In “Sonnet in Primary Colors”, Rita Dove uses similes, natural imagery, and reference to death to convey the theme of adoration of Frida and admiration for her work and personality. Similes are used to set Frida apart from the others, as in line 10 where Dove writes “the hundred dogs panting / like children along the graveled walks of the garden”. This puts Frida above other people who are like “dogs” in comparison to her. Dove uses natural imagery to show how beautiful and exotic Frida is. Dove uses words like “parrots”, “wildflowers”, “butterflies”, and “garden” to give this poem a natural tone. She also uses the phrase “rose” which has multiple connotations, one being the flower and one being an action. This poem also contains multiple references to death, which leads the reader to believe that Frida was not always happy. Dove writes that Frida is “Each night she lay down in pain and rose / to her celluloid butterflies of her Beloved Dead”. Celluloid butterflies reference pictures, but the use of words like “pain” and Beloved Dead” create a tone of tragedy and despair. Later in the poem it states “Diego’s / love a skull in the circular window” which not only conveys the unhealthy nature of her relationship with Diego but also contributes to the tone of despair. The multiple references to death allude to her alternating personalities of hope and despair. The title of this poem is also very important. Frida Kahlo uses vibrant colors in her artwork, which may have inspired the title. It is also worth noting that the title “Sonnet in Primary Colors” is not entirely accurate, as a sonnet has 14 lines and this poem has only 13 lines. This is done to emphasize how Frida is not quite like the others, and that she liked to break the rules and Dove breaks the rules of poetry to demonstrate this.
I agree with your ideas about similes and the natural imagery she used and especially how you compare the skull to an unhealthy relationship. However, I believe her distant relationship with Diego may have been part of the reason she was able to maintain her feminist ideas and personal identity throughout her 2 marriages to him. You did touch on this with the juxtaposition of hope and despair, which I agree she struggled between the two. Your comment on the title was informative and most likely intentional. I would agree that Kahlo was not a big fan of going with the flow. I actually think the title is also a juxtaposition of boldness and simplicity. Her sonnet was not a classic sonnet but primary colors are the most basic form of color to exist. Dove may have been trying to show that despite her uniqueness, she was still just a human that had problems like everyone else.
Rita Dove uses metaphors in her poem “Sonnet in Primary Colors” in order to convey feminism. In the first line of this poem, Dove writes, “This is for the woman with one black wing perched over her eyes...”. She makes the comparison between Frida Kahlo’s eyebrow and a black wing. She was somewhat known for her unibrow that appeared in all of her self portraits. This serves most clearly the purpose of identification. In the poem, Dove mentions the name Frida but the unibrow makes it clear she is writing about Frida Kahlo. The diction she uses to make this comparison reminds the reader of a bird. She calls it a “wing” and describes it “perched” above the eyes. Frida painted herself holding birds in several paintings. She also once asked “Feet, what do I need you for when I have wings to fly?” By saying this, she was sharing that she felt she had no use for small things in life because she was powerful enough to do anything she pleased. This is very much how she lived her life. She was an influential political leader and made bold statements through her paintings. She defied stereotypes pertaining to women. This is like defying gravity, which birds do every time they fly. In the early 20th century, a woman’s life revolved around her husband and home life. Near the end of the poem Dove writes, “Diego’s love a skull in the circular window”. This comparison is significant because a skull is fairly small. She places it in a window as if it is decorative. Contrary to societal expectations, Diego did not dominate her. Dove describes him in almost the opposite way. Hunters place the heads of their prized kill in their homes, just as this skull sits in Frida’s window. It serves as a trophy of her independence. This is in line with feminist beliefs. Women should maintain their own identities within a relationship. This poem focuses on feminist ideals through metaphors.
I agree with many of your points. I liked how you went in depth to connect how Frida paints lots of pictures of birds. You explain how the bird being able to fly represents that she felt no use for small things because she was powerful enough to do anything she pleased. I like this point you made and how you showed that the bird represented freedom in a sense because since she was such an influential person, she felt free to do anything. Since she fought for a lot women's rights and equality, I also think that that was a main part of why she drew pictures of birds. Not only because she was free to do what she pleased, but she hoped that women would be free to do as they pleased too.
In Rita Dove’s “Canary”, she uses negative diction, visual imagery, and metaphors to portray Billie Holiday’s struggle as a very famous singer and drug addict. Negative diction is used a lot throughout the poem to render the darkness and negativity that comes along with Holiday’s life. In the beginning of the poem in line one and two, Rita Doe writes, “Billie Holiday’s burned voice had as many shadows as lights”. This shows negative diction because it is describing how her voice is getting ‘burned’ out because of the drugs she had been taking. Even though she knew that she had one of the best voices in the music industry at that time, she could not stop the drugs which caused her voice to get worse early in her career. Rita also uses negative diction in line ten when she writes, “If you can’t be free, be a mystery”. She writes, ‘can’t be free’ which implies that with the fame, she felt trapped within the light of the paparazzi and the public. Rita Dove uses visual imagery in line six when she writes, “magic spoon, magic needle.” This creates an image in the reader's mind of Holiday taking drugs to take away the pain that she endured. Rita describes the spoon and needle as ‘magic’ which puts emphasis on the fact the Holiday needed the drugs to deal with what was and had already happened in her life. Lastly, Rita uses a metaphor to depict Billie Holiday’s life as a singer. In line eight she says, “With your mirror and bracelet of song.” She uses the term, ‘bracelet of song’ to describe how the songs that Holiday sang were wrapped around her life such as a bracelet wraps around one's wrist. This poem shows the life of Billie Holiday and the struggle she had with her drug addiction.
I completely agree with your analysis, as all of these literary devices truly do play a role in contributing to Holiday’s life in terms of her struggles, and successes. The way Dove structures her poem is in such a mesmerizing way that I believe we both see, because of how each line represents some part of her life in a sequence where it could be understood for the reader to make easy comparisons. For an example I like how you mentioned how Dove wrote about Holidays voice being burnt out because of the drug abuse she was doing in her life. This was a really nice analysis and I agree with your points!
Rita Dove’s uses symbolism in the poem, “Tou Wan Speaks to Her Husband, Liu Sheng”, to convey the theme of woman suppression in marriage. The wife of Liu Sheng, Tou Wan, is the narrator of this poem. In the first three stanzas of the poem, Dove compares the couple’s life they have made to a house. On line one, she writes, “I will build you a home of limited chambers but it shall last forever”. Tou Wan is saying to her husband that she will not provide a surplus of riches and possessions, but she will love her husband endlessly. Dove symbolizes this when she writes that the house has ‘limited chambers’, meaning there is no room for materialistic items, and Tou Wan can only offer her vow to love. The second stanza addresses Liu Shengs’ journey where he left Tou Wan for a period of time, and the mood shifts to a darker, vengeful tone as Dove begins the third stanza. She writes on lines thirteen to fifteen, “a figurine household poised in servitude and two bronze jugs worth more than a family pays in taxes”. Now, the couple’s home is characterized as a figurine; it is now fake, and without liveliness and feeling. Dove used the same symbol, a house, but changed the meaning to show the evolution of the couple, and the feelings of neglect Tou Wan has. She feels ‘poised in servitude’, enslaved in a relationship where her husband’s true feelings for her have been lost as he now relishes in the money and power he owns as an emperor, represented by the bronze jugs that are ‘worth more than a family pays in taxes’. Dove chose a home to symbolize this relationship because women of the 900s spent their entire lives in their homes cooking and cleaning. Women often would seem to have more a relationship with their house than their husbands, which is evidently the theme Dove was aiming to convey as she writes the story of Tou Wan’s home beginning as small and cherished to end as large and forgotten.
