intensify the poem and make this section flow, demonstrating the persona’s fascination with weaponry. The next section, Gender Politics, discusses how males and females perceive firearms differently. When talking about guys, Dove uses consonance and onomatopoeia in “thunk-and slide of a blunt-nose silver Mossberg” (26) and “they’ll whoop it up” (28). This illustrates how reckless boys are and why they enjoy the boisterous nature of guns. However, Dove notes that females who use guns use them for different reasons. The assonance, like in “tin cans swing-dancing in the trees” (51), makes the stanza flow, demonstrating the “elegant” aspects of artillery that females enjoy. Finally, the last section, The Bullet, deviates most from any of the previous perspectives. Rather than the strong lines of Safety Politics or the flowing sophistication of Gender Politics, The Bullet uses nonsensical syntax and shows the point of view of the bullet itself. The use of lowercase letters makes the reader think of a small bullet, and indicate the bullet’s inability to think. The lack of punctuation and run-on phrases give the section a rapid and continuous tone, denoting a bullet that is about to strike its target.
I agree with your analysis of the changes in tone reflecting various opinions on guns in the separate parts of the poem. Some things that add to your analysis are: in the first stanza, it mentions that "You could wound the burglar and kill your child/sleeping in the next room, all with one shot." and it further reinforces the tone of wariness you mentioned. The last stanza in Gender Politics is also interestingly shaped like a bullet flying through the air, about to hit its mark. In combination with the question it poses, it could represent that life flies by with the speed of a bullet, too little time and no chance to make the decision, and death will come just as surely as it hits home.
I really enjoyed reading your analysis of this poem, and I completely agree with everything that you said. When I was reading this poem, I noticed that Dove writes it in a second person point of view. This point of view is usually used for giving directions such as "Never point your weapon, keep your finger off the trigger," giving advice, or providing information or an explanation such as lines 6-10. Writing in second person also allow readers to connect more with the story line. I noticed that in the last part, The Bullet, is written in first person. Just as how you explained it, the bullet is written in first person because Dove writes it through the bullets point of view. The lowercase "i" could possibly mean that it (bullet) is just an object that really has no purpose, unless someone uses it for a specific reason.
Your analysis of the poem was very enjoyable to read. This poem from Rita Dove stood out in particular from all the rest to me, because she discusses about a political debate that has ramped up here in the US after some several horrific tragedies. It seems like everyone has their own opinion on it, and differences in viewpoint on guns and gun control can lead to some heated arguments. This poem can help start conversations about guns, and what each person feels about them. It could also cause the reader who has not previously thought about the subject matter, to ask themselves what they really feel about guns, and what they should and shouldn’t be intended for.
In the poem “Sic Itur Ad Astra”, Dove uses symbolism, despairing diction, and visual imagery to portray someone lost in life and desperate. The narrator calls out to his/her bed as if it were not an inanimate object: “Bed, where are you flying to?” and “Come here, bed,/I need you! I don’t know my way.” (1, 17) Here, the bed is obviously not actually physically flying away but could be a symbol representing sleep, and how the narrator is dependent upon the oblivion of sleep to escape reality, but it eludes his grasp. The narrator’s voice is pleading and distraught, helping to set the tone for this poem. In the second stanza, there is a comparison; “Close my eyes/and sink back to/day’s tiny dismissals;” indicates that perhaps the narrator failures still chase him despite his attempts to avoid them (6). The second half of the stanza: “open wide and I’m/barefoot, nightshirt/fluttering white as a sail.” (9) The visual imagery used here perhaps shows this world here “on a porch/open to the stars” has become a more real, solid place than the daytime (4). The simile comparing the nightshirt to a sail gives a feeling of insubstantiality to the narrator compared to the night, as if he might be carried away by the wind to the stars at any minute. In the last stanza, the first few lines: “What will they say/when they find me/missing—just/the shape of my dreaming/creasing the sheets?” further this concept – at this point, the narrator’s dreams are more substantial than himself, as they are the weight that is creasing the sheets (12). The last stanza: “At least leave my pillow/behind to remind me/what affliction I’ve fled—/my poor, crushed pillow/with its garden of smells!” (19) The mention of fleeing an affliction reinforces the idea that the narrator is trying to hide from life – perhaps not a physical pain but an emotional one. The description of the pillow – its being crushed and having a variety of scents – could indicate that it had been something the narrator held on to, a reminder of what he had been through and how he had chased sleep (and his bed) beneath the stars.
In the poem Cozy Apologia, Rita Dove is writing about a person expressing the love they have for another. In the beginning of the poem it reads “-for Fred”, so the poem clearly marks who this poem is intended for, and indicates that this person must be related to Rita Dove in some manner. After a quick search into this, I discovered that Fred is infact the husband of Rita Dove, and that Cozy Apologia is written about the relationship between Rita Dove and her husband. This new point of view helps clarify the poem for me, and reveals what Rita Dove feels about her relationship with her husband. Rita Dove uses end rhyme and visual imagery in Cozy Apologia, to express her love towards her husband, as well as giving the poem a light-hearted feeling throughout the piece. One example from the poem that uses both literary techniques would be in the first stanza, in which Rita Dove writes, “This lamp, the wind-still rain, the glossy blue/ My pen exudes, drying matte, upon the page./ I could chose any hero, any cause or age/ And, sure as shooting arrows to the heart,/ Astride a dappled mare, legs braced as far apart/ As standing in silver stirrups will allow-/ There you’ll be, with furrowed brow” (2-8). Here Rita Dove is talking about herself sitting down with her page under her lamp, getting ready to write a poem. She says that she can chose to write about any hero she desires, but she chooses to write about her husband Fred. This imagery shows readers just how important Dove’s husband is to her, by devoting an entire poem to him. It takes quite some time for a poet to produce a poem that he or she is happy with, and one that invokes the right amount of emotion out of the reader when the work is read. Dove really must have her husband in a special place in her heart, to have the passion to write a lengthy and emotional poem about their love. The end rhyme located throughout these lines helps flow the poetry from one line to the other, emphasizing on the last words in each line such as “page” (3) and “age” (4) to help express to readers how important her relationship with her partner is. End rhyme in this poem also gives it a sort of sing-song feel, which makes the mood seem bright and happy as well.
Thanks for taking the time to research and find out that Fred is her husband; I suspected that, but it clarifies the poem’s meaning. I agree that the poem has a light-hearted feel, and I think this is also conveyed by the title since it has the word “cozy.” Furthermore, I looked up what “apologia” means, and it’s a formal written defense of one’s opinion. So, this is a “cozy” written defense of why Dove loves her husband so much. She also mentions trivial high school boys who weren’t nearly as heroic as her husband. She claims that they “were thin as licorice and as chewy, / Sweet with a dark and hollow center” (19-20). This simile is fitting because some couples seem happy on the outside but aren’t really connected personally or emotionally. Furthermore, discussing flaws in other relationships makes her relationship with her husband seem more special. Thanks for the information!
I agree with the fact that you connected it with her real life love, Fred. However, I think you should make a connection with the title, since it shows how Dove actually feels. Marrying a German writer, Dove knows that she is not ordinary, nor does she want to be. Therefore, in there title "Cozy Apology", she is apologizing in a rather sarcastic way to the people that mock and criticize her for having made the 'wrong choice' and marrying him. She, however, is content with her choice, and as seen in the poem, is madly in love with him.
The poem “Crazy Apology”, by Rita Dove, talk about her profound love towards her husband. In the first stanza, she talks about how immense the love they share is, since she “could pick anything and think of” him (2). She admires this person so much that she cannot find words to describe this feeling, since everything reminds her of him. She also describes how when she feels trapped, he always sets her free, confronting her problem or enemy. In the second stanza, Dove uses metaphors to express how real and actual their love is, since she compares it to her past teenage boyfriends. She does this by comparing Big Floyd hurricane from 1999 with the boys of her teenage past. This hurricane was large, powerful storm that happened along the Atlantic coast in 1999, just four years before this poem was written. The metaphor explains that just like a hurricane brings bad weather, it is also bringing back bad, awkward memories of teenage boys. A hurricane has a huge front then a calm center, the eye of the storm. Those boys came off charming and pleasant, but proved to have nothing but a hollow center. Dove is pushing away those boys to try to focus on her love right now. In this stanza, Dove also employs Colloquialism and other dictions to reflect this flashback, or memory. She uses the word “sissy”, which is not only colloquialism but also profanity, to emphasize her teenage lovers at that time. The word may also be a word she used to use with her friends when she was young. In the third stanza, however, Dove goes back to expressing her deep love with her husband, since she describes them as being perfectly happy, him “bunkered in his / Aerie”, (21-22) and she “perched in hers” (22). However, she describes how she does not settle for the ‘alright’ since it is not enough, it is too plain and typical. The title of the poem means a comfortable apology, since Dove is using sarcasm and irony to apologize for not being ordinary. In a research I did, I found that Dove is ridicules because of the love she chose, since they have two completely different backgrounds and histories. However, Dove chooses not to listen to him and know that he is the love of her life and that she made the right choice.
In the poem Castle Walk Rita Dove uses point of view, visual imagery and positive diction to portray a scene of a rather enthusiastic african american band marching, and playing, through a sea of apathetic white people. This poem is told by the band director's point of view, James Reese Europe. James Reese Europe was a famous jazz pioneer and civil rights activist in the band community. He gained fame in 1912 when he and his band, the Clef Club, performed jazz music at famous Carnegie Hall for the first time. He was widely praised in the african american community and later people even called him the Martin Luther King of music. He was later drafted by the military in WW1 and served as a band director for the “Harlem Hellfighters”. He traveled 2,000 miles across France and played for military personnel and civilians. In this poem rita dove uses visual imagery to show the reader the feelings of the civilian people James Reese Europe is playing for. Dove says, “Our boys got a snap and buzz/ no one dancing” (11-12) It seems like the band is loud, upbeat, and is playing music that people would normally dance to, but since they are black people are not dancing or getting into the music at all. The narrator of the poem, James Reese Europe, hints to us that people are sticking their nose up at him and his band. “The couples stroll/ past, continuing to themselves/ as they orbit, chins poked out/ as if expecting a kiss…” The people stuck their nose up at the band and kept to themselves as they walked by. It is amazing that people were not grateful for the band being there, especially since it was wartime. It seems like James Reese Europe just wanted to cheer everyone up, and even if no one wanted to dance along with his music he wouldn’t let that stop him from playing his hardest and marching the most upbeat.
In Rita Dove’s Chocolate, she uses personification, visual imagery, symbolism, and sexual diction to talk about love and her lust. Chocolate symbolizes a person whom she loves dearly, and is in a huge rush to have. Visual imagery is seen as she describes the piece of chocolate as “Velvet fruit, exquisite square” (1). In the second stanza, Dove writes about how “you numb me / with your rich attentions!” Whenever the lover gives the narrator “rich” attentions, she becomes “numb.” The word “rich” along with creamy, sweet, and sensual are some words used to describe chocolate. Dove used the word “numb” to indicate that the narrator feels comforted and alleviated from her problems when she is with her lover. The author uses sexual diction such as “rich,” “pleasure seeker,” “a taste of you,” and “ready to fall in love.” By doing this Dove creates a sense of intimacy and her relationship between the narrator and her lover. In line 6 and in the third stanza, you can sense a feeling of urgency and a growing desperation in the narrator. She uses words such as “quickly,” “melt,” and “liquefy” to represent how chocolate will quickly melt and turn into a liquid consistency if you just let it sit there or don’t eat it, “if I don’t eat you quickly / you’ll melt in my palm” (6-7). This representation explains how impatient she feels towards her lover. She feels that if she doesn’t act quickly, his love for her will die off, and if it progresses he might even leave her.