I agree with your analysis of the importance of a home in this symbol and see many of the same devices you used to back up this claim. However I would argue that this tomb is specifically for materialistic items and that the fact that the tomb has "limited chambers" does not affect the amount of material goods they have. The tomb contains "two thousand jade wafers" in the shape of a suit, meaning that the couple mentioned definitely values material goods and this aligns with the elaborate tomb that was built. The tomb is in actuality filled with material goods, which shows that they placed value on worldly possessions.
In Rita Dove’s poem “Catherine of Alexandria” which is part of her collection of strong women Catherine’s strength, and legacy could greatly be portrayed in this poem alone through the uses of metaphors, allusions and tone. During the first stanza of the poem we learn that Catherine of Alexandria had no option except for sainthood, because as quoted “Deprived of learning and the chance to travel”(1-2), sainthood would be her best option. As the poem goes to the next Stanzas they explain how Jesus was her husband and she was saving her virginity for him. “in your bed-- and what went on each night was fit for nobody’s ears”(5-8). In here Dove uses allusions and metaphors to reference that ears mean the man and that his body cannot be with Catherine on her bed. Catherine of Alexandria suffered by not succumbing to the world and saved her virginity for Jesus, and in order to preserve her promise she would not conceive when Dove writes “a ring of milk”(16). This is a metaphor of her longing to be a mother but suffering, because she can’t in this world. Although it may seem simple that all she did was just keep her virginity for Jesus, it plays a bigger role when understanding her life. Catherine died as a martyr, and one of the reasons that made her die was her refusal to marry the Roman emperor Maxentius who in turn became furious and had her killed. This devotion to Jesus was strongly influential to the Catholic community that was to rise and a legacy of admiration to Catherine. Through all of this, I believe Dove had one question in her mind for Catherine of Alexandria as she wrote this poem and it was “Was all of this pain worth it to save your virginity for Jesus”. Her tone in each line was expressed with some pity for Catherine’s loneliness such as when she wrote “each night was fit for nobody’s ears”(7-8) and “Each morning the nightshirt bunched above your waist”(12-14) which uses words like nobody and the second quote is another reference to her coping method used to stay as a virgin.
Dove uses capitalization to convey emotion and formality in her poem, “Belinda’s Petition”. She capitalizes proper nouns and the beginnings of sentences in addition to many words that , grammatically, do not necessitate capital letters. She does this to put emphasis on words that evoke emotion in the reader. Dove writes, “pure Air being the sole Advantage / of which I can boast in my present Condition”(11-12). This slave, Belinda, is deprived of all possessions except for air. Dove capitalized air because she wanted it to be apparent that the life of a slave is simply biological, emotionally they are drained of emotion and happiness by their difficult and exhausting lives. Dove also puts emphasis on condition because it is so poor. Both of these ideas are likely to evoke emotion in the reader. Many historical documents are written with a plethora of capital letters. These convey formality and draw the reader’s attention to the correct places. In this time period, slaves were thought to be less mentally capable than other races. Dove writes, “Lately your Countrymen have severed / the Binds of Tyranny”(8-9). The capitalization in this section makes it very clear that a slave is capable of using higher level vocabulary correctly and staying up to date with political events. She is referring to the United State’s Declaration of Independence which freed Americans from Britain. Although she could have phrased it that way she, instead, wrote “severed the Binds of Tyranny” to make the point that African Americans are just as capable of writing and speaking formally as any other race. This poem’s capitalization is used to emphasize the hardships of slave life and prove the mental capabilities of African Americans.
I agree with your analysis of the capitalization and it's importance in emphasizing emotion and that the advanced vocabulary makes the point that African Americans are as intelligent as any other race. I would also add that this may be Belinda proving that blacks are as worthy of freedom as everyone else, having fought alongside the patriots in the revolutionary war. Belinda is definitely referencing the Declaration of Independence as you said, and I think this is important because of the "all men are created equal" part of that document. Belinda is pointing out the hypocrisy of the Revolution and the founding fathers.
In the poem “The House Slave”, Rita Dove uses similes and a paradox to represent how horrible life as a slave was. Dove uses similes to contrast the hard life of the slave to the life of the owner. Dove writes that the slaves are “driven into the vague before-dawn / while their mistress sleeps like an ivory toothpick”. This simile is used to represent the physical frailty of the white mistress while also making it clear that it is talking about a white mistress. Dove uses another simile later to describe how busy and hardworking the slaves are forced to be, saying that they are “like bees among the fat flowers”. This contrasts the mistress who is sitting around with the slaves who are working in the fields. The paradox is used to emphasize the terrible living conditions of the slave. She writes that the house slave lies on her cot, “shivering in the early heat.” In normal context, heat would never elicit a shiver, and this paradox is used to convey how frightened the slave is and how the slaves’ pain and sorrow have a physical manifestation. The paradox is used to emphasize this feeling and to make the reader aware of the tremendous discomfort of the slave. This slave is a house slave that is observing the life of field slaves, and her shiver can be seen as a manifestation of the fear that she may become a field slave as well and have to undergo those terrible conditions. Slaves lived in terrible conditions and were treated inhumanely, and Rita Dove brings these truths to light in her poem “The House Slave”.
I like that you focused on the similes in this poem because I agree that they are very symbolic in the life of a slave. The comparison between the mistress and the ivory toothpick was a great choice because it could mean many things. I personally interpreted it as Dove's way of comparing a toothpick, something incapable of motion and flexibility to the way a slave owner may be lazy and strict. I agree that she used ivory because not only is she white, but very fair skinned because she has probably never worked a day in her life. In this time period, fair skin was a symbol of wealth. Your analysis of the heat and shiver was very in depth and insightful and I agree with your conclusion as to why it was used.
In Rita Dove’s poem “The Abduction”, the stanzas’ structure is formatted to mimic the suspense and quickness of the capturing of former slave, Solomon Northrup. This poem is arranged in 5 stanzas, each line count lessening by one as the poem continues. The first two stanzas are long and filled with description of the hopeful life Solomon Northrup plans to live now that he is freed. Positive connotations with the use of the words ‘free’, ‘jig’, and ‘squealed’ imply a joyous mood. However, the next three stanzas are concise. They contain visual imagery of the abduction as it happens. Dove writes, “…the windows rattled with each report/then the wine, like a pink lake, tipped” (Dove 10-11). ‘Rattling windows’ is a use of audible diction that Dove included to shift the tone of the poem and arise angst in the readers. The wine tipping compared to a lake symbolizes the large change of events that is about to occur. Dove uses this simile to foreshadow the catastrophic ending and the major effects it will have, much like if a lake were to spill. The fourth stanza contains only two lines, both containing ironic descriptions of the slave’s location. Dove says, “I floated on water I could not drink. Though the pillow/was stone I climbed no ladders in that sleep” (Dove 13-14). These two lines convey the defeat of Northrup, suggesting that he is to now live without the luxury of accessible water, a vital necessity for survival. Dove uses this to illustrate how slaves were not treated as humans. Climbing no ladders in his sleep symbolizes how Northrup is trapped and without any obvious means of escape and will be forced to wither in dehydration. In the last and final line of the poem, Dove writes, “I woke and found myself alone, in darkness and in chains” (Dove 15). Dove constructed it this way to put emphasis on the final line as it is the main focus of the poem. The descending count brings the poem to an abrupt end, just as the abduction would be. Readers are meant to understand the sudden, violent action of being taken, and the darkness that follows as a slave will awake alone and bound once again. Although Dove specified this poem to one person, Solomon Northrup, it represents a general upheaval and abuse of human rights as slaves were universally captured again and again during this time.
I agree with your points in how Rita Dove uses the stanzas' structure to portray suspense in the readers mind. I thought it was very creative how she formatted them in a sense where it was counting backwards and then at one was when he was abducted. I did not consider the part when you went into depth about how he would not have water for a long time and would lead to dehydration. I think you make a very interesting and creative point.
In Rita Dove’s Poem, “David Walker” she writes almost a homage, but really a small biography of the life of David Walker. In the analysis of Dove’s poem many parts of Walker's life could be learned through her use of metaphors and visual imagery which incorporates kinesthetic imagery as well. It does require understanding the life of Walker though, which includes his work in a clothing shop as a free black man. Although he may have been free he felt great sympathy for his fellow blacks that were slaves and grew a deep hatred against it, in which he smuggled pamphlets that expressed his feelings. In the first stanza much is said about his work, “All day at the counter-/whitecaps, ale strained pea coats”(Lines 4-5). This quote here portrays his life working and selling to mostly sailors, because they wear white caps, and pea coats. Later in the second stanza it is said that these pamphlets were put in the pockets of the jackets sold and read on the ships, which proved to play a profound effect for stirring up emotions. With the use of visual imagery of this, David Walker’s significance and strategy is then realized which plays a role in understanding the poem and his life. Next in the third stanza, it’s said “The jewelled canaries in the lecture halls tittered,”(line 20), which is a metaphor for the feelings other people felt about Walker’s radicalism. Finally in the third stanza it says that even abolitionists were appalled by Walker, and later implies Walker is dead with the visual imagery of him being found face down in Brattle Street, which implies he was killed or suddenly died.
In Rita Dove’s poem “Belinda’s Petition”, sarcasm is used to draw attention to the main points in the poem. In lines 8 through 12 Dove writes, “Lately your Countrymen have severed//the Binds of Tyranny. I would hope/ you would consider the Same for me,/ pure Air being the sole Advantage/of which I can boast in my present Condition”. Here Dove uses sarcasm within the tone of voice that Belinda uses. Dove explains how they had just broken aways from the ‘Binds of Tyranny’ or an oppressive government. In the last lines she says, ‘pure Air being the sole Advantage/of which I can boast in my present Condition’. Belinda uses sarcasm to express how they’re flaunting how they broke away from an oppressive government when the only thing she has to flaunt is her ability to breathe. Another example of Dove using sarcasm is in line 15 and 16 when she writes, “All my Childhood/I expected nothing, if that be Ignorance”. Here Belinda is being sarcastic because she says how expecting nothing her whole childhood was ignorant when in fact it is the opposite. Rita Dove also uses hyperbole to portray how difficult it was to live the life of a slave. In lines 17 and 18 Rita Dove writes, “ The only Travelers were the Dead who returned/from the Ridge each Evening”. The word dead is used to show how working as a slave was so difficult that all the men who came back each night were so tired that they were practically dead.
After reading your analysis, I more clearly understood Dove's purpose when writing this poem. I had never thought before that it could be based on sarcasm. I think sarcasm also is used here to mock the slave system. Belinda addresses how she is not worth anything to the slave owners, and that because of this, there should be less resistance to slaves when they try to be free. In my opinion, Belinda is trying to convey that because whites make it so visibly clear that slaves should be treated with no respect, why is there so much fight when slaves begin to live their lives minding their own business? I agree with you that Dove aimed to portray the difficult life of a slave, and how ironic their lives would become through the use of sarcasm.
The poem by Rita Dove titled The Abduction illustrates the man Solomon Northup who was born free but then abducted and sold into slavery. The second sentence of the second to last stanza reads, “Though the pillow / was stone, I climbed no ladders in that sleep”. This sentence could be an allusion to the biblical story of Jacob, son of Isaac, in the Old Testament. It refers specifically to when Jacob was travelling from the land of his fathers and ended up stopping to spend the night in one spot of land. That night, while Jacob slept using rocks as pillows, he dreamed of a ladder reaching up into heaven. At the top of the ladder there stood God, while angels ascended and descended the ladder between earth and Heaven. This dream was symbolic in that it meant that the ground upon where Jacob lay was a holy place, one that was near unto God. However, within this poem, the speaker is telling about there were “no ladders in that sleep”. Taking into context the symbolic meaning of Jacob’s dream and the context of the poem, this biblical allusion conveys messages about the hardships and slavery and just the brutality of it. It could refer that slavery is not of God as this sleep spoken of in the poem most likely refers to Northup when he is being drugged and kidnapped. Another thing is that this line adds to a dark and dreary tone towards the end of the poem as no ladders could symbolize either a lost connection with God because of the struggles of slavery, or it could symbolize a loss of hope that God and religion tend to bring.
In Rita Dove’s Poem “Climbing In” Dove uses several literary devices such as tactile imagery, visual imagery, end stops, and negative imagery to make the comparison between the story “The Little Red Riding Hood” and how it is very similar to a black taking the bus around the mid 20th century.
The first stanza begins with one single word “Teeth”(Line 1), ending with a period and already a negative connotation of danger could be implied from this one word. Then the tactile imagery from the second stanza makes it possible to interpret that the danger is coming from a city bus. “Like the dime/ cutting my palm/ as I clutch the silver pole/ to step up, up”(Lines 4-7). In a denotative sense, the person is holding on to his/her bus fee very tightly at a bus stop hene the pole. The steps refer to the person walking into the bus. Dove uses tactile imagery to describe the person’s fear, because of the tone Dove gives by writing how the person was acting very anxious at the bus stop. The only reason the person would be afraid to ride the bus is if they were black, because blacks were discriminated at this time on buses, and so it could then be inferred the person is black. At the third stanza, “Not quite a grin./Pay him to keep smiling”(12-13), the person is in the bus and pays the driver his/her fee. The tone in this stanza makes everything seem very ominous and dangerous as the tone/visual imagery makes everything seem very fake. Words such as “Not quite” and “Pay him” make the quote of the poem ingenuine and the bus driver only takes her because of the law as well as the purpose of business. Finally in the final stanza, Dove uses the metaphor “as the bright lady tumbles/ head over tail/ down the clinking gullet” (Lines 16-19), to establish that the person has fallen into the danger of the bus. In this case, the danger of the bus was having to face discrimination by sitting in the back. The purpose Dove wrote this poem, must have been to portray the perspective of how blacks truly felt about riding the bus in a discriminatory manner, and she wishes to hope the audience will consider this scenario is more than just assigned seats on a bus.
I agree with your analysis of the negative diction and the foreboding tone, and I also see some similarities with Fairy Tales in this poem. I would emphasize the similarities between this poem and Little Red Riding Hood more, as I think it is very important to the poem. The person riding the bus can be seen as Little Red, and the bus itself combined with the society can be seen as the big bad wolf. There may also be some similarities with another Fairy tale, and I saw some parallels with Alice in Wonderland. Firstly the title "Climbing In" reminded me of Alice climbing into the hole, and the last stanza mirrors her chaotic fall through the hole and wonderland. I think Dove uses these Fairy tale references to make her poem more accessible and universal, and also to further the themes you discussed in your analysis.
In the poem “Lady Freedom Among Us”, Rita Dove uses anaphoras and historical references to remind the audience that the problems of the past are not solved and to criticize those who believe they are. This poem is about the statue of Lady Freedom that sits on top of the capitol building in Washington DC. It was erected in 1863 and she wears a helmet and robes, which can be linked to Minerva or Bellona, Roman goddesses of war. Dove uses an anaphora to emphasize what she is wearing when she writes “with her oldfashioned sandals / with her leaden skirts / with her stained cheeks”. She is also holding a sword, which represents that she is prepared to defend the nation in the civil war that was during this time period. Dove uses anaphoras in the third, fifth, and eighth stanzas to command the reader to do something. Twice she repeats the word “don’t”, which emphasizes how one shouldn’t do the actions she is describing. The actions she is describing are ignoring the importance of the statue and ignoring the equality it represents. Dove writes “don’t think you can ever forget her / don’t even try”, which demonstrates how one can never forget equality and other people. The statue represents freedom and equality, and Rita Dove is criticizing the people who see the fight for equality as a thing of the past. She is also criticizing the hypocritical nation who has a statue representing freedom and equality on its capitol building, yet does not grant equality to all. It is very fitting that this poem is in the “Civil Rights” section of our study. The last two lines of this poem are “for she is one of the many / and she is each of us” which sounds remarkably similar to the slogan “E Plurbis Unum” or “Out of many, one”, which is what is engraved on the pedestal on which Lady Liberty stands. This is important because it shows that everyone is connected and must work together to bring about real change.