In her book, Mother Love, Rita Dove symbolized the greek myth of Demeter in several of her poems. The myth tells the story of Persephone, daughter of Zeus and Demeter, which is handed to Hades, god of the UnderWorld by her father, a deal made by her father and her obliged love. One day she was playing with her nymph friends, picking up flowers the ground, when suddenly Hades burst out of Earth with a chariot of black horses and took her with him. Her mother was furious about this happening, and being the goddess of spring, was determined to let her people starve until she got her child back. Therefore, Zeus asked for her daughter back from his brother, and Hades accepted, but before the girl left, he gave her some pomegranate seeds to eat. Whatever is eaten in the Underworld condemns you to stay there forever. Rita Dove has analyzed this myth and it’s message in several different perspective, all shown in the individual poems of her book. For instance, in “Heroes”, Dove symbolizes this myth in Demeter’s point of view, as she reflects the anxiety and responsibility of a mother. She does this by comparing the feeling of desperation felt when the character of the poem was now a criminal or a fugitive, to the anxiety felt by Demeter when she lost her child. In this poem Dove is narrating a sort of nightmare. In the poem “Persephone, Falling”, Dove assimilates the tragedy of the myth with real life situations. She shows that, the same way Persephone got kidnapped by just picking a flower from the ground, anyone can get in the middle of a disastrous situation like that, for the most simplest reasons, like picking a flower. This can be seen in the quote “This is how easily the pit opens. This is how one foot sinks into the ground”. (14). Furthermore, in the following poem “The Narcissus Flower”, and “Wiederkehr” Dove narrates in the point of view of the daughter, and her perspective on the situation. Dove completely changes the tone of the narration, since now the reader can see a more independent girl, that had actually chosen to stay with Hades in the Underworld, therefore, had eaten those seeds. This idea can be seen in “he never asked / if I would stay. Which is why, / when the choice appeared / I reached for it” (11-14 Wiederkehr), referencing her choice of eating the seeds and knowing the consequences.
Your analysis was interesting to read. Rita Dove does manage to effectively portray different feelings and emotions in each poem in Mother Love. Reading every poem from the first to very last, creates a story and expresses the feelings the character has at that point of time. You go from desperation, to a feeling of anxiety, to anger, and so on. To me this is interesting, because previous to this unit I never thought that poems can interconnect as well as they do in Rita Dove’s poetry, and always thought that poems were all separate from one another. It’s great to see how far we’ve come to analysing poetry, and identifying similarities between some.
In the poem “Heart to Heart,” Dove uses negative diction, personification, and enjambment to convey the frustration of not being able to express one’s feelings for another person. Most of the poem is the narrator’s denial of all the things that hearts are said to metaphorically do, or the modern motifs attached to them. This diction makes the narrator sound like he or she is trying to remain stoic and impassive – almost denying his emotions, convincing himself he does not feel this way – with the breaking down of the heart’s symbolism to “just a thick clutch/of muscle”, that “doesn’t melt/or turn over,/break or harden,/so it can’t feel/pain,/yearning,/regret.” (14, 6) Enjambment was used here to isolate the last three words; they are likely the emotions that the narrator harbors. However, at the end of the second stanza, it says “Still,/I feel it inside/its cage sounding/a dull tattoo:/I want, I want—“ showing that despite his denial, the narrator knows that his heart can hold desire still (17). The “cage” can refer to the ribcage, or a metaphorical cage that the narrator locked his heart away in. The last stanza begins to show the narrator’s ambivalence more clearly than before: “but I can’t open it:/there’s no key./I can’t wear it/on my sleeve,/or tell you from/the bottom of it/how I feel.” Here, the narrator continues the negative diction from before to show that he wishes could open his heart and pour out his emotions, but he is unable to. The enjambment used in this poem separates everything into short lines, resembling the rhythm of a heartbeat. Ironically, the title of the poem, Heart to Heart, means to have a more intimate and personal conversation, but the narrator is evading the truth – afraid to reveal it to the other person, or more so to himself.
Your analysis was quite intriguing, but we had some different ideas. I agree that the narrator is expressing a little frustration and skepticism at the incorrect assumptions of how the heart feels, but I also think the poem has a bit lighter tone. It's amusing for the reader to watch the narrator reflect on nonsensical expressions such as "from the bottom of my heart." The poem has a somewhat amusing tone, and by the end, a heartfelt tone (no pun intended) when the narrator states "it's all yours, now–– / but you'll have / to take me, / too" (27-30). The narrator is giving his or her love, and the tone here is less negative than emotional and bittersweet, in my opinion. However, I can see how it could be interpreted as darker and more negative, too.
Amber, your analysis is very interesting. I too noticed that Rita Dove used metaphors to explain to readers that our heart can't actually do most of the things that we metaphorically say they can. Such as "my heart melted when I saw how cute he looked!" If our heart actually melted... That would be very bad and unfortunate. When people say "I was heartbroken," in reality our hearts cannot physically break or shatter. People just use it as a metaphor to explain how unhappy and sad they are.
In the poem Soprano, Rita Dove uses shortness of syntax and musical diction to create a dominant effect of awe as well as to portray the graceful power of a soprano singer. Throughout the poem, there are only a few words per line and couplet stanzas, making the poem appear slender and light. The poem’s brevity reflects the light, delicate high-pitched notes that a soprano must reach, and reminds the reader of this precious delicacy. Rita Dove describes the room “dissolving / as one note / pours into / the nest, pebbles” (15-19). Expressing the soul as dying and the room as “dissolving” conveys how music takes the listener and the singer away from reality. Furthermore, the word “pours” displays how passionately sopranos sing, and how much emotion and effort they pour into each note. At the end of the poem, Rita Dove asks “which is it / body or mind, / which rises, which / gives up at last / and goes home?” (22-26). This further exemplifies the diversion from reality by including the metaphor of going home, or returning to reality after being in “heaven.” Also, the last line is its own stanza, unlike the two-lined stanzas of the rest of the poem, which implies a soprano gradually letting off of a high note. The musical and mellifluous nature of the poem is also demonstrated by the musical diction. The words “note”, “soul”, “piano”, and “heaven” can all either be associated with music or holiness, the latter of which is often paired with music. These words make the reader feel amazement and awe at the ineffable beauty of soprano singers.
I agree with your analysis, especially the diction used and the effects of specific words and phrases. I would like to add that the part "the soul dies/for an instant-/but you don't need/its thin/resistance/nor the room" gives a feeling that music transcends the soul and reality, a bit similar to what you said (7). However I would like to disagree with you on the idea that the poem is about a soprano singer; the lines "spin/through and off/the bell lip/into heaven" indicate that the note is in fact most likely played by a trumpet, also keeping somewhat in line with the theme of jazz in the rest of the book.
In The Return of Lieutenant James Reese Europe, Rita Dove writes in the perspective of an African American man with the name no other than James Reese Europe. Europe had fought in WW1 as a lieutenant in the all black 369th Infantry Regiment, nicknamed the “Harlem Hellfighters”. From then on he went on to direct the regimental band in 1918, traveling over 2,000 miles in the country of France performing to soldiers from the allied side. This poem takes place during the victory parade in New York City that Europe is playing in, to honor the men who have served in the U.S. military during WW1, nearly one year after the end of the war. Rita Dove uses repetition and visual imagery in The Return of Lieutenant James Reese Europe, to emphasize the series of events he has been through, as well as giving the poem a feeling pride of dedication to duty. In the first two lines Dove writes, “ We trained in the streets: the streets where we came from./ We drilled with sticks, boys darting between bushes, shouting-” (1-2). In these two lines Rita Dove uses “We” to start both beginning lines that describe the training James Europe and his men has been through. This emphasizes that Europe and his men had been taught to be one, and that each individual must contribute equally for the whole to run effectively. This is true on both a military perspective, as well as a musical perspective, which is most likely why Rita Dove chooses to write in this way as James Europe was a military soldier and musician. In the last line of the third stanza Dove writes, “German prisoners tapping their feet as we went by” (12). Knowing what we know from James Europe’s history, we can assume that this visual image is supposed to represent his band marching past German POW’s while playing a song, during their duty in France, during WW1. The tapping of their feet shows that the band succeeded in helping ease the men that are most affected from the war, the soldiers. Along with that, it helps readers humanize the so called enemy, by giving them emotions and the various movements and characteristics that correspond with each emotion.
In the poem “The House Slave,” Rita Dove writes about the life of a slave, specifically the life of a “house slave.” In the poem Dove uses personification, paradox, consonance, and visual imagery to emphasize on the house slave’s story. As mentioned before, the main character is a house slave, and as you can tell they work in a house instead of working on a plantation field. Dove uses visual imagery to make readers feel as if they are actually standing in the main character’s shoes and looking through their point of view. The narrator watches as the field slaves wake up way before dawn, “I watch them driven into the vague before-dawn” (5) and also witnessed the field slaves get whipped, “At the second horn, / the whip curls across the backs of the laggards-” (9). The usage of the word “curl,” makes me think of the whipping as being very extreme, intense, and definitely painful. When I read line 9, I can visually see the whip curling as it is being whipped into the slave’s back and molding to the victim’s back. Throughout the poem, there was a repetition of the consonant “s.” The repetition of the “s” sound gives the poem a sense of despair and helplessness. In line 6, Dove personified the mistress as an “ivory toothpick.” Toothpicks are sharp and can be dangerous. So is Dove trying to say that the mistresses are dangerous, and there is something bad about them? Plus toothpicks are easily broken... Paradox was used in line 12, “I lie on my cot, shivering in the early heat,” how can one shiver when it is hot? The main character shivers because the thought of what is to come in the near future scares him. A huge struggle of being a slave is not knowing what the future holds and what will happen to you the next day.
Please initiate your comments about the poetry in the section "Historical Figures"--due by 11:00 pm Thursday 10/29.
ReplyDeleteIn the poem Canary, the writer makes an important connection between the title of the poem and the character described. The fact that Dove chooses the Canary to represent and symbolize the poem gives the reader a genuine idea of the content of it. Being a songbird that lives most of it’s life locked up in a cage reflects the life of the talented Billie Holiday, as she was also trapped and not free from her awful past. Furthermore, the author also shows the clandestine life of the jazz singer through different literary techniques, that can be seen, for example, in the first stanza: “Billie Holiday’s burned voice / had as many shadows as lights,” (Line 1-2). We can begin by noticing the personification applied to describe Holiday’s voice, since it was “burned” or on fire. This gives the reader an auditory image of her ardent and stentorian voice, as well as it being effete and exhausted. Furthermore, the author also uses a metaphor to describe her voice, since she compared it to the shadows of lights. Dove now creates a more visual kind of image to the reader, as they picture a pattern of shadows and lights in their heads, enabling a sense of mystery in the tone of the poem. However, the purpose of these two lines are to reflect a metaphoric symbol of Holiday’s life, burnt and mysterious as her powerful voice. The use of symbolic features are seen through a pattern that flows in Dove’s writing, emphasizing on the tones and images of the derisive life of Billi Holiday.
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ReplyDeleteSonnet in Primary Colors
ReplyDeleteDove demonstrates admiration for Frida Kahlo’s paintings, especially in the first stanza, by creating a rhythmical syntax that reflects the flowing beauty of her artwork. She could also be writing through Diego Rivera, her husband, to show his love for her. First of all, this poem is a sonnet, which is a 14-line poem that uses rhyme schemes and similar line length. This makes the poem more even and connects lines, similar to the connected strokes of paintbrush. The use of consonance in repeating the “p” sound furthers the effect of connectedness, as in “parrots, in the stern petticoats of the peasant, / who painted herself a present-- ” (Dove 3). Not to be forgotten, the title also uses paint diction by using the words “primary colors”, terms usually associated with the fine arts. Dove also conveys the beauty of not only her paintings but also of Frida herself. For example, she uses elegant bird diction to describe her unibrow in the metaphor “one black wing / perched over her eyes” (Dove 1). This also could reflect the striking elegance Frida gives herself in her self portraits, particularly her portrait(s) with parrots, which is probably the painting Dove is referring to.
There is also an allusion to her physical disabilities; as a child she was diagnosed with polio and later in life she was in a bus accident, confining her to a wheelchair. The reference to her spine in “her spine resides in the romance of mirrors” refers to her physical pain and confinement. Furthermore, the fact that this stanza is talking about her elegance and love of painting suggests that she found strength in creating artwork to help her through her disabilities.
In the second stanza, there is an unrelated reference to her support of communism by mentioning her “beloved dead”, Lenin, Marx, and Stalin, who were all leaders of Russian communism. Capitalizing “Beloved Dead” and in the next line rhyming it with “footstead” emphasize her faithfulness in these communist figures.
Your analysis is very interesting. I agree with you about the technique Dove uses to reflect the flowing beauty of her art, as well as her own physical beauty. I also like the way you compared it with the structure of the poem, being a 14-lined sonnet which connection resembles to the strokes of a brush. Furthermore, the fact that you analyzed the line in the poem that mentions her spine injury from the accident reminds me of the movie 'Frida Kahlo' itself, since it showed how Frida actually looked for life and meaning throughout art, as you have mentioned.
DeleteAmber Mao
ReplyDeleteIn the poem “Tou Wan Speaks to Her Husband, Liu Sheng”, the visual imagery used to describe the tomb alludes to the wealth and power of the dynasty in which the occupants lived. The “figurine household/poised in servitude/and two bronze jugs, worth more/than a family pays in taxes/for the privilege to stay/alive, a year, together…”, as well as the incense burner demonstrate the enormous wealth that Liu Sheng had as an emperor (Dove 13). The “two thousand jade wafers/with gold thread puzzled/to a brilliant envelope” adds to that as well as the fact that the jade, bronze, and iron objects found in the tomb reflect the developing culture at that time, and how the kingdom was thriving because the people were able to master these crafts (41). Throughout the poem, there is a tone of subservient respect from the narrator, Liu Sheng’s wife. She addresses him as “my/only conqueror” as well as “my/constant/emperor”, suggesting that he not only rules the people and the land but her as his wife, and also giving insight to the role and expectations of women in that time period and culture (6, 21). In the second quote, enjambment is used to isolate the word “constant”, signifying that even though the emperor is dead, Tou Wan still serves him. In the opening stanza, the lines “I will build you a house/of limited chambers/but it shall last/forever” describe, using metaphor, the tomb as a house for the dead to live in for the afterlife, and illustrate the respect that the deceased emperor still commands (1).
I totally agree with your observation of the mass material wealth and the subservience of women. I also found it interesting that the syntax in isolating "constant" put emphasis on serving him not only in life but in death. One thing you didn't mention that I think adds to your analysis is the somewhat sarcastic tone of the poem. "my constant emperor" does show Tou Wan's insubordination, but is done in an exaggerated way to show her disgust at having to serve him. This is further exemplified by the phrases "but you're bored" and "the palace girl you most frequently coveted." Very thoughtful analysis, Amber!
DeleteIn the poem Nestor’s Bathtub, Rita Dove uses a plentiful amount of visual imagery in her poem to convey the work and struggles of Nestor’s wife. As Rita Dove expresses in her poem, “legend got it all wrong: Nestor’s wife was the one to crouch under” (1-3). Although tales and legend state that Nestor was a vicious warrior and conqueror, it was infact Nestor’s wife that was the one you truely needed to bow down to. Dove writes, “But where was Nestor-/ on his throne before the hearth,/ counting the jars of oil/ in storeroom 34, or/ at the Trojan wars/ while his wife with her white hands/ scraped the dirt from a lover’s back/ with a bronze scalpel?” (6-13). While Nestor is enjoying his rest in front of the fireplace and going through his wealth and possessions in a storeroom, his wife is busy doing grueling physical labor, taking care of him. The image of her white hands with a bronze scalpel is painted in our minds not only to furthermore show the reader of the demanding work that is tasked to her, but to also symbolize her job. Similar to how a pickaxe and hammer crossing one another are used to symbolize the difficult and dangerous job of a coal miner, the white hands of Nestor’s wife with a scalpel can be viewed the same way. In addition, Rita Dove uses other words that enhance the visual imagery of the poem such as “blasted” (16), “force” (17), and “exploding” (18). These specific words are commonly used to describe war scenes in novels and books, eluding that just how Nestor sees himself in constant action and danger from his duties, so does his wife with hers, even though legend never portrays her that way, let alone mention her.
ReplyDeleteIn the poem Canary by Rita Dove, it talks about a legendary jazz vocalist name Billie Holiday. Although she is considered and known to be one of the greatest jazz singer of all time, Holiday went through many difficulties and faced many injustices throughout her lifespan. In the poem, Rita Dove uses allusion and the contrasting diction to represent Holiday’s fluctuating life. The first stanza, is full of juxtaposition between words such as shadows, lights, mournful, sleek, gardenia, and ruined face. In the first and second line, where Dove describes Holiday’s sultry voice, she says it “had as many shadows as lights.” The word “shadow” (2) symbolizes the hardship that she went through such as getting raped, losing herself to drugs, and serving a brief time in jail due to prostitution. The word “light” (2) symbolizes her limelight, success, and being recognized for her talent. “Shadow” represents the bad time in Holiday’s life, whereas “light” represents her better days. The other literary device that really stood out to me was the use of allusion. The last line in the poem where it says “if you can’t be free, be a mystery” (11) refers to how Holiday couldn’t find satisfaction and freedom among her fame, and she had to rely upon drugs. Her drug addiction became a way for her to find freedom among her chaotic life.
DeleteWow, this is a really thorough analysis. I agree with the fact that Nestor's wife's hard work went unnoticed and unappreciated, and I like how many ways you proved that. I'd never thought of comparing her hands and scalpel to some other symbol of strength and hard work. Somethign else I noticed about this, though, is that she "scraped the dirt from a lover's back" (12). This suggests that besides hard work, she also had lovers other than Nestor, furthering her alienation from her husband. This could also suggest how women were viewed as just objects of love and didn't mean much to their husbands. To connect your poem to the bigger picture, this famous bathtub is associated with Nestor, when it was really his wife that spent more time in the house. Indeed, I couldn't even find any information on her!
DeleteKaden Cui
ReplyDeleteIn “Catherine of Alexandria”, Rita Dove uses contrast to paint a different image of Saint Catherine, one that could be viewed as a feminist figure. The poem, which is split into four stanzas and a total of sixteen lines, features very few breaks, with most pauses coming in the form of caesuraes, with some ends in the latter stanzas. In the first stanza, Dove describes Catherine as a women who is "deprived of learning and the chance to travel" (1/2), and suggests that this lack of opportunity was what lead Catherine to seek sainthood, seeing no other option, stating that "no wonder sainthood came as a voice" (3/4). This presents a unique perspective on Catherine's early life, as opposed to the Christian account, which states that Catherine was instead visited by Madonna and Child. Dove even suggests that Catherine was not as pure and holy as Sainthood accounts, suggesting that she engaged in sexual acts as opposed to leading the life of a virgin, "and what went on each night was fit for nobody's ears" (7/8). Dove acts as a second voice for Catherine, even opposing the recounting of Jesus, "For nobody's ears but Jesus." (8/9). In the final stanza, Dove makes a final assertion that was indeed pregnant, "a kept promise, a ring of milk." (15/16). By contrasting her retelling of the life of Catherine with the retelling of the Church, Dove portrays as Catherine as an independent woman, choosing her own decisions in life rather than be commanded by the primarily male Christian church.
In the poem “Tou Wan Speaks to Her Husband, Lui Sheng” Rita dove subtly hints that Tou Wan does not love her husband. Rita dove shows the role that the wife of a very powerful man has. Tou Wan could not say everything she wanted to say to her husband because of the role she had to play. Rita Dove shows her discontent of her husband subtly so it is believable to the reader. She shows her discontent for her husband when she says “here when the stench of your own diminishing drives you to air (but you will find none)” (stanza 4-5 lines 5-8, 1) It must have been a belief that when you died that your soul would move on to a better place and leave your body. Tou Wan says that her husband will not move on, and basically says he will rot in his own stench for eternity. She obviously doesn’t like her husband. It is also hinted that her husband was cheating on her. “I will set you a lamp. (And a statue of the palace girl you most frequently coveted)” (stanza 6 lines 3-6) This also shows the roles women had as wives, because it hints that she was faithful to him, but he cheated on her with a palace girl and his wife was expected to be ok with it. And she is ok with it! She even is willing to put a statue of the women he slept with in his tomb. Maybe this is because she really doesn't love her husband and she just didn't care what he did.
ReplyDeleteThe House Slave is a poem, in which Rita Dove uses double entendre, auditory imagery, and similes to convey the grim life of a slave. In the beginning, when the slaves are first awoken by the horn, Dove uses personification in “the first horn lifts its arm over” (1). This makes the horn seem more aggressive and merciless towards the slaves’ hardships. Auditory imagery is also used at the mention of a “rustling”, “the second horn”, and the “whip curls” (9), which all recreate their dreadful daily lives. Written through the persona of a slave, auditory imagery adds personality to the characters when the narrator hears her sister: “Oh! pray,” she cries, “Oh! pray!” (11).
ReplyDeleteThe sharp contrast in whites’ and blacks’ lives is also portrayed in the poem; this is done through the use of similes. While the slaves wake up at the crack of drawn, “their mistress sleeps like an ivory toothpick” (6). Comparing her to ivory reflects the fact that she is white, as well as indicating the opulent lifestyle she lives by suggesting she owns ivory objects. A reference to white people is also used “as the fields unfold to whiteness” (13). This double entendre is referring to both the massive fields of cotton the slaves must harvest as well the widespread superiority of white people. Another simile is used as the slaves “spill like bees among the fat flowers” (14). Bees, commonly associated with workers, reflect the tedious work of the many slaves working in the fields. The “fat flowers” could also be a double entendre for not only the blooms of cotton, but also the fat or lazy white people who don’t have to do the strenuous work of the slaves.
Amber Mao
DeleteThis is a really interesting analysis - the use of double entendre in the fields unfolding to whiteness never occurred to me. I also agree with the personification and the simile used. Another example to support your analysis would be the use of consonance in the beginning of the poem: "and in the slave quarters there is a rustling--" and "cornbread/and water gourds grabbed" where the repetition of sound creates a sense of the hurry as slaves prepare for another grueling day in the fields, especially in the "s" sounds, which emulate the noises of rustling (2,4).
This is a great interpretation! I agree with your analysis of line 6 "while their mistress sleeps like an ivory toothpick." But I also viewed the comparison between mistress and toothpick as how toothpicks are dangerous and sharp, so maybe Rita Dove is trying to tell the audience that mistresses are bad and dangerous. Toothpicks are easily broken as well...
DeleteYes, perhaps to show that the mistress is one of their nagging enemies and rulers. However, usually toothpicks are not thought of as threatening and dangerous. I also think the focus of this part of the poem is to compare the easy, lazy life of the whites to the awful reality of the slaves, rather than the mistress being dangerous. However, your idea is possible, too! Furthermore, toothpicks are often used to describe someone as weak or gaunt, as in "he's as skinny as a toothpick". The toothpick could refer to her being skinny and unproductive while the muscular slaves do all the strenuous work.
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ReplyDeleteAmber Mao
ReplyDeleteIn the poem “David Walker (1785-1830)”, Dove uses visual imagery, metaphor, and simile to portray the radical abolitionist David Walker. In the first stanza, an italicized sentence reads: “They strip and beat and drag us about/like rattlesnakes.” (2) This rhetoric-like statement depicts, using simile, not only the brutal treatment of slaves that Walker wanted to end but also that they were considered sub-human, like snakes. The same stanza also describes part of his work: “All day at the counter--/white caps, ale-stained pea coats. Compass needles,/eloquent as tuning forks, shivered, pointing north.” (5) Here, Walker’s clothing shop is described but the compass needles, pointing north in the direction of freedom for blacks, hints at something else. In the third stanza, his downfall begins: “The jewelled canaries in the lecture halls tittered,/pressed his dark hand between their gloves./Every half-step was no step at all.” (18) The metaphor in “jeweled canaries” describes the affluence of some of his audience, the rich, the well decorated, and their disapproval of his ideas. The idea of not being able to take steps forwards indicates that Walker had no real following or anyone that agreed with him, and his movement was not progressing. The following lines about the man on the corner illustrated that some people were content (or forced to be complacent) about how they were living, and had no intention of rising in bloody revolt. The last stanza leads to Walker’s death: “The abolitionist press is perfectly appalled./ Humanity, kindness, and the fear of the Lord/ does not consist in protecting devils.” (26) The first line of the passage addresses the abolitionists’ disapproval of Walker’s ideas and methods; the second and third line seem to be opposing rhetoric from Walker’s point of view arguing that the white slavers were no better than devils (use of metaphor) and that they should not be forgiven.
I agree with the way you analyzed the contrast between the him, and his white affluent audience seen in Dove's use of a metaphor. However, there is another example that can further support your idea that is seen in "pressed his dark hand between their gloves" (19). The fact that Dove symbolizes the white race through the glove not only show the race opposition, but also a contrast between social class, since gloves are seen as a more elegant and a fancy form of accessory.