I like that you focused on repetition because it stood out to me as well and I agree that it is an important part of the message in this poem. You connected to the time period nicely and clearly did some research. All of your facts are relevant and really help with comprehending the poem in addition to the message it communicates. Whether you intended to or not, this entry is very timely with all of the outbreaks and issues with social justice so your emphasis on the importance of remembering freedom and equality are applicable to current events.
I think you made a very good point about how this poem represents how people look at equality issues as a thing from the past. I agree with this and your explanation because equality is definitely not in the past and we still have current issues with it today. I thought it was creative how you interpreted the poem this way because you bring up a very good point.
Dove uses visual imagery and slang in her poem “The Situation is Intolerable” to show the hardships fought by blacks during the civil rights movement. The first stanza is an attempt to prove that African Americans are as civilized as whites. She writes, “Shoes shined, / each starched cuff unyielding, / each dove grey pleated trouser leg / a righteous sword advancing / onto the field of battle / in the name of the Lord...” (2-7). She describes their attire in great detail. It is clear that these people are dressed formally and may even be of some social standing which goes against the popular belief of the time that African Americans were poor. This stanza takes a turn at the fifth line and Dove begins to write about a battle. She compares the clothing to a sword. She did this because the formality and respect was a sort of weapon for African Americans. As they gained status, their message about inequality gained support. This fueled the battle that existed between the African Americans and the racist policies and Americans, especially in the South. This poem was written from the perspective of an African American. During the civil rights movement, the majority of schools were segregated. White schools received the majority of funding and left black children without many necessary tools to learn and succeed later in life. In the last stanza Dove uses slang as a way to show the lack of eloquence and vocabulary, a result of poor education. Dove writes, “So what if we were born up a creek / and knocked flat with the paddle, / if we ain’t got a pot to piss in / and nowhere to put it if we did?”(15-18). Dove emphasized the disadvantages of being born with dark skin and called it being “born up a creek” and “knocked flat with a paddle”. Being an African American in this period was a lot like paddling up a creek. Constantly battling racist remarks and politics that prevented social reform. These problems lead to economic disadvantages which caused them to live without running water, or “a pot to piss in” and some were homeless because employers would often reject them because of their skin color. Dove could have written it that way, however, she chose to use slang as a way to show that the segregation of schools was separate, but far from equal. It is also another way society subjected them to disadvantages at the very beginning of their life. Through visual imagery and slang, Dove communicates the difficulties of life as an African American during the civil rights movement.
Your analysis is very good, and your evidence shows a really intellectual interpretation of how Dove's poem could be understood. You noticing her subtle yet significant use of slang diction really amazed me, because such an important literary device used by Dove could have easily been overlooked. I appreciate very much of how you understood the historical context very well and easily connected it to the poem with strong evidence. Towards the ending of your analysis you write about the separate but equal court ruling, which in fact were not equal, and this got me wondering the very feelings of the blacks. To me at least the very need for segregation is discrimination in itself even if it were equal and by reading your analysis of interpreting Dove's poem we learn the perspective of blacks during this time.
In the poem “The situation is intolerable” by Rita Dove, one main point that stood out to me was how the last lines of every stanza have religious connotation. For example, In line seven Dove writes, “in the name of the Lord”. In the last line of the poem Dove writes, “O yes. O mercy on our souls”. This is what stood out to me most when I first read the poem because it reminded me a lot of how African Americans at this time were reliant on religion. When African American activists made points about how slavery was wrong, they often used sections from the bible to justify that blacks had the right to be just as equal as anyone else. After reading this, I connected it to the poem “David Walker” also written by Rita Dove. David Walker used the Bible and Declaration of Independence to argue against slavery. This was a prime example of how African Americans used religion to attack the institution of slavery. Another thing that I noticed was how every stanza was the same length. They all had seven lines and with this, Dove writes, “Intolerable: that civilized word” (line 1). This conveys how the whites were acting civilized by following the same routine because it was comfortable. This is why the blacks had to fight against slavery because the whites were too comfortable with the tradition which was being greater than African Americans.
The connection you made between the religious connotations and the African Americans is very interesting. During this time, African Americans did not have a lot to live with, so turning to faith would serve as their only hope. Dove including this in the poem created a realistic perspective. However, I believe in this poem that the word intolerable was used in a more sarcastic way. The narrator, an African American, is bringing up the irony used with the word intolerable. Whites would often describe the issues dealing with black rights as intolerable because they did not believe that they were equals, and any actions raised to help end segregation would cause turmoil. At the end of this poem, Dove raises the point that without fighting, nothing will change, and that is the most intolerable.
Rita Dove uses personification to convey the significance of Rosa Parks’ legacy in her poem, “Rosa”. Dove honors Parks’ actions with this poem and states that her act and uprising was inevitable, and she is one that was born to be remembered. Dove writes, “The time right inside a place/so wrong it was ready” (Dove 2-3). Parks’ moment was set up perfectly, as if it were just waiting for her to arrive. Dove uses personification to describe time as being a place and represented as something physical one could walk in to, and that it was ‘so wrong it was ready’, meaning the situation was constructed as if it had been waiting for one person to finally speak up. In this stanza, time is given the characteristics of something physical to convey how Rosa Parks was the first to walk into a clearly misguided time and finally bring attention to it. In the second stanza, Dove expresses how Rosa Parks was destined to be a beacon of change and says, “That trim name with/its dream of a bench” (Dove 4-5). Rosa Parks’ name having a dream of being on a bench signifies how she was born with the potential to be a legacy, and that it was in her life’s plan to be remembered. A ‘trim name’ contributes to the idea that Parks was born with the attributes to be someone famous.
Rita Dove uses a parrot in her poem, “Parsley” to symbolize General Trujillo. Throughout the entire poem Dove writes, “...a parrot imitating spring”. Spring is typically associated with new beginnings. Many will clean their homes and bodies as a part of spring cleaning. Trujillo had similar ideas when he seized presidency of the Dominican Republic. He wanted to make it a better, more powerful country and in several ways he did. One of his goals was to “lighten” the population. He promoted a series of anti-Haitian sentiments. As part of his cleaning, he ordered the killing of thousands of Haitians. Dove describes the bird “who has traveled / all the way from Australia in an ivory / cage, is, as coy as a widow...”. She describes the parrot coming from a far away because Trujillo seized the presidency after being in the US Marines. This transition from representing one nation to leading a completely different one is unique to Trujillo. The bird and Trujillo do have one major difference, however. The bird is described as coy and Trujillo is anything but coy. He intimidated other candidates so much that they dropped out of the race. Dove also writes that the bird arrives in an “ivory cage” and is fed pastries dusted with sugar and served on a “bed of lace”. This is an extravagant life for anyone, especially a bird. It is meant to represent the way Trujillo made many lives better. It is unknown by many that Trujillo significantly improved the economy, quality of life and education of Dominicans. This fact is disregarded as a result of the awful genocide he committed. The description, background and extravagant life of the parrot in this poem are meant to depict General Trujillo.
I agree with your description of Rafael Trujillo but would argue that while the parrot represents him, it is also an actual parrot. In the second section of this poem it states that even the bird could pronounce the word "perejil", which makes me believe that he actually had a pet parrot. He feels that the Haitians are below his pet, because even his pet can roll an R. Additionally he cannot eat sweets because his mother was baking sweets the day she died, so instead he feeds sweets to his parrot. This part furthers the idea that the parrot is him because the parrot is eating the sweets that he cannot. And about overlooking his achievements, I would argue that the advancements made were not worth the over 20,000 Haitians he had executed to "improve" his country.