DeleteIn The House Slave, Rita Dove dominates her writing throughout the use of strong oxymoron’s, which emphasize her main, overall point in the poem. An example of this is seen In the last line of the second stanza, in which Dove describes the white, female owner “like an ivory toothpick” (6), showing a vague contrast between her elegancy, and her insignificance. Through this comparison, the reader can picture a cliche type of white, unemployed women from the sixties, typically pictured in movies and films as dumb and senseless; Dove captured this in just two simple words. Then, in the third stanza, an oxymoron can be seen in the way Dove describes the punishment of the slaves with the use of a more eluding, and subtle diction, seen in: “the whip curls across the backs of the laggards” (9). This choice of words offers the reader a less vivid and severe image of the reality of the torture, giving the poem a more mild and tranquil mood. Thus, the reader can picture the whip curling in a smooth and gentler manner across the slaves back, which is contrary to the reality of the situation. Finally, a last contrast in ideas can be seen in the second to last stanza, where the protagonist is “shivering in the early heat” (12). Dove shows the weakness and lack of strength and vitality in her character, since she is feeling cold when it is actually hot. Furthermore, this makes the reader relate to the characters feelings, since we can feel her instability and vulnerability reflected through her lack of health, which eventually resembles the state in which the majority of African-Americans have suffered during that time period.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that Rita Dove chose to use a number of oxymoron can seem relevant to the theme of the poem, as she is describing a time period where the contrast between blacks and white was significant, as the ones used in her poetry.
In the poem titled The Transport of Slaves From Maryland to Mississippi, Rita Dove uses visual imagery and similes, to describe the chaotic scene of slaves breaking free from their captors while being transported, on august 22, 1839. These literary techniques not only paint a picture in the reader’s mind, but also give insight on the pure mayhem and anarchy that was unfolding on that wagon trip. In the first stanza of the poem Dove writes, “Left for dead in the middle/ of the road, dust hovering around the body/ like a screen of mosquitoes/ shimmering in the hushed light./ The skin across his cheekbones/ burst open like baked yams-/ deliberate, the eyelids came apart-/ his eyes were my eyes in a yellower face” (3-10). This description paints an image of brutality and bloodshed in the reader’s mind, as violence and death resonates in the poem as a background beat, to the slaves’ struggle for freedom in this conflict. Just the mentioning of the burst open skin across the cheekbones, is enough for the easily queasy to understand the severity of this escape attempt while feeling somewhat nauseated, but Rita Dove relentlessly includes more to double that effect, and make readers feel uncomfortable with the plentiful amount of gore. The mentioning of his eyes were my eyes, attempts to show a sense of humanity in between the waves of rampage in the poem, and links two people that seem very distant from one another, closer together. Rita Dove includes in the third stanza, “The last thing/ the driver saw were the trees, improbable as broccoli,/ before he was clubbed from behind. Sixty slaves/ poured off the wagon, smelly, half-numb, free” (20-23). Mentioning the last thing the driver saw before he was ambushed from behind, makes readers sympathetic for this man, as he was carelessly unaware of his imminent death. He was never given a chance to react to the situation, and he could have acted differently from what the slaves originally presumed he was going to do. Maybe he didn’t enjoy the idea of slavery and of owning another man, maybe he wanted to help the enslaved people but couldn’t find a way, maybe this was the only job available for him so he can earn a living...maybe he was innocent. Rita Dove emphasizes in this poem the complicated and often problematic issues that arise from slavery, and how both brutality and humanity coincide with one another in this seemingly violent and dark period in our nation’s history.
ReplyDeleteI think that you captured the chaos in the poem well. It was a full revolt by many slaves against only two white slaves. It was short lived tho, as the slaves were caught shortly after the break out.
DeleteThe poem “Belinda’s Petition” caught my eye for numerous reasons. One of the main reasons I like this poem is the sense of flow that Rita Dove creates throughout the poem. throughout the entire poem Dove capitalizes certain words that do not require capitalization for emphasis, and in doing so she creates a flow for the reader to read the poem with. For example, in the first stanza Dove capitalizes the last word on each line. It forces emphasis on each individual line and even creates a pause in the reader's mind after each line. Almost forcing the reader to think about each line. Dove shows Belinda’s contempt and bitterness the Senate and the House by using negative diction and capitalizing the first letter of the negative diction. Dove even uses a little bit of sarcastic diction when she says “As to the Accusation that i am Ignorant:” capitalizing the negative diction creates a sarcastic tone and characterizes Belinda as a strong woman who is staying under control despite her major hardships. The capitalization of keywords creates a feel that Belinda is almost yelling at the Senators that have done her wrong. It creates a feeling of guilt on the other side. It shows that Belinda was going on the offensive rather than the defensive. I believe Rita Dove looked up to Belinda, and she was inspired to write a poem about her because she saw herself in Belinda. They are both intelligent women who are making the best out of the situations that they were given and fighting back against the tyranny and the belligerents who have done them wrong.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on how Rita Dove must have looked up to Belinda, as she has taken much time and effort into producing a worthy enough poem to be in her name. I feel like this is true for all the persons she has written poems for, as it must have taken some kind of interest to first spark the idea of composing a poem for that said individual. Through this poem, and the way Rita Dove presents Belinda in her poem, I feel that Dove must have respected Belinda’s boldness to go up against authority, and prove to them how they have wronged her and her rights. This event must have been unbelievable of an African American female to do in this time period. She was the Rosa Parks of the 18th century. Perhaps Rita Dove also sees part of herself in Belinda, and that Belinda helps define her and where her heritage comes from. This might be one of the driving forces for Dove, and her actions are attempts at living up to her role model.
Delete“The Abduction” by Rita Dove
ReplyDeleteIn this poem, Rita Dove writes about the unfortunate event that happened to Solomon Northrup. Although it is a short poem, it conveys a very powerful and sad story. Solomon Northrup was a freeman who was abducted and was sold into slavery. What stood out to me the most was the structure of the poem. I noticed that the first stanza starts out with a lot of lines, but then as the poem progressed, the succeeding stanzas contains fewer lines. The decreasing of lines might indicate the freedom that Solomon has, which is less and less. The growing despair and feeling of loneliness is seen on the last line “I woke and found myself alone, in darkness and in chains” (Dove 15). Since the lines are decreasing by one line, it could just put more significance of Solomon’s story. Another thing that caught my attention was Solomon’s credulous and naive mindset, which Dove writes “Why should I have doubted them?” (Dove 6). This line suggests that Solomon is a very friendly, innocent, trusting (somewhat), and unsuspecting type of man because he wasn’t aware of the danger that was lying right in front of him. Since his kidnappers offered him opportunities, he was open to it and quickly befriend the two men because “why should I have doubted?” The line also foreshadows Northrup’s future.
In the poem ‘Lady Freedom Among Us’, Rita Dove portrays freedom and humanity, emphasizing these ideas using a wide range of literary devices. In the first and second stanza, we can see how the poet physically describes Lady Freedom, a statue located in Washington DC. She begins by using words such as “old fashioned” (7), “leaden” (8), “stained” (8), “whiskers” (8), and “heaped” (8) to create a temporary image on the reader's mind of an uncivilized and unfancy women, still illustrating the statue as it is. However, this dull diction abruptly changes to suite the reality of this national symbol, by using words such as “feathers” (11), “stars” (11), and “rainbowed” (12) to convert the mood and atmosphere of the poem. The adjustment that Dove makes from one stanza to the other reflects how poorly the statue of the Freedom Lady is seen amongst the American citizens, since few actually recognize its symbol and meaning. In the line “don’t think another item to fit on a tourist agenda” (15) shows how people dismiss on the importance of this figure, as people may not even understand why she is there, looking at it as if it were one of many tourist attractions. Therefore, Dove expresses exasperation and displeasement in her tone, seen through a strong halt in the 8th stanza: “don’t think you can ever forget her / don’t even try” (25-26). What the poet is trying to express here is the importance and relevance of this statue to everyone, since it represents freedom, as well as humanity. She does this by trying to create a firm and tenacious voice, making the reader acknowledge the importance of this figure. The poet also emphasized the power and symbolism in Lady Freedom in the last stanza, as we have “crown her with sky” (29), a metaphor showing how immeasurable her recognition is supposed to be. The fact that we are supposed to crown her with the Sky creates an image on the reader's mind of a rather spiritual, and holy figure, as well as giving her power and influence, since she is a symbolic representation of freedom. Therefore, Dove represents Lady Freedom as being “one of the many” (30), and being “even the least of you” (15), determining her emblematic representation and the reason why she is figured in the Capital City in one of the most important countries in the world.
ReplyDeleteAmber Mao
DeleteThis is a really interesting analysis, I agree with you about the diction and tone used in the poem, as well as the imagery used. Another thing from the text that would support your analysis is the anaphora where Dove uses the word "don't" multiple times in commanding, imperative diction, really driving home the importance of the statue that is not to be ignored, emphasizing the tone of exasperation and displeasement that you mentioned.
In the poem Rosa, Rita Dove utilizes the power of consonance, parallel structure and syntax of short words and sentences to express the significance of Rosa Park’s defiance. Parallel structure can be seen at the beginning of the poem, as the first line coincides with one of the last lines. “How she sat there” (1) is parallel with “How she stood up” (10) in order to make the reader see a meaningful antithesis. By sitting and refusing to stand, Rosa Parks stood up for the rights of African-Americans. A similar paradox can be seen when Rita states, “Doing nothing was the doing” (7). At first glance, this sounds nonsensical and forces the reader to take a closer look, and realize that by doing nothing (i.e. refusing to stand up), she did more than any blacks had previously; to stand up for her rights. This line also suggests that by doing something seemingly insignificant, Parks created one of the most powerful acts in the entirety of the civil rights movement. Furthermore, the syntax demonstrates the significance of an insubstantial act. By creating a powerful poem out of only a few words, short sentences, and short stanzas, Dove reenacts the fact that although Parks was humble and merely said “no” to a white person, the effect of her action was enormous.
ReplyDeleteAs for consonance, the repetition of the letters “c” and “f” can be seen in the third stanza. Dove writes, “the clean flame of her gaze / carved by a camera flash” (8-9). The “clean flame” is referring to the pure strength and unfaltering defiance of Parks that was necessary to defend her rights. “Carved by a camera flash” indicates how this defiant gaze will forever be ingrained into American history because of her fame and photos taken of her. The harsh sounds of “c” and “f” portray how pervasive her confidence was throughout the civil rights movement and just how forcefully she protected her rights and the rights of all African Americans.
I completely agree with your analysis of the poem Rosa. Throughout this poem, Rita Dove paints a picture of Rosa Park as someone is humble and reticent, but yet Rosa is very influential and powerful. My favorite line in this poem is line 7 because it really shows how a simple action that is compared to "doing nothing" can be powerful and it can generate a major impact.
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ReplyDeleteIn the poem “QE2. Transatlantic Crossing. Third Day.” Dove uses visual imagery, metaphor, personification, and repetition of sound to create tone to portray the scene of an African American on a cruise ship, away from home and racial injustices. In the first stanza, the lines “Panel of gray silk. Liquefied ashes. Dingy percale tugged over/the vast dim earth” to establish the color of the ocean and the sky as dim but still with texture and movement (1). The line continues: “ill fitting, softened by eons of tossing/and turning, unfurling its excesses, recalling its losses,/no seam for the mending, no selvage to catch and align” and in this passage, personification is used to depict the sea as restless and always moving, giving it a sense of being something incredibly large as well as alive (2). It also continues the metaphor of fabric from the first line, with diction referring to seams, excess cloth, the selvage, and being ill-fitting. The second stanza describes the scene of people on the ship, and the lines “Mist, calm seas./This is a journey for those who simply wish to be/on the way—to lie back and be rocked for a while, dangled/between the silver spoon and golden gate.” further set the mood of calm and tranquility (10). The phrase “on the way” sets up the antithesis of at once moving to other places and being still that is the ship. The silver spoon and golden gate could refer to the sun and moon as they rise and set over the horizon of the ocean, or the luxuries on the cruise. The rest of the stanza compares the journey by ship to riding the bus, using repetition of sound in “how many coins to send/clicking into the glass bowl” and “what it’s like to climb the steel stairs and sit down” to aid in the visual imagery, though the narrator has never taken the bus before (15, 17); The phrase “going home” is used as comparison to being “on the way” on the ship (18). The “exalted fluorescence of the midnight route,/exhaustion sweetening the stops” provides a contrast of the vividness of the night in the city compared to the ship (19). Lastly, the narrator says that “I can’t erase an ache I never had” leading the reader to the conclusion that he or she might never have personally known the struggle and misery of racial discrimination and inequality, and have only had a calm life on this ship (27).