I found your connection between spring cleaning and the killings of thousands of Haitians very creative and that is not what I thought of when I originally read this. You explain how it was good in a sense because he was making his country stronger and lessening the population. My original thought was how horrible it was that he was killing immigrants and I now see it from a different perspective.
In the poem “Parsley”, Rita Dove uses a refrain in the first section to further the theme of violence and hatred. This poem is split into two sections, the first from the perspective of the field worker and the second inside the mind of Rafael Trujillo or “El General”. Trujillo was the dictator of the Dominican Republic, and in 1937 he had 20,000 Haitian migrant workers executed in an effort to “purify” his country. To determine which workers were Haitian he had them pronounce the Spanish word for parsley, which Haitians pronounce “pelejil”, while natives roll the R and pronounce it “perejil”. This made it easy to determine who was Haitian and made it easier to find and execute them. In the second stanza it states “El General / searches for a word; he is all the world” which shows how Trujillo searched for a word to determine who was Haitian. The second part of this quote that states “he is all the world” shows how he controls everything and is in control of the country. In the fifth stanza it states “El General has found his word: perejil. / Who says it, lives.” which shows how Trujillo has found a word and begun executing people, and the fear of this has set into the Haitian workers. Dove uses a refrain of “there is a parrot imitating spring” and “out of the swamp the cane appears” in the first section to create a tone of fear and hatred in this poem. This parrot imitating spring may mean literally that the parrot is green, which is stated later in the stanza, but it may also mean that the parrot represents new beginnings. Spring is a time of new beginnings and the parrot may represent a new day, where the workers are still doing the same things. In the second stanza it also contrasts the “swamp” that the workers are in to the “palace” that the parrot is in. This adds the idea of a class struggle to this poem. The second refrain of “the cane appears” may reference both the sugarcane they are farming and the cane of the master used to beat them. In both cases the “cane haunts” them, meaning that it both oppresses and terrifies the workers.
The use of refrain also stuck out to me in this poem however it didn't seem like a representation of violence in my opinion. Your first example does sort of send shivers running down my back but I don't think the repeated parrot is intended to do that. In my mind, new beginnings and palaces represent good things. I could see how this may be seen as something negative, because the beginning was a genocide and the palace was a result of economic inequality, but I also believe that the parrot is meant to be somewhat innocent in this poem. Possibly representing a bystander that is Dominican and benefitting from the reign of Trujillo while the Haitians are slaughtered by the thousands.
Refrain used with the parrot and the cane, in my opinion, were used to contradict each other. The parrot represents new beginnings, while the cane and swamp symbolize how out of all the darkest times, the cane, Trujillo's dictatorship, appears. And while the parrot could be interpreted as Trujillo pet and symbolized negatively, I saw it more as a beacon of hope for the workers. This parrot was living with green feathers, green representing spring and the rebirth of life, and followed any violence or destruction that occurred to remind that there will come a time when it all ends and live is reborn. The swamp and cane, on the other hand, are the symbols of the violence and horror. A swamp is thick and dark and feels impossible to escape, much like the time of Trujillo's reign. A cane is a common representation of power and therefore symbolizes Trujillo. Dove writes, "Out of the swamp the cane appears" (Dove 19). Trujillo was the only one to survive his tyranny because he was the one who caused it. His cane appearing out of the swamp shows his power over the Haitians .
In the excerpt from The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticat, visual imagery is used to depict the happenings of the Parsley Massacre. In 1937, the dictator of the Dominican Republic, President Rafael Trujillo, and his soldiers commited a genocide of immigrant Afro-Haitians, or people not originally from the Dominican Republic. The soldiers would establish who was foreign by holding up a sprig of parsley to a person, asking what it was, and their fate would depend on how the person pronounced parsley in Spanish (perejil). At the end of the second paragraph Danticat writes, “Yves and I were shoved onto our knees. Our jaws were pried open and parsley stuffed into our mouths. My eyes watering, I chewed and swallowed as quickly as I could, but not nearly as fast as they were forcing the handfuls into my mouth”. This is used to show how intense the event was and how corrupt the government must’ve been to have done that to a human being. This proves how badly they treated people during this time just for their own personal prejudice. Another example of visual imagery was in the sixth paragraph. Danticat writes, “Yves fell headfirst, coughing and choking. His face was buried in a puddle of green spew. He was not moving. Someone threw a bucketful of water at the back of his head”. This illustrates the brutal deaths that people faced when accused of being an immigrant.
Rita dove uses the symbol of a parrot in different ways to portray the travesty of the Parsley Massacre during the time of Trujillo’s ruling in the poem “Parsley”. In the first part of the poem, “The Cane Fields”, the beginning line introduces the parrot and Dove writes, “There is a parrot imitating spring” (Dove 1). Before even reading the rest of the poem, this line conveys that the parrot is portraying beauty and peace. Spring is a time of rebirth and growth, so saying the parrot is imitating that means that this parrot brings similar connotation of this season. However, the following line contradicts this. On line 2, Dove says, “in the palace, its feathers parsley green”. Now, the parrot’s feathers are described as ‘parsley green’. ‘Parsley’ in this poem represents the Haitians that were killed, and this parrots feathers juxtapose the death of many to the color green, another connotation of spring. Dove has symbolized this parrot to represent the irony of beauty found in destruction. This parrot is the color of green, representing rebirth and life, and it lives in the palace, the home for the tyrant who viciously killed thousands of Haitians. The contrast shows how beauty is evident throughout horror. Dove writes the first line containing the parrot, and the second to last line as well. Life is omnipresent despite all travesties. At the end of Trujillo’s reign, there were countless lives taken and homes destroyed. However, as it ended, a new life began. Ultimately the parrot in this poem symbolizes the ironic truth that even in the worst of times, there is beauty to be found in the destruction and rebirth of a life.
While I do agree with the beginning of your analysis of what the parrot symbolizes I do somewhat disagree or at least have a different perspective of what the parrot could really mean. I actually believe the parrot is an evolving symbol that may mean one thing in one stanza, but something more in the next. Yes the parrot may mean beauty and destruction in the first stanza, but when reading the other stanzas the parrots meaning changes. As the stanzas progress the parrot at the same time symbolizes something with a more dangerous/negative meaning. This is just my idea of how you could further analyze the meaning of the parrot rather than just limiting your evidence from the first stanza.
In the poem of “Parsley”, Rita Dove utilizes local color to assist in conveying a mood of contempt towards the general. Near the end of the poem, starting at line sixty seven and through to the end of the poem at line seventy-one, it reads, “The general remembers the tiny green sprigs / men of his village wore in their capes / to honor the birth of a son. He will / order many, this time, to be killed / for a single, beautiful word”. With of the use of local color, revealing the detail that to celebrate the birth of a son the village’s men wore green sprigs, it juxtaposes the two circumstances and almost shows that the general, Rafael Trujillo, is making a mockery of the tradition of his hometown. During his regime, Trujillo sought out and ordered that many people not native to the Dominican Republic be executed. Soldiers determined who was a non-native by holding up a sprig of parsley and questioning the person what it was. The process all depended upon how the person pronounced the word parsley in Spanish, which is perejil. Instead of the sprig of green being a celebratory herb, one used to congratulate the birth of a son, it became connected to the source of fear and potentially death if one mispronounced its name. Yet Dove isolates the last of the poem, “for a single, beautiful word” into its own stanza. This causes the line to stand out and increases the tone of verbal irony, particularly with the choice of the word “beautiful”. To those whose lives depended upon pronouncing the word in the desired manner, that word probably wouldn’t have been viewed as praiseworthy or lovely.