ReplyDeleteYour analysis on this poem was very interesting to read, and is one that I completely agree with. This poem by Rita Dove uses a great amount of visual imagery to give action and movement to the poem, and does it in a fantastic way. Along with visual imagery, metaphors, personification, and repetition, the use of auditory imagery also helps to portray the scene on the cruise ship. For example, “the chime of the elevator” (6), is often associated with elegant hotels that you can commonly find on TV shows, when the baggage boy is escorting the guests to their room. This gives readers an idea about the type of ship this character is on, without directly writing in the poem, and uses something other than visual imagery to describe the scene. Other examples of auditory imagery can be seen in other parts of the poem as well, and helps bring readers to the same conclusion as this one has.
DeleteForgot to add - this analysis is by Amber Mao
DeleteThe poem “Claudette Colvin Goes to Work” stood out to me, because it is about a not well known civil activist. It follows 19 year old Claudette Colvin ordinary trip to work on the city bus, just as most african american citizens did everyday. Throughout the entire poem Rita Dove uses a variety of negative diction to create a sad almost grim feel. Dove uses the words “scourge twilight fickle dissolve” These words give the reader of the poem insight into what it feels like to be Claudette on a daily basis. She felt hopeless to the racism and the oppression she faced every day. Claudette was a brave young women. She did the same thing that Rosa Parks did that made her so famous, but Claudette did not receive the mass amount of media attention that Rosa did. Claudette was asked to move to the back of the bus to free up a seat for a white person, but in her bravery she said no. She was a very humble person. Dove shows how humble she is when she says “I help those who can’t help themselves / I do what needs to be done” (5-6) I believe that Rita Dove looks up to Claudette. Dove admires her tenacity, because even after Rosa Parks became famous for the same thing Claudette did Claudette still continued to fight for her cause and never give up. Dove also admires how humble Claudette is and her bravery. It takes a lot of guts to stand up for yourself against massive tyranny like Claudette did, and we can only hope that we have the strength to do so ourselves.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your point on Dove's negative diction, although I think that she uses them specifically to set a more dark and intense atmosphere to her poem. This can be seen in words such as "shadows" (2), and "bad light" (11), as well as "dark" (14) and "smoke" (18). These words help the reader create a visual image of the narrative of the poem. I also agree with your comparison with Rosa Parks, yet Claudette being more tenacious and recognized by Dove.
ReplyDeleteIn Climbing In by Rita Dove, enjambment and end-stop are used multiple times in the poem to emphasize certain ideas and/or objects. An example of end-stop in the poem, would be “Teeth” (1). Located on the first line on the first stanza of the poem, it is isolated from the rest of the stanza by being the sole word in that line. It is the very first word you read in the poem, with a pause before continuing onto the rest of the piece. By doing so, Rita Dove lets the mind of the reader focus on that one specific word, and what it might foreshadow. Enjambment can be seen in the second stanza of the poem in which Dove writes, “ like the dime/ cutting my palm/ as I clutch the silver pole/ to step up, up” (4-7). By breaking up one thought or sentence into multiple lines, it allows each line to have its own emphasis on one part of the complete thought. In the first line of the stanza, the focus is on the dime. It makes readers paint a picture of that dime in their mind and nothing else. After reading the next line, readers can then conceptualize that dime cutting the palm of the character's hand. It then emphasizes the reader’s focus on the silver pole. This technique allows the mind to imagine each image in a more detailed and clearer way when they are read individually, than if they are all placed on one line. It also helps create a more aesthetically pleasing poem with shorter lines, then it would be with longer ones.
ReplyDelete11.4.15
ReplyDeleteIn Rita Dove’s poem, “The situation is intolerable,” it explore the difficulty and prejudice that African-Americans faced during the time of the civil rights movement. Through the point of view of an African-American, Dove uses as angry tone to portray how black people felt towards their nonexistent freedom and independence during the time. Dove writes in stanza two, “tiny, missionary stars- / on high, serene, studding / the inky brow of heaven” (12-14). This part in the poem could be interpreted as a tone of hope and faith. The people are looking up at the stars and heaven to find strength, support, inspiration, and encouragement to fight for their rights. The word “intolerable” is used twice in the poem - one in the beginning and one at the end. The first “intolerable” (1), is used to represent how African-Americans are tired of being treated so unfairly and unjust. The people are now prepared and are all set to take action for the rights that they should have. The second “intolerable” (19), symbolizes their fight with poverty and how their situation is quite unbearable. But despite their situation being a bit much, it is much better than not taking a stand. Overall, the whole poem gave a negative mood, and it really puts into perspective about the struggles that many black people faced during the civil rights movement.
Amber Mao
DeleteI agree with your analysis, especially in the part about the stars as the people's inspiration and strength, and with the first instance of the word "intolerable" being used to represent the unjust treatment of the African Americans. However, I think that the second use of "intolerable" could also refer to how passiveness about the situation is intolerable, and that they should fight for their rights instead of sitting there and doing nothing about them, as a dynamic change from the first appearance and meaning of the word.
In the first part of the poem Parsley, titled 1. The Cane Fields, Rita Dove uses anaphora, symbols, and kinetic diction to give the reader a feeling of suspense, as well as to portray the theme of the Haitians’ fear of the brutalities they faced. Anaphora conveys these ideas through the repetition of “out of the swamp the cane appears” (3). The cane fields refer to the thousands of Haitians that were forced to do strenuous work to harvest fields of sugar cane. Repeating this line demonstrates the monotony and relentlessness of working in the fields. In addition, the wording of something appearing reflects the fear of soldiers approaching the Haitians in the field to kill them, creating a double entendre. This isn’t the only place anaphora is used; the phrase “a parrot is imitating spring” is also repeated several times. Since parrots are known to be imitators, the parrot can symbolize the Haitians trying to imitate the trill of the R in the word “perejil”, therefore tricking the soldiers into believing that they are Dominicans. The repetition of this phrase further expresses the fearfulness of the Haitians; they repeatedly thought about how to say the Spanish word with a Dominican accent, as their life depended on it. Not only does this repetition show how obsessed and fearful to Haitians were, but also makes the poem feel suspenseful. At any minute, the soldiers may demand an answer and put their life at stake.
ReplyDeleteAs for kinetic imagery, Dove uses harsh verbs and movements to exemplify the brutalities of the cane fields and the massacre. The personified phrase, “rain punches through” (7), and “lashed by the wind” (16) use violent verbs to create a hateful and abusive tone that reflects the Dominicans’ animosity towards the Haitians.
Your analysis is very interesting! I would have never thought of how the phrase “parrot imitating spring”, could also symbolize the Haitians attempting to imitate the thrill of the R in perejil. This is intriguing, and makes me wonder what other things I might have failed to realize in this poem. Rita Dove packs so many techniques and bits of information in her poems, that it’s sometimes hard trying to find all of them. It’s almost like a puzzle, where you have to take your time figuring out how it all fits together, in order to complete it all. On the contrary, kinetic imagery is one technique that I quickly noticed in this poem. The verbs and movements she chooses to use does impact the way you feel about what is occurring in the poem, and subconsciously triggered flashbacks to times when I had felt severe pains that felt similar to what was being described (granite it was most likely nowhere near the intensity of pain they were suffering from). Rita Dove uses kinetic imagery in a similar way in other previous poems that we have read so far from her, and I imagine we will see even more of that in future poems to come.
DeleteI agree with your analysis, and I think that the use of "parrot imitating spring," represent how the Haitian people tried to imitate those who could pronounce the word "perejil" correctly, just like how a parrot mimic others. I wonder why Rita Dove decided to use the word "spring." Well when I think of spring, it makes me happy and satisfied to see how all of the plants and flowers begin to grow, blossom, and bloom again. Springtime also reminds me of freshness and new beginning.
DeleteAmber Mao
ReplyDeleteIn the poem “Parsley”, Dove uses anaphora, point of view, and flashback to portray the rule of the dictator Trujillo. In part 1, The Cane Fields, anaphora is very prominently used; the phrase “a parrot imitating spring” foreshadows that there are no better times ahead for the Haitians, and that everything good has become only a mere “imitation” under the general’s cruelty, and the repetition is a constant reminder as well as mimicking a parrot repeating things (1). The phrase “Out of the swamp the cane appears/to haunt us” refers to the sugar cane plantations the Haitians were forced to work in, and the constant fear of being tormented and killed by Trujillo’s soldiers (3). The phrases “rain punches through” and “lashed by wind and streaming” are kinesthetic imagery, using harsh weather to metaphorically describing the brutality of the dictator’s regime, as well as setting the tone of hopeless of the Haitians’ fear and suffering (7, 16). In this first part, Dove also uses the pronoun “we”, making these stanzas from the perspective of the Haitians, as well as heavier use of enjambment and shorter stanzas as compared to the second part to create an effect of the desperation they felt. The second part, The Palace, is in third person but from Trujillo’s perspective. The stanzas are larger and are composed of longer, more complex sentences to contrast with the diction from the first part, changing the tone to more of one suiting someone who lives in a palace. His mother’s “room in the palace, the one without/curtains” seems to have been stripped bare of everything except the parrot practicing spring (reinforcing that any good remaining is only an imitation), similar to how he has utterly removed everything deemed unworthy in the Dominican Republic – such as the Haitians who could not roll an R (28). The use of flashback here in describing Trujillo’s mother – whose death while preparing for Day of the Dead is ironic – and his experience in war somehow makes the dictator seem more human in a way, despite his killing of thousands of innocent people. The return of the phrase “the fields of sugar/cane, lashed by rain and streaming” along with “He sees his mother’s smile, the teeth/gnawed to arrowheads” ties his flashbacks of his mother to the present situation of the Haitians – and how the former could be the cause for the latter (50).
I found interesting how you connected the parrot with the repetition and anaphora of the phrase "a parrot imitating springs", and how Dove repeats this line the same way parrots repeat things. I hadn't thought of this. I could add to your idea of the cane how Dove connects it to the second part of the poem with his own mother's cane, and how he buried it with her. Do you think there is any resemblance between his mother's death and the death of the thousands of Haitians?
DeleteIn the poem Parsley, Rita Dove utilizes visual imagery as well as auditory imagery, to convey the pain and abuse the Haitians faced from a brutal general. In the third stanza of the poem Dove writes, “we lie down screaming as rain punches through/ and we come up green. We cannot speak an R-/ out of the swamp, the cane appears” (7-9). This is a powerful stanza, as it makes readers visually see and hear innocent men and women in fear of their life, terrified that they’ll be killed because they are unable to pronounce the R sound in the word parsley. This imagery both disgusted and angered me, as I paused to wonder how a human can conscientiously kill another from just a simple difference in accent. Is it simply because of racial hatred, or something else? Rita Dove effectively uses imagery in this stanza to evoke emotion from the reader, and uses it as a means to urge readers on to finish reading the poem, in hopes that it might bring some kind of conclusion as to why this is occurring. This stanza, coincides with the passage from The Farming of Bones, by Edwidge Danticat. Rita Dove might very well be describing the scene where Amabelle, Yves, and Odette are being forced parsley down their throats, to the point of certain death. The phrase “we come up green” (8) from Rita Dove’s poem, might be describing Yves, as he “was buried in a puddle of green spew” (Danticat). Unable to manage to overwhelming amount of parsley being stuffed inside of his mouth by the soldiers, he subsequently choked to death from this bizarre and brutal form of torture. Similar to line 7 in the third stanza, lines 15 and 50 brings the reader back to this horrific scene when it repeats “lashed by rain and streaming”.
ReplyDeleteIn the poem Parsley Dove uses personification point of view and anaphora to illustrate exactly how harsh the rule was under the vicious dictator General Trujillo. Dove gives us a little bit of the scenery of the poem in the first stanza. There is a parrot in a palace with a sugarcane plantation outside the palace. This means that there is someone wealthy that owns all of the land that the sugarcane is on and maybe even own or control the people who work the sugarcane. The poem is mostly told from the point of view of the very poor Haitian sugarcane workers who were practically slaves for General Trujillo. At the beginning of the poem Dove continues to wright in the point of view of the Haitian sugarcane workers in order to accurately portray the hopelessness of their situation. For example Dove writes “Out of the swamp the cane appears//to haunt us, and we cut it down” (3-4). In that quote Dove personifies the sugarcane as a moving and almost eire thing. This shows us how hard working sugarcane is. Sugarcane workers are often beaten and forced to work horribly long shifts. It is such hard manual labor that the sugarcane workers believe that it is just there to haunt them. We know that the workers are Haitian and that General Trujillo has some sort of hatred towards Haitians. Dove shows this on lines 3-5 when she says, “El General/ searches for a word; he is all the world/ there is”. Haitian people have trouble saying the letter “r” so General Trujillo makes people say a word with an r in it, like parsley. This also shows how much power General Trujillo has over the Haitians, because “he is all the world there is”. From the Haitian perspective he is all the world. He has all the power over you, he decides whether pr not you live to work another day or die and “come up green”.