In Rita Dove’s poem “Parsley” she uses visual and auditory imagery to give Trujillo actual human characteristics such as the internal conflict he had of getting over his mother’s death. Also, by knowing about his problem of his mother’s death it could explain the actions he took of exterminating Haitians who could not roll their R’s as a way to deal with his psychological issues. In the first part of the poem it mainly portrays Trujillo as an evil character who wants to kill all Haitians that cannot correctly pronounce the word parsley in Spanish. As the poem moves on to the second part, a lot of visual imagery appears which display Trujillo’s feelings and adds his mother in as a character. “Ever since the morning his mother collapsed in the kitchen while baking skull shaped candies for the Day of the Dead, the general has hated sweets”(Lines 37-38), in here the audience could learn what events Trujillo’s mother was doing before her death, and the impact it had on Trujillo. Clearly, the impact was huge for Trujillo as he for reason now hates sweets, and maybe it is because it reminds him too much of his mother, but one thing for sure is known and that his mother’s death had a great impact on him. Later auditory imagery appears as we learn Trujillo’s mother was very adept in rolling her R’s, and this could then be inferred to an idea as to why Trujillo chose to exterminate those who cannot roll their R’s. The idea is that Trujillo loved his mother so much, and that he wishes to honor her in all of his life, To protect her honor he thinks anybody who fails to roll their R’s proves to be an offense to his mother, and is inferior as even a parrot could perform the task. Through that the Parsley Massacre may have been started for that reason by Trujillo as a way to preserve the honor of his beloved mother. By knowing this, the excerpt taken from Edwidge Danticat’s The Farming of Bones could be connected Dove’s poem. In the excerpt the characters are seemingly questioning why the pronunciation of parsley determines one’s fate, and how would Trujillo react if one were to purposefully pronounce the word wrong. If only Trujillo were to be fully understood by the characters in the excerpt they may be able to find out what the purpose behind the Parsley Massacre may have been in accordance to Dove’s Poem.
In the poem “Persephone, Falling”, Rita Dove uses an imperfect sonnet and juxtapositions to contrast a high subject matter with a low writing style. This poem is an allusion to Greek mythology, specifically the mother-daughter relationship of Persephone and Demeter and the exact instant that Persephone is taken by Hades. Hades took Persephone while she was picking flowers, and then Demeter, Persephone’s mother, got so angry that she refused to let any plants grow. The relationship between Persephone and Demeter is a typical mother-daughter relationship, and Demeter had warned Persephone to go straight to school and not talk to strangers. This represents a typical mother-daughter relationship with the child’s longing to be free and the mother’s fear of the dangers of freedom. But Persephone stopped to pick flowers, and subsequently something terrible happened. This poem is written in the form of an imperfect sonnet, because it has many qualities of a sonnet but it is also lacking some important ones. This poem has 14 lines, a characteristic of a sonnet, and it has a clear turn after the 8th line. It follows the pattern of a sonnet of an octave followed by a sestet, and the last two lines of this poem are similar to the final couplet of a Shakespearean sonnet because they summarize and reinterpret the poem. This poem does not, however, have a rhyme scheme or a meter, and is instead written in Free Verse, something that is uncommon of traditional sonnets. There is a very loose end rhyme, but there is no direct pattern. The end rhyme is present in the words “beautiful”, “pulled”, and “terrible” and in the words “harder”, “her”, and “heard” in the first octave. In the sestet there is some rhyme in the words “around”, “down”, and “ground”, and in the words “”stick” and “pit”. Dove uses juxtaposition to emphasize the beauty of the flowers and the evil of Hades. Juxtaposition is used in the phrases “ordinary beautiful” and “glittering terrible”, which puts emphasis on these lines and these phrases. Additionally, in the first line, it states that there is “One narcissus”. Narcissus is another word for daffodil, which is a flower that she was picking, and it is a toxic flower.
I was unfamiliar with that greek myth and I'm glad you shared that because the poem makes a lot more sense. You clearly did some research on traditional sonnets and it's great that you were able to apply that to this poem. I wonder if it was her intention to stray from a traditional sonnet or if she just prioritized getting the message across. The oxymorons used made this poem relatable because young people are often drawn to bad things that their parents warned them about.
In “Exit” by Rita Dove the use of verbs, refrain and similes convey the theme of leaving home and entering adulthood. Dove juxtaposes “withers” and “granted” and “opens” and “closed”. She uses verbs like this to convey that leaving home is not just leaving, it is also entering a new world full of opportunities. The first verbs are in present tense because they represent the young woman moving on and the second ones are in past tense because they represent the life she lived as a child at home. Refrain is used in the first stanza when Dove writes, “a reprieve is granted”. The reason she repeats this phrase is because obstacles are continuously greeting a young person as they try to live on their own. Each time an obstacle is overcome, “a reprieve is granted”. There are two similes in this poem, one in the first stanza and one in the last. The first one reads, “The door opens onto a street like in the movies” (2). Entering this new world is scary because nothing is really known. She uses the example in a movie because that is often the only thing young people have to compare their new life to. The second simile compares a memory from her childhood to her current situation. Dove writes, “the sky begins to blush, / as you did when your mother told you / what it took to be a woman in this life” (12-14). Other than movies, parents try to teach their children what “real life” is like. Dove makes this comparison because this character is now living the life that she once knew nothing about.
I really liked how you focused on the verb tense and how that affects the message because I didn't even notice that while I was reading this poem. I think this poem definitely fits in this section about the relationship between mothers and daughters, and I also focused on the similes in this poem. I think the last lines that you mentioned are when the mother tells the daughter all of the downsides of being a woman. Additionally I think the line that states "The windows you have closed behind / you are turning pink, doing what they do / every dawn." is a very important line because even though the daughter is leaving her home and growing up and closing the windows behind her as she leaves, life is still going to go on as normal. I think this is making the statement that life goes on even after you leave home and even after people leave.
In the poem of “Persephone, Falling”, Rita Dove utilizes a few allusions to illustrate a theme. Within this poem, the main allusion is to Persephone’s kidnapping. In Greek myth the god of the Underworld, Hades, fell in love with the goddess when he ventured to the surface. After bringing it up with her father, Zeus allowed Hades to marry Persephone. So one day, Zeus lured her away by causing stunning flowers to grow. When Persephone got far enough away and plucked a certain flower, a crevice opened up in the earth from which Hades appeared and kidnapped her. Another allusion is contained in the first line, “One narcissus among the ordinary beautiful / flowers, one unlike all the others”. While in this poem the word narcissus refers to a flower, it also alludes to the Greek myth of a man named Narcissus who was cursed to become enraptured with his own reflection in a pool of water which eventually led to him drowning. This myth is the origin for the word narcissism, extreme vanity in oneself and one’s physical appearance. Persephone, while not a total narcissist, did grow up in a pampered environment with an overprotective mother and thus, in her innocence, was sort-of led to believe that the world revolved around her whims, much like any other spoiled child. Referencing back to the poem, there was one section in parenthesis that sounded like a mother warning her child stating, “(Remember: go straight to school. / This is important, stop fooling around! / Don’t answer to strangers. Stick / with your playmates. Keep your eyes down)”. Combined with the allusions discussed earlier, it presents a mood of warning and danger. It also conveys a theme that disregarding well-meaning advice/rules from parents/adults due to teenage rebellion can lead to disastrous consequences.
Your analysis is very nice and makes a lot of sense as it strongly connects to Greek mythology as you have argued. However, aside from Dove's denotative meaning of the poem and it just being a retelling of the story, wouldn't you agree that there is a more personal connection Dove has with this poem that you could write about? To me at least I know Dove has a daughter of her own, and maybe as a mother herself she writes the parenthesized part of the poem not only in Demeter's perspective but her own. It could be argued that both women want to protect their daughters and such warnings are necessary for them and so they would not end up taken away which is every mother's last wish. This is just my interpretation of how the second part of the poem could have been looked at, but yours is great too!
In the poem “Heros” Rita Dove uses tragedy, negative diction, and refrain to show how one’s actions always have a consequence. Dove uses tragedy when she writes, “you’ve plucked the last poppy in her miserable garden, the one that gave her the strength every morning to rise”. The hero is the flower because it kept the woman going everyday. It is very significant and there is more emphasis on it because it was the only one of its kind as well as the only living flower in the garden. When Dove explains how the poppy was “plucked”, she shows how it was suddenly taken away without having any control of the matter. This connects to how everything has a consequence because rash actions more times than not will result in negative outcomes. Dove also uses negative diction. In line ten she writes, “It’s too late for apologies” and in line sixteen she writes, “there’s nothing to be done”. This shows how a person’s wrong or negative actions will lead to consequences and guilt. Lastly, Dove uses refrain within the stanzas to show consequences of one’s actions. She uses triplets throughout the entire poem until the very end. She wanted to imply how your actions can be unexpected even when things are going normally. Then suddenly something happens the person has to deal with the consequences of their actions. In the last line Dove writes, “it was going to die”. She wanted to emphasize the word ‘die’ because that is the ultimate consequence. In terms of religion, when you sin and turn your back away from the Lord, you have eternal death.
I agree with your analysis of the flower being the hero in the poem. I also think that because a girl picked the flower, it shows how easily someone's whole life could shatter because of another's actions. When first reading the poem, I did not make a connection with the last line, however, I agree with you when you connected it to religion and the sins people commit.
Rita Dove uses personification and vulgar diction to express the unbearable pain Demeter feels each time her daughter leaves in the poem, “Demeter, Waiting”. Persephone, Demeter’s daughter, is forced to leave her mother and live six months out of the year in the underworld as Hades’ wife. This is the myth that the ancient Greeks used to give reason to the four seasons. Dove wrote this poem to describe the feelings Demeter had each time her daughter would leave. Dove writes, “I will drag my grief through a winter/of my own making and refuse/any meadow that recycles itself into/hope” (Dove 8-11). Greif is personified as something Demeter must drag with her, signifying it brings a great amount of heavy weight to her life. The loss of her daughter each year renders a dull ache to her heart that is stays stuck with her until spring. The line, “refuse/any meadow that recycles itself into/hope” is very cynical. Demeter is depressed and Dove portrays those feelings by saying that even if the earth did not bear a cold winter and the warmth from summer lasts longer than normal, Demeter will refuse it to bring joy into her life. She wants others to live in the misery she feels and will force a horrid winter despite the circumstances. While the imagery in the poem establishes a despiteful mood, Dove embellishes on it with the use of vulgar diction. On line 11, Dove says, “Shit on the cicadas”, and then, again, on line 13, “until the whole goddamned golden panorama freezes”. These words emphasize the mood of this poem. The invoke rage and despair in the reader that relates to the feelings of this broken mother. While this poem is specifically written to match the story of Demeter and Persephone, I found that it could easily be related to a mother whose daughter was killed or had died. Both feel empty and lost without their child, and they do not wish to find peace in the quiet of their homes or in winter.
Rita Dove’s poem “Breakfast of Champions” is of course part of her collection of poems about Demeter’s bond with her daughter Persephone, but this one is specifically about Demeter going on with her painful day knowing her daughter is in the Underworld. This poem here is an Italian Sonnet where the first part is about Demeter and her sadness of her daughter being gone, but is a resolving problem in the second part when she realizes her daughter will visit her soon. Understanding that the poem’s parts are about those things takes understanding the Greek mythology allusions, and the tone being given. First of all the poem is being told in Demeter’s perspective and her tone in the first part is very passive and down, but once on the second part her tone becomes much lighter, genuine, and positive. The allusions made also expect the reader to know that Demeter’s feelings determine the seasons, and her feelings are determined by how she imagines her daughter Persephone’s wellbeing. When it is winter Demeter is very sad, and when it is Spring Demeter is very happy and full of spirit. Seeing words in the beginning like “Overcast skies”(line 1) further prove the argument that she is sad in the first part of the sonnet. However, towards the ending of the first part and the beginning of the second, the words “The first pair of Canada Geese have arrived”(Lines 8-9) means the season is changing to Spring and that Demeter is expecting Persophone’s visit. Finally this in all proves that Mothers care deeply about their daughters and their emotions of happiness or sadness are heavily dependant on the daughter’s safety.
In the poem “Cozy Apologia”, Rita Dove uses similes, metaphors, and historical references to create a different mood in each stanza and to portray the love between the person writing the poem and the person the poem is being written about. This poem is dedicated to “Fred”, who is Rita Dove’s husband, and this poem is written from the perspective of Rita Dove. Rita Dove admires this person so much that she cannot think of any words to describe the feeling, yet everything she looks at reminds her of him. The first stanza describes how that she could choose “any hero, any cause or age” and would see him in it. She says that it is “as sure shooting arrows” which means that it is completely positive. Dove references Hurricane Floyd in the second stanza, which was a large, powerful storm that happened along the Atlantic coast in 1999, just four years before this poem was written. This storm could be a comparison to her memories of relationships. They were drastic and completely extraordinary. In the last stanza, she and her husband are both nestled away, safe from the storm. They are both very happy, just falling short of perfection, The narrator still does not understand why someone would settle for “ordinary” when one could find perfection. The title “Cozy Apologia” literally means “comforted apology”. Dove may be apologizing for not being “ordinary”, but almost in a sarcastic manner. Dove knows that her life was not ordinary in the view of society, but she is happy.
This poem was very relatable for me. I think that everybody has someone that they build up in their mind and they can do no wrong. The comparison to a hurricane is accurate because this type of relationship can be very damaging. I like that you also noticed how this apology isn't very sincere at all. No one should have to apologize for being themselves and I think that's the real message in this poem.
In “Meditation at Fifty yards, Moving Target”, Rita Dove uses second person point of view to give the poem more personal meaning to the reader. This poem is broken up into three parts: “Safety First.”, “Open Air.”, and “Gender Politics”. The first stanza is basic gun safety. However, the second person point of view gives this information a little more value when Dove writes, “You could wound the burglar and kill your child sleeping in the next room, all with one shot” (11-12). Had this been worded as a warning that “a person” could be killed rather than “your child sleeping in the next room”, it would’ve been read as a simple warning. Instead, the second person point of view provokes a sense of grief and even guilt in the reader, even though they have done nothing. The idea of killing your own child, not to mention while they are vulnerably sleeping, is overwhelming to most people. The second stanza is also in second person and allows the reader to picture themselves firing the gun. Dove writes, “Level the scene with your eyes. Listen. Soft now: squeeze” (23-24). After the first stanza warns the reader of the danger of firearms, they are then placed in the “Open Air” to fire one. The tone of this stanza is very different from that of the first. The point of view makes the reader feel calm by the simple instructions given. The tone changes again in the third stanza, as does the point of view. Third person point of view is used as a way to generalize males and females. Guns are historically masculine and Dove describes their experience with guns as a way for them to live up to images they have in their mind of tough guys like “Rambo”. She describes women practicing for skill. The use of third person forces the reader to place him/herself in a category. This is similar to the category they already placed themselves in earlier in the poem, either fearing of guns or relieved by guns.
I completely agree with you analysis of these stanzas and the importance of the point of view of this poem, but I think you missed an incredibly important part of this poem, the last stanza of this poem titled "The Bullet". (It was probably on the next page of the book and you just didn't see it). This stanza writes from the perspective of the bullet, personifying it as hungry and dangerous. The stanza is written as a string of phrases with no punctuation or capitalization, which give it an ominous feeling. Additionally at the end of the stanza it refers to the body as "home", which hints to the fact that this bullet is being shot at someone.
In Rita Dove’s “Chocolate” from her book American Smooth, she uses personification and symbolism in order to make a comparison between an irresistible square of chocolate with an irresistible man that the author desires. For the whole first stanza she describes the chocolate and her actions of observing it. As she does this it sets a tone of the poem that the chocolate is truly a prize and that it is valuable to the character in the poem. Moving on to the next stanza, the tone is given the same expression as the author describes their actions with the chocolate. Aside from further setting the tone, this stanza could also be interpreted as personifying and giving the traits irresistible man to the chocolate. In stanzas four and five the revelation of the chocolate being a valued possession for any woman appears. “for a taste of you/ any woman would gladly crumble to ruin”(Lines 12-14). In this quote it reveals much more than the traits of the chocolate, but it provides enough evidence to make the claim that the chocolate symbolizes a man. This is further supported in the final two lines where the author writes she is ready to fall in love. In most cases it is absurd to fall in love with just chocolate, but through the interpretation made before that it makes sense as the chocolate represents a man.. After examining the evidence that the chocolate is personified and given traits of a man any woman would want, it could be fully concluded that this outstanding square of chocolate is really a symbol of a man that the author desires.
In the poem “Chocolate” Rita Dove uses symbolism to show the connection between chocolate and a man that she finds appealing. She does this because chocolate is something that most people find delightful. This is a way she can connect with the readers more because it can be hard to explain something that isn’t familiar to others. In line four and five Dove writes, “how you numb me/with your rich attentions!” This connects to chocolate and how it attracts people with its rich taste, but also how a man can do the same. A man can ‘numb’ or deceive a woman with attention. To a woman, it can become very ‘rich’ or satisfying when a man shows attention. As well as attention, looks also play a part in luring in a woman. In lines six and seven Dove explains, “If I don’t eat you quickly,/ you’ll melt in my palm”. This is another connection because chocolate literally melts in one’s hand if it isn’t eaten fast enough, and after it’s melted in one’s hand, it is usually unwanted and people lose their chance to eat it. She is making this connection with men as well because if she doesn’t make her move or act on her feelings, sooner or later it will become too late and the man will ‘melt’ away right in her grasp. Right after that in lines eight and nine, Dove writes, “Pleasure seeker, if I let you/ you’d liquefy everywhere”. This explains how if she doesn’t keep an eye on the man, he could slide out of her grasp or ‘liquefy’. She explains the man as a ‘pleasure seeker’ which explains that he can go another woman to give him pleasure or love if the narrator doesn’t satisfy him. Lastly, Dove writes, “for a taste of you/any woman would gladly/crumble to ruin”(12-14). Dove explains how any woman would die to get a taste of a delicious piece of chocolate. However, also shows how a woman would die to get a taste of the man or have him to themselves because he is so desirable.
I agree with your analysis completely. This poem was easy for me to understand because it used a reference that I, and most people, are familiar with. Almost everyone has eaten chocolate once in their life, and has either been in or witnessed a relationship much like the one Dove describes. Society often portrays women as the desirable ones, but this poem flips it around and show how women search for men they find desirable.The different ways chocolate can be eaten and malformed was a clever and accurate way to represent a woman's relation with a man, and possibly their life together.
Rita Dove uses symbolism in the poem, “All Souls’” to convey the tiresome life Americans live due to the capitalistic nature of this country. The first stanza of this poem names many animals, birds and small rodents, who use their voices to signal the world. Dove writes, “sent out a feeble cry signifying/grief and confusion, et cetera” (line 7-8). Personifying animals to cry out in grief represent the pre-modern and natural ways of life. Nature often symbolizes the simpler beginnings of life, and Dove uses it here to contrast the later descriptions of the world now. The next stanza states the obvious conclusion that the world is continually changing, and Dove describes what it did to man and says, “Then yearn/for what he would learn to call/distraction. This was the true loss” (line 13-15) Dove is criticizing the way humans evolved to overlook all the beauty that come with enjoying life as it is. People ache for ways to not deal with the present and to never sit still and be bored. In the third stanza, Dove introduces the two souls. She writes, “Standing outside the gates/(no more than a break in the hedge; how had they missed it?) were not/ thinking” (Line 19-22). The two people were standing in the hedge, a symbol for the moment they break away from the simpler ways of life to one full of distractions, ultimately, what Dove views to be the fatal flaw of this generation. As they stood on the break in the hedge, they could see what was going on, and because they chose to continue, Dove is appalled and says, ‘how had they missed it?’, meaning how had they still left after seeing what the world has become. The final stanza bring clarity to the theme that America is business oriented to the point that people become blinded by their work and live dreary, tiresome lives. Dove conveys this as she writes, “In time/they hunkered down to business,/filling the world with sighs” (Line 26-28). These two souls filed in to this world and became one just as everyone else. Dove calls them ‘anonymous, pompous creatures’ (Line 27), symbolizing how they are self-centered, ordinary workers caught up in the system of jobs and money. Their relates back to the nature motif of finding happiness in following a simpler life instead of crossing over the hedge into what will end up as a boring, conventional existence.
In the poem “Cozy Apologia” from the book American Smooth, Rita Dove uses end rhymes to build a mood of comfort. Within the first stanza, there is strong rhyming in couplets, with two successive sentences ending in a similar-sounding word. (An aabb etc. type of pattern) This continues into the second stanza, but begins to fade about halfway through, eventually switching into a more subtle, slight every other line rhyme scheme in the first half of the third stanza. (An abab type pattern.) However, the very last two lines of the poem end with the words “blues” and “you”, which is similar to the ends of the first two lines of the poem, which were “you” and “blue”. The close, fairly easy to spot rhyme scheme of the first stanza creates more of a cozy atmosphere and could be symbolic of the relationship between the speaker to the person they love. (In this case it’s Rita Dove to her husband, Fred, to whom the poem is dedicated.) The rhyme scheme fades in the second stanza as the speaker talks about “awkward reminiscences / Of teenage crushes on worthless boys / Whose only talent was to kiss you senseless” (lines 15-17). As the lines talk about relationships that didn’t work out, the fading of the rhyme scheme here could symbolize how previous relationships with other boys only broke apart and faded away. The shift into a different rhythm and rhyme scheme in the third stanza could represent how well she fits with her current partner, like a couple’s hands that are intertwined with one another. Then at the end of the poem the rhyme that mirrors the one at the beginning could be meant to take the reader back to the start of the poem and reminding readers of the ‘cozy’ atmosphere between the speaker and their love.
I really do enjoy your analysis and your idea about the rhyme scheme's role in the poem as it is very interesting, but I do have some questions. You write that the importance of the rhyme is scheme is to ultimately create a feeling of comfort, but to me I don't get the same feelings of same rhyme schemes. Yes, it is interesting to think that since the first stanza may have been full of love, but when reading the final stanza I don't get that same feeling. It also seems that the only evidence you seem to provide that there is a feeling of comfort in the final lines is that it has the same rhyme schemes of the first stanza. To me at least I think you should explain with more than just the rhyme scheme to portray the mood of comfort, but with the words in the last stanza that imply settlement in a life that is comfortable.
In “Now” by Rita Dove, she uses a glass of water to symbolize the theme of the importance of nurturing a relationship. This poem starts with a cold glass of water that is clearly desirable. The main character drinks half the water in one gulp and is then distracted. He/she leaves the glass of water to tend to something else all day. This is similar to the way a person may spend all day at work or occupy themselves in some other way. Once the main character has returned he/she noticed that the water now stood “forgotten, slippery in a darkening ring of neglect - mute evidence of my earlier thirst” (22-26). The way that the water changes is the way humans grow and change, especially apart from each other. The time spent separately has changed the both of them. The water, or relationship, is clearly less desirable at this point and yet the main character still drinks the rest of the water. This happens in relationships also. Two people that are married most likely started their relationship off well. They both desire each other greatly but sometimes when they are both distracted, neither put in the necessary effort to maintain the strong relationship. In a way, they both feel stuck. The main character doesn’t want to waste the water that once brought him/her such great refreshment, the way two married people don’t want to give up on their relationship. The main character keeps drinking the water because it’s what he/she knows. The