ReplyDeleteIn Rita Dove’s poem, Parsley, she writes about the devastating and tragic genocide that took place in the Dominican Republic during the fall of 1937. The mass killing earned the name of “Parsley Massacre” because under the brutal control of the Dominican dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, Dominican soldiers were ordered to ask people to pronounce the word “perejil,” which in English means “parsley.” It was a test to identify who was Haitian. Their first language is Creole, and because of this it was remarkably difficult for Haitians to pronounce the word accurately. An estimation of about 20,000 Haitians were mercilessly murdered. In the poem, there were many anaphoras, violent diction, and multiple references to historical events. In first section of the poem, “The Cane Field,” it is written through the Haitian people’s point of view. Throughout the first section, she uses the repetition of the phrase “parrot imitating spring,” and it is seen in line 6, 12, and 18. The phrase represents how 20,000 Haitians were forced into saying the word parsley in Spanish, which ultimately led to their impending death. There was also a repetition of the word “cane” and the word “cane” is also in the title for the first part of the poem. Cane represents the sugarcane plantation where many Haitians slaved on. It is also a symbolization of the living condition and lower class they are. The second part of the poem is entitled, “The Palace.” Again, the word “parrot” and “cane” is repeated here as well. In this section, there were many random subjects that Dove touched base on. It went from “his mother, how she died in the fall” (23), to “Who can I kill today” (31), and to how “... the general / has hated sweets.” (39-40).
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your analysis. The Parsley Massacre was a brutal and vicious event that took place, and is one of the darker sides of human history. It amazes me how someone could commit such an atrocity with no remorse whatsoever. This is one of my favorite poems from Rita Dove so far, mainly because it has to do with history. I had no idea this event ever took place before reading this poem, and now after reading and analyzing it, I can say that I learned something from history because of this poem. For Rita Dove to dedicate a poem to this event, suggests that it’s important to her in some way, and that she wants to spread awareness to her readers, that might not be aware that this horrible massacre even took place.
DeleteIn the poem Parsley, Rita Dove is expressing General Trujillo’s psychotic thoughts during his dictatorship in the 1930’s, using a range of literary devices. General Trujillo, during his control over the Dominican Republic’s state, ordered his soldiers to kill anyone who could not correctly pronounce the word “perejil” (parsley in spanish), discriminating those belonging to the Haitians which would pronounce the word “pelejil”. This way, Trujillo’s troops could identify Haitians from native Dominicans. To begin with, Rita Dove divides her poem into two sections, one titled The Cane Fields, and the other The Palace, both connected and interrelated. In the first section, the poet emphasizes the phrase “parrot imitating spring” and “out of the swamp the cane appears”, which she repeats in each stanza. From the other section, we know that the cane references Gral Trujillo mother’s cane, which right after she died, he “planted her walking cane at the grave” (24). The fact that the poet repeatedly emphasizes the cane shows the paranoia suffered by the dictator, as he continually feels grief because of his mother’s death. Rita Dove also shows Gral Trujillo’s psychotic behavior seen in Dove’s auditory images, such as “stomps to her room” (27-28), “knot of screams” (32) and “at the sound of artillery” (53-54). Dove creates a maniatic visual imagery as well, seen in the line “He laughs, teeth shining out of the swamp” (15) and “he see’s his mother smile, teeth gnawed to arrowheads” (58-59). This makes the reader visualize a threatening and frightening image of Gral Trujillo, smiling in a rather sarcastic and psychotic manner. Furthermore, another obsessive behavior and thought that Gral Trujillo had and that is assimilated in the expert is the fact that the people could not pronounce the letter R properly. In the poem, Dove describes this compulsory behavior in “his mother was no stupid; she could roll an R like a queen. Even a parrot can roll an R!” (64-65). In the expert, we can see how actually rolling the R was tough for some people since “the trill of the r (...) was sometimes too burdensome a joining for my tongue” (Danticat, 8-9). The fact that people couldn’t pronounce the letter r in a “correct” isn’t actually something fallacious, but actually reflects how masochist and maniac the Dominican Republic’s dictator was.
ReplyDeleteYour discussion brought up conclusions I had never thought of before. I hadn't considered that the poem could represent Trujillo's psyche and insanity. I was wondering how the two drastically different sections of the poem integrated into one poem, and your explanation of the two different uses of "cane" suggested that Trujillo may have been demented and confused because of his mother's death. Rita Dove may be suggesting that his confusion led him to carry out inhumane and terrible actions. In addition, you described Trujillo's mother as frightening because her teeth were "gnawed to arrowheads" (59). Why do you think Dove would depict her as frightening? Or maybe, just like the Haitians, her teeth were gnawed to arrowheads in order to show her similarity to the Haitians Trujillo was killing. Thanks for making me think!
DeleteIn the poem Primer, Rita Dove uses consonance and enjambment to create a dominant effect of excitement as well as to portray the narrator’s independence and her mother’s support. Consonance appears mostly in the repetition of the “s” sound, such as “three skinny sisters / in rolled-down bobby socks. Hissing” (2-3). The letter “s” is often used to create a dramatic effect. In this case, the repeated “s” excites the reader and adds to the narrator’s powerful declaration of independence: “I’d show them all: I would grow up” (14). In addition, the letter “s” reminds the reader of the word “strength”, which is a major characteristic of the narrator. However, this strength does not just come from the reader’s claim to independence; the mother protects her daughter from the bullies, which lets her child know that she has support and someone who loves her. Even though the narrator wants to seem independent, she feels a certain pride in her mother’s protection and needs her for support. Furthermore, Primer, the title, refers to a substance that protects surfaces from decay. Likewise, the mother’s protection serves as a “primer” from bullying to the daughter. This idea is further articulated by the consonance in “my five-foot-zero mother” (10). Even though the mother is only five feet tall, the “f” sound expresses her assertiveness. Overall, the use of consonance conveys the theme of the unfaltering love between a mother and her daughter, even when the daughter is in her rebellious teenage years.
ReplyDeleteThe syntax also helps to demonstrate the narrator’s love and strength. First of all, the poem is not broken up into stanzas, but kept in one long continuous form. In addition, enjambment is used at the end of most lines, which further creates a non-stop flow of the poem. This continuous stream reflects the narrator’s unfaltering strength against the bullying, and, more importantly, the never-ending love between a mother and her child.
DeleteWow your analysis blew me away. We had similar ideas and even some that I hadn’t noticed before. Like the use of cossance and yow you related the repetition of the vowel “s” with strength in the character. After reading your analysis, I had realized something I hadn’t before. When the character says, “I’d show them all: I would grow up”. I feel like this symbolizes, not only the relationship with her mom and wanting to show her that she’s not a little kid anymore, but also to the bullies. She’s hoping that her taking the higher road and growing up will set an example to them That hopefully, they will grow up and stop teasing her and other kids. Thanks for posting!
I enjoyed your analysis very much! I didn't really pay much attention to the repetition of consonance such as "s" and "f," but your observation helped me understood the poem more. I viewed this poem differently as well! I took lines 12-14 much differently than how you did. Instead of viewing the teenager as "rebellious," I viewed her as wanting to be independent and wanting to find her confidence. Her mother played a huge role in this because in lines 8-11, she talks about how the only reason she survived their torments was all thanks to her mom. Here, she talks about her mother in a very positive light, and you can tell that she really admires her mother's self-confident. She wants to prove to herself and her bullies that she will be independent from now on and hopefully grow up to be just like her mom.
DeleteIn Rita Dove’s poem, “Heroes”, there is an allegory of how heroes are not always loved and appreciated. Sometimes doing the “right” thing isn’t always accepted by others, and in actuality the end result might even make things worse for both sides. In the poem, it’s been established how heroes are like everyone, and they too make mistakes even if they believe that they are being convenient and helpful. Heroes starts off with an imagery “A flower in a weedy field: make it a poppy” (1-2). Readers picture a poppy flower, positioned in a field that is “weedy.” Dove chose to write about poppy flowers because it represents beauty, consolation, eternal life, and loyalty/ faith between lovers. It’s quite ironic how poppies symbolizes “eternal life,” but the only reason why the main character picked it up was “because it begins to wilt” (3). After picking up the wilting flower, the narrator runs to the nearest house to ask for some help and support. But to his surprise, the woman began screaming at him because it just so happens that “plucked the last poppy / in her miserable garden, the one / that gave her the strength every morning / to rise!” (7-10). Since the flower gave the woman her strength, it tells the readers that the woman is weak, and she relies and depends greatly upon it. In lines 10-13, the main character is seen feeling guilty and reprehensible. He tries to make it up to her, but somehow he ends up killing the old woman. In the second to last stanza, the main character questions himself and ask why “did you pick that idiot flower?” (25) and he answered “you knew / it was going to die.” (27-28). My interpretation of the “idiot flower” is that it represents that old woman because like flowers, she will die someday as well.
ReplyDeleteWe viewed this poem in very different ways! I'm glad you wrote about this, since I didn't understand how the title connected to the poem; now I understand how the narrator was a "hero" for picking the flower, but this heroism was not accepted. Also, the context of the poem parallels with the Greek myth of Persephone; she unknowingly picked a pretty flower and then fell into Hades trap, as Hades would force her to marry him. Therefore, the title also may be alluding to the fact that because of others' mistakes and foolishness, heroes have to step in, as the hero Zeus would have to come rescue Persephone. I also was intrigued by how you said poppies symbolize loyalty and faith between lovers. This is ironic because there was no loyalty between Hades and Persephone; she cried every day over the forced marriage. Nice attentiveness to the title!
DeleteAmber Mao
DeleteI also viewed this poem in a very different way. I thought that the poppy could be Persephone (bright and beautiful, difficult for her to live in the underworld), the woman could be Demeter (the poppy - her daughter Persephone - gave her the strength to rise every morning, and without it, she was enmired in rage and grief) and Hades as the narrator who plucked the flower and kept it and drew the ire of Demeter. The title "Heroes" would be ironic because in the myth, Hades is viewed as more of the villain who abducted Persephone.
In the poem Used, Rita Dove writes about the tiring work of a mother, and her endless amount of love for her child, all while creating a flow that keeps readers interested in the poem. Rita Dove uses end rhyme, visual imagery, and repetition, to do so. One example would be the second of three stanzas in the poem in which Dove writes, “we’ve earned the navels sunk in grief/ when the last child emptied us of their brief/ interior light. Our muscles say We have been used” (5-7). Dove manages to use all three literary techniques, to create an impactful and well flowing stanza. Repetition is used in this stanza, by the repeated use of “we” in both the fifth line, and seventh line as well. The “we”, implies to the mothers who are caring for their child, and are giving their all in order to do so. It emphasizes that they, the mothers, are the ones who are infact doing all of this for their child, and that their bodies began showing signs of stress and use because of that. This constant exhaustion makes them feel that they are being used as their body is reflecting such a conclusion, but their love and devotion for their child overcomes such emotions. End rhyme is used at the end of lines 5 and 6 to flow these two lines together. It links the two ideas from those two separate lines together, thus making it easier for readers to realize so. As well as help create a flow in the poem, this particular example of end rhyme puts an emphasis on the words “grief” (5) and “brief” (6) as well. Visual imagery in Used, is utilized to keep the reader engaged, as well as establish Rita Dove’s overall theme, which is that mothers work tremendously hard for their children to raise them, but get little out it other than the love and bond between the two that form in the process.
ReplyDeleteAmber Mao
ReplyDeleteIn the poem “Exit”, Dove uses personification, visual imagery, and symbolism to portray the emotions of a young woman leaving home. The emphasis of the fact that “it is your street/you are leaving” introduces that the narrator is leaving a place she has belonged to for a long time, and her departure is almost unreal, not just “a street like in the movies” (3, 2). In the second stanza, personification is used in “The windows you have closed behind/you are turning pink, doing what they do/every dawn” gives a life to the home, and that it seemingly wakes every day like its inhabitants (6). The windows closing is also symbolic – other than being just what people do when they go out, it also represents turning one’s back on something, or a sense of finality in this case. The rest of the stanza: “Here it’s gray; the door/to the taxicab waits. This suitcase,/the saddest object in the world” uses the color gray, usually a connotation of sadness, to contrast with the pink of the dawn from before (8). Personification gives the taxicab a feeling of quiet expectation of its passenger, and the suitcase abject sorrow as an inadequate temporary replacement for a home. The last stanza starts: “Well, the world’s open. And now through/the windshield the sky begins to blush” and again uses personification to describe how the world and its opportunities had opened up to the young woman, and aids in the visual imagery of the gradation of color in the sky as the sun rises (11).
After first reading "Heroes," I had no understanding of the meaning behind the poetry. However, after reading it many other times, and color marking, I have found a concrete meaning behind Dove's work. "Heroes," represents the relationship between a mother and daughter. As a daughter there are moments when you try to "pick it because it begins to wilt," or help and obey your mother. Although you had good intentions, it was something that your mother didn't wish for you to do, which leads to anger or "screaming." When a daughter over-steps her boundaries, or doesn't act as her mother pleases, the relationship takes a major toll. In the poetry, this is expressed as "so you strike her, she hits her head on a white boulder, and there's nothing to be done but break the stone into gravel..." The daughter's initial action was one of a hero, because they wanted to save the poppy, or do as her mother pleased, however it turned out the opposite. Now that there is a damper in the relationship between the mother and daughter, the daughter feels guilty. Her guilt was never intended, which relates to human nature. As humans, we often try to impress others, or step in with the intention of helping a situation, and only sublimate it in a negative way. No matter the circumstance, every daughter desires to be their mothers "hero," but achieving that title is much harder than it may seem.
ReplyDeleteIn the poem Meditation at Fifty Yards, Moving Target, Rita Dove uses variation in syntax, anaphora, and consonance to discuss different points of view on guns, thus concluding that one topic can be seen from several drastically different perspectives. In the first stanza, titled Safety First, Dove creates a bulky paragraph with long lines and lots of commands to create a stentorian tone. This stanza reflects the view of those wary of weapons and concerned about their potential dangers. On the contrary, the second section, Open Air, implies a point of view from someone who is passionate about using artillery, as if it’s their form of meditation, like the title of the poem suggests. The use of anaphora in repeating the words “don’t” and “squeeze” intensify the poem and make this section flow, demonstrating the persona’s fascination with weaponry. The next section, Gender Politics, discusses how males and females perceive firearms differently. When talking about guys, Dove uses consonance and onomatopoeia in “thunk-and slide of a blunt-nose silver Mossberg” (26) and “they’ll whoop it up” (28). This illustrates how reckless boys are and why they enjoy the boisterous nature of guns. However, Dove notes that females who use guns use them for different reasons. The assonance, like in “tin cans swing-dancing in the trees” (51), makes the stanza flow, demonstrating the “elegant” aspects of artillery that females enjoy. Finally, the last section, The Bullet, deviates most from any of the previous perspectives. Rather than the strong lines of Safety Politics or the flowing sophistication of Gender Politics, The Bullet uses nonsensical syntax and shows the point of view of the bullet itself. The use of lowercase letters makes the reader think of a small bullet, and indicate the bullet’s inability to think. The lack of punctuation and run-on phrases give the section a rapid and continuous tone, denoting a bullet that is about to strike its target.
ReplyDeleteAmber Mao
DeleteI agree with your analysis of the changes in tone reflecting various opinions on guns in the separate parts of the poem. Some things that add to your analysis are: in the first stanza, it mentions that "You could wound the burglar and kill your child/sleeping in the next room, all with one shot." and it further reinforces the tone of wariness you mentioned. The last stanza in Gender Politics is also interestingly shaped like a bullet flying through the air, about to hit its mark. In combination with the question it poses, it could represent that life flies by with the speed of a bullet, too little time and no chance to make the decision, and death will come just as surely as it hits home.
I really enjoyed reading your analysis of this poem, and I completely agree with everything that you said. When I was reading this poem, I noticed that Dove writes it in a second person point of view. This point of view is usually used for giving directions such as "Never point your weapon, keep your finger off the trigger," giving advice, or providing information or an explanation such as lines 6-10. Writing in second person also allow readers to connect more with the story line. I noticed that in the last part, The Bullet, is written in first person. Just as how you explained it, the bullet is written in first person because Dove writes it through the bullets point of view. The lowercase "i" could possibly mean that it (bullet) is just an object that really has no purpose, unless someone uses it for a specific reason.
DeleteYour analysis of the poem was very enjoyable to read. This poem from Rita Dove stood out in particular from all the rest to me, because she discusses about a political debate that has ramped up here in the US after some several horrific tragedies. It seems like everyone has their own opinion on it, and differences in viewpoint on guns and gun control can lead to some heated arguments. This poem can help start conversations about guns, and what each person feels about them. It could also cause the reader who has not previously thought about the subject matter, to ask themselves what they really feel about guns, and what they should and shouldn’t be intended for.
DeleteAmber Mao
ReplyDeleteIn the poem “Sic Itur Ad Astra”, Dove uses symbolism, despairing diction, and visual imagery to portray someone lost in life and desperate. The narrator calls out to his/her bed as if it were not an inanimate object: “Bed, where are you flying to?” and “Come here, bed,/I need you! I don’t know my way.” (1, 17) Here, the bed is obviously not actually physically flying away but could be a symbol representing sleep, and how the narrator is dependent upon the oblivion of sleep to escape reality, but it eludes his grasp. The narrator’s voice is pleading and distraught, helping to set the tone for this poem. In the second stanza, there is a comparison; “Close my eyes/and sink back to/day’s tiny dismissals;” indicates that perhaps the narrator failures still chase him despite his attempts to avoid them (6). The second half of the stanza: “open wide and I’m/barefoot, nightshirt/fluttering white as a sail.” (9) The visual imagery used here perhaps shows this world here “on a porch/open to the stars” has become a more real, solid place than the daytime (4). The simile comparing the nightshirt to a sail gives a feeling of insubstantiality to the narrator compared to the night, as if he might be carried away by the wind to the stars at any minute. In the last stanza, the first few lines: “What will they say/when they find me/missing—just/the shape of my dreaming/creasing the sheets?” further this concept – at this point, the narrator’s dreams are more substantial than himself, as they are the weight that is creasing the sheets (12). The last stanza: “At least leave my pillow/behind to remind me/what affliction I’ve fled—/my poor, crushed pillow/with its garden of smells!” (19) The mention of fleeing an affliction reinforces the idea that the narrator is trying to hide from life – perhaps not a physical pain but an emotional one. The description of the pillow – its being crushed and having a variety of scents – could indicate that it had been something the narrator held on to, a reminder of what he had been through and how he had chased sleep (and his bed) beneath the stars.
In the poem Cozy Apologia, Rita Dove is writing about a person expressing the love they have for another. In the beginning of the poem it reads “-for Fred”, so the poem clearly marks who this poem is intended for, and indicates that this person must be related to Rita Dove in some manner. After a quick search into this, I discovered that Fred is infact the husband of Rita Dove, and that Cozy Apologia is written about the relationship between Rita Dove and her husband. This new point of view helps clarify the poem for me, and reveals what Rita Dove feels about her relationship with her husband. Rita Dove uses end rhyme and visual imagery in Cozy Apologia, to express her love towards her husband, as well as giving the poem a light-hearted feeling throughout the piece. One example from the poem that uses both literary techniques would be in the first stanza, in which Rita Dove writes, “This lamp, the wind-still rain, the glossy blue/ My pen exudes, drying matte, upon the page./ I could chose any hero, any cause or age/ And, sure as shooting arrows to the heart,/ Astride a dappled mare, legs braced as far apart/ As standing in silver stirrups will allow-/ There you’ll be, with furrowed brow” (2-8). Here Rita Dove is talking about herself sitting down with her page under her lamp, getting ready to write a poem. She says that she can chose to write about any hero she desires, but she chooses to write about her husband Fred. This imagery shows readers just how important Dove’s husband is to her, by devoting an entire poem to him. It takes quite some time for a poet to produce a poem that he or she is happy with, and one that invokes the right amount of emotion out of the reader when the work is read. Dove really must have her husband in a special place in her heart, to have the passion to write a lengthy and emotional poem about their love. The end rhyme located throughout these lines helps flow the poetry from one line to the other, emphasizing on the last words in each line such as “page” (3) and “age” (4) to help express to readers how important her relationship with her partner is. End rhyme in this poem also gives it a sort of sing-song feel, which makes the mood seem bright and happy as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking the time to research and find out that Fred is her husband; I suspected that, but it clarifies the poem’s meaning. I agree that the poem has a light-hearted feel, and I think this is also conveyed by the title since it has the word “cozy.” Furthermore, I looked up what “apologia” means, and it’s a formal written defense of one’s opinion. So, this is a “cozy” written defense of why Dove loves her husband so much. She also mentions trivial high school boys who weren’t nearly as heroic as her husband. She claims that they “were thin as licorice and as chewy, / Sweet with a dark and hollow center” (19-20). This simile is fitting because some couples seem happy on the outside but aren’t really connected personally or emotionally. Furthermore, discussing flaws in other relationships makes her relationship with her husband seem more special. Thanks for the information!
DeleteI agree with the fact that you connected it with her real life love, Fred. However, I think you should make a connection with the title, since it shows how Dove actually feels. Marrying a German writer, Dove knows that she is not ordinary, nor does she want to be. Therefore, in there title "Cozy Apology", she is apologizing in a rather sarcastic way to the people that mock and criticize her for having made the 'wrong choice' and marrying him. She, however, is content with her choice, and as seen in the poem, is madly in love with him.
DeleteThe poem “Crazy Apology”, by Rita Dove, talk about her profound love towards her husband. In the first stanza, she talks about how immense the love they share is, since she “could pick anything and think of” him (2). She admires this person so much that she cannot find words to describe this feeling, since everything reminds her of him. She also describes how when she feels trapped, he always sets her free, confronting her problem or enemy. In the second stanza, Dove uses metaphors to express how real and actual their love is, since she compares it to her past teenage boyfriends. She does this by comparing Big Floyd hurricane from 1999 with the boys of her teenage past. This hurricane was large, powerful storm that happened along the Atlantic coast in 1999, just four years before this poem was written. The metaphor explains that just like a hurricane brings bad weather, it is also bringing back bad, awkward memories of teenage boys. A hurricane has a huge front then a calm center, the eye of the storm. Those boys came off charming and pleasant, but proved to have nothing but a hollow center. Dove is pushing away those boys to try to focus on her love right now.
ReplyDeleteIn this stanza, Dove also employs Colloquialism and other dictions to reflect this flashback, or memory. She uses the word “sissy”, which is not only colloquialism but also profanity, to emphasize her teenage lovers at that time. The word may also be a word she used to use with her friends when she was young. In the third stanza, however, Dove goes back to expressing her deep love with her husband, since she describes them as being perfectly happy, him “bunkered in his / Aerie”, (21-22) and she “perched in hers” (22). However, she describes how she does not settle for the ‘alright’ since it is not enough, it is too plain and typical.
The title of the poem means a comfortable apology, since Dove is using sarcasm and irony to apologize for not being ordinary. In a research I did, I found that Dove is ridicules because of the love she chose, since they have two completely different backgrounds and histories. However, Dove chooses not to listen to him and know that he is the love of her life and that she made the right choice.
In the poem Castle Walk Rita Dove uses point of view, visual imagery and positive diction to portray a scene of a rather enthusiastic african american band marching, and playing, through a sea of apathetic white people. This poem is told by the band director's point of view, James Reese Europe. James Reese Europe was a famous jazz pioneer and civil rights activist in the band community. He gained fame in 1912 when he and his band, the Clef Club, performed jazz music at famous Carnegie Hall for the first time. He was widely praised in the african american community and later people even called him the Martin Luther King of music. He was later drafted by the military in WW1 and served as a band director for the “Harlem Hellfighters”. He traveled 2,000 miles across France and played for military personnel and civilians. In this poem rita dove uses visual imagery to show the reader the feelings of the civilian people James Reese Europe is playing for. Dove says, “Our boys got a snap and buzz/ no one dancing” (11-12) It seems like the band is loud, upbeat, and is playing music that people would normally dance to, but since they are black people are not dancing or getting into the music at all. The narrator of the poem, James Reese Europe, hints to us that people are sticking their nose up at him and his band. “The couples stroll/ past, continuing to themselves/ as they orbit, chins poked out/ as if expecting a kiss…” The people stuck their nose up at the band and kept to themselves as they walked by. It is amazing that people were not grateful for the band being there, especially since it was wartime. It seems like James Reese Europe just wanted to cheer everyone up, and even if no one wanted to dance along with his music he wouldn’t let that stop him from playing his hardest and marching the most upbeat.
ReplyDeleteIn Rita Dove’s Chocolate, she uses personification, visual imagery, symbolism, and sexual diction to talk about love and her lust. Chocolate symbolizes a person whom she loves dearly, and is in a huge rush to have. Visual imagery is seen as she describes the piece of chocolate as “Velvet fruit, exquisite square” (1). In the second stanza, Dove writes about how “you numb me / with your rich attentions!” Whenever the lover gives the narrator “rich” attentions, she becomes “numb.” The word “rich” along with creamy, sweet, and sensual are some words used to describe chocolate. Dove used the word “numb” to indicate that the narrator feels comforted and alleviated from her problems when she is with her lover. The author uses sexual diction such as “rich,” “pleasure seeker,” “a taste of you,” and “ready to fall in love.” By doing this Dove creates a sense of intimacy and her relationship between the narrator and her lover. In line 6 and in the third stanza, you can sense a feeling of urgency and a growing desperation in the narrator. She uses words such as “quickly,” “melt,” and “liquefy” to represent how chocolate will quickly melt and turn into a liquid consistency if you just let it sit there or don’t eat it, “if I don’t eat you quickly / you’ll melt in my palm” (6-7). This representation explains how impatient she feels towards her lover. She feels that if she doesn’t act quickly, his love for her will die off, and if it progresses he might even leave her.
ReplyDeleteIn her book, Mother Love, Rita Dove symbolized the greek myth of Demeter in several of her poems. The myth tells the story of Persephone, daughter of Zeus and Demeter, which is handed to Hades, god of the UnderWorld by her father, a deal made by her father and her obliged love. One day she was playing with her nymph friends, picking up flowers the ground, when suddenly Hades burst out of Earth with a chariot of black horses and took her with him. Her mother was furious about this happening, and being the goddess of spring, was determined to let her people starve until she got her child back. Therefore, Zeus asked for her daughter back from his brother, and Hades accepted, but before the girl left, he gave her some pomegranate seeds to eat. Whatever is eaten in the Underworld condemns you to stay there forever. Rita Dove has analyzed this myth and it’s message in several different perspective, all shown in the individual poems of her book. For instance, in “Heroes”, Dove symbolizes this myth in Demeter’s point of view, as she reflects the anxiety and responsibility of a mother. She does this by comparing the feeling of desperation felt when the character of the poem was now a criminal or a fugitive, to the anxiety felt by Demeter when she lost her child. In this poem Dove is narrating a sort of nightmare. In the poem “Persephone, Falling”, Dove assimilates the tragedy of the myth with real life situations. She shows that, the same way Persephone got kidnapped by just picking a flower from the ground, anyone can get in the middle of a disastrous situation like that, for the most simplest reasons, like picking a flower. This can be seen in the quote “This is how easily the pit opens. This is how one foot sinks into the ground”. (14). Furthermore, in the following poem “The Narcissus Flower”, and “Wiederkehr” Dove narrates in the point of view of the daughter, and her perspective on the situation. Dove completely changes the tone of the narration, since now the reader can see a more independent girl, that had actually chosen to stay with Hades in the Underworld, therefore, had eaten those seeds. This idea can be seen in “he never asked / if I would stay. Which is why, / when the choice appeared / I reached for it” (11-14 Wiederkehr), referencing her choice of eating the seeds and knowing the consequences.
ReplyDeleteYour analysis was interesting to read. Rita Dove does manage to effectively portray different feelings and emotions in each poem in Mother Love. Reading every poem from the first to very last, creates a story and expresses the feelings the character has at that point of time. You go from desperation, to a feeling of anxiety, to anger, and so on. To me this is interesting, because previous to this unit I never thought that poems can interconnect as well as they do in Rita Dove’s poetry, and always thought that poems were all separate from one another. It’s great to see how far we’ve come to analysing poetry, and identifying similarities between some.
DeleteAmber Mao
ReplyDeleteIn the poem “Heart to Heart,” Dove uses negative diction, personification, and enjambment to convey the frustration of not being able to express one’s feelings for another person. Most of the poem is the narrator’s denial of all the things that hearts are said to metaphorically do, or the modern motifs attached to them. This diction makes the narrator sound like he or she is trying to remain stoic and impassive – almost denying his emotions, convincing himself he does not feel this way – with the breaking down of the heart’s symbolism to “just a thick clutch/of muscle”, that “doesn’t melt/or turn over,/break or harden,/so it can’t feel/pain,/yearning,/regret.” (14, 6) Enjambment was used here to isolate the last three words; they are likely the emotions that the narrator harbors. However, at the end of the second stanza, it says “Still,/I feel it inside/its cage sounding/a dull tattoo:/I want, I want—“ showing that despite his denial, the narrator knows that his heart can hold desire still (17). The “cage” can refer to the ribcage, or a metaphorical cage that the narrator locked his heart away in. The last stanza begins to show the narrator’s ambivalence more clearly than before: “but I can’t open it:/there’s no key./I can’t wear it/on my sleeve,/or tell you from/the bottom of it/how I feel.” Here, the narrator continues the negative diction from before to show that he wishes could open his heart and pour out his emotions, but he is unable to. The enjambment used in this poem separates everything into short lines, resembling the rhythm of a heartbeat. Ironically, the title of the poem, Heart to Heart, means to have a more intimate and personal conversation, but the narrator is evading the truth – afraid to reveal it to the other person, or more so to himself.
Your analysis was quite intriguing, but we had some different ideas. I agree that the narrator is expressing a little frustration and skepticism at the incorrect assumptions of how the heart feels, but I also think the poem has a bit lighter tone. It's amusing for the reader to watch the narrator reflect on nonsensical expressions such as "from the bottom of my heart." The poem has a somewhat amusing tone, and by the end, a heartfelt tone (no pun intended) when the narrator states "it's all yours, now–– / but you'll have / to take me, / too" (27-30). The narrator is giving his or her love, and the tone here is less negative than emotional and bittersweet, in my opinion. However, I can see how it could be interpreted as darker and more negative, too.
DeleteAmber, your analysis is very interesting. I too noticed that Rita Dove used metaphors to explain to readers that our heart can't actually do most of the things that we metaphorically say they can. Such as "my heart melted when I saw how cute he looked!" If our heart actually melted... That would be very bad and unfortunate. When people say "I was heartbroken," in reality our hearts cannot physically break or shatter. People just use it as a metaphor to explain how unhappy and sad they are.
DeleteI agree with your analysis, assuming Dove's conveying of her difficulty to express her love. However, I think that there is another analytical message in the heart which Dove expresses in the first and half of the second stanza, withstanding society's views and ideas on love. She does this by describing the heart, in the first stanza, opposing to the normal cliché idea of the heart: "it's neither red / nor sweet". (1-2), "it doesn't have / a tip to spin on". (10-11). In these two lines, Dove is contradicting society's views on the physical appearance of the heart. However, the poet dig's beyond that representation and opposes the normal views on love as an emotion in the line "it doesn't break / or harden". (5-6) This conveys the whole tone of the poem, being a mere contradiction of the idea of love, therefore making it difficult and confusing for her to express it.
DeleteIn the poem Soprano, Rita Dove uses shortness of syntax and musical diction to create a dominant effect of awe as well as to portray the graceful power of a soprano singer. Throughout the poem, there are only a few words per line and couplet stanzas, making the poem appear slender and light. The poem’s brevity reflects the light, delicate high-pitched notes that a soprano must reach, and reminds the reader of this precious delicacy. Rita Dove describes the room “dissolving / as one note / pours into / the nest, pebbles” (15-19). Expressing the soul as dying and the room as “dissolving” conveys how music takes the listener and the singer away from reality. Furthermore, the word “pours” displays how passionately sopranos sing, and how much emotion and effort they pour into each note. At the end of the poem, Rita Dove asks “which is it / body or mind, / which rises, which / gives up at last / and goes home?” (22-26). This further exemplifies the diversion from reality by including the metaphor of going home, or returning to reality after being in “heaven.” Also, the last line is its own stanza, unlike the two-lined stanzas of the rest of the poem, which implies a soprano gradually letting off of a high note. The musical and mellifluous nature of the poem is also demonstrated by the musical diction. The words “note”, “soul”, “piano”, and “heaven” can all either be associated with music or holiness, the latter of which is often paired with music. These words make the reader feel amazement and awe at the ineffable beauty of soprano singers.
ReplyDeleteAmber Mao
DeleteI agree with your analysis, especially the diction used and the effects of specific words and phrases. I would like to add that the part "the soul dies/for an instant-/but you don't need/its thin/resistance/nor the room" gives a feeling that music transcends the soul and reality, a bit similar to what you said (7). However I would like to disagree with you on the idea that the poem is about a soprano singer; the lines "spin/through and off/the bell lip/into heaven" indicate that the note is in fact most likely played by a trumpet, also keeping somewhat in line with the theme of jazz in the rest of the book.
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ReplyDeleteIn The Return of Lieutenant James Reese Europe, Rita Dove writes in the perspective of an African American man with the name no other than James Reese Europe. Europe had fought in WW1 as a lieutenant in the all black 369th Infantry Regiment, nicknamed the “Harlem Hellfighters”. From then on he went on to direct the regimental band in 1918, traveling over 2,000 miles in the country of France performing to soldiers from the allied side. This poem takes place during the victory parade in New York City that Europe is playing in, to honor the men who have served in the U.S. military during WW1, nearly one year after the end of the war. Rita Dove uses repetition and visual imagery in The Return of Lieutenant James Reese Europe, to emphasize the series of events he has been through, as well as giving the poem a feeling pride of dedication to duty. In the first two lines Dove writes, “ We trained in the streets: the streets where we came from./ We drilled with sticks, boys darting between bushes, shouting-” (1-2). In these two lines Rita Dove uses “We” to start both beginning lines that describe the training James Europe and his men has been through. This emphasizes that Europe and his men had been taught to be one, and that each individual must contribute equally for the whole to run effectively. This is true on both a military perspective, as well as a musical perspective, which is most likely why Rita Dove chooses to write in this way as James Europe was a military soldier and musician. In the last line of the third stanza Dove writes, “German prisoners tapping their feet as we went by” (12). Knowing what we know from James Europe’s history, we can assume that this visual image is supposed to represent his band marching past German POW’s while playing a song, during their duty in France, during WW1. The tapping of their feet shows that the band succeeded in helping ease the men that are most affected from the war, the soldiers. Along with that, it helps readers humanize the so called enemy, by giving them emotions and the various movements and characteristics that correspond with each emotion.
ReplyDeleteIn the poem “The House Slave,” Rita Dove writes about the life of a slave, specifically the life of a “house slave.” In the poem Dove uses personification, paradox, consonance, and visual imagery to emphasize on the house slave’s story. As mentioned before, the main character is a house slave, and as you can tell they work in a house instead of working on a plantation field. Dove uses visual imagery to make readers feel as if they are actually standing in the main character’s shoes and looking through their point of view. The narrator watches as the field slaves wake up way before dawn, “I watch them driven into the vague before-dawn” (5) and also witnessed the field slaves get whipped, “At the second horn, / the whip curls across the backs of the laggards-” (9). The usage of the word “curl,” makes me think of the whipping as being very extreme, intense, and definitely painful. When I read line 9, I can visually see the whip curling as it is being whipped into the slave’s back and molding to the victim’s back. Throughout the poem, there was a repetition of the consonant “s.” The repetition of the “s” sound gives the poem a sense of despair and helplessness. In line 6, Dove personified the mistress as an “ivory toothpick.” Toothpicks are sharp and can be dangerous. So is Dove trying to say that the mistresses are dangerous, and there is something bad about them? Plus toothpicks are easily broken... Paradox was used in line 12, “I lie on my cot, shivering in the early heat,” how can one shiver when it is hot? The main character shivers because the thought of what is to come in the near future scares him. A huge struggle of being a slave is not knowing what the future holds and what will happen to you the next day.
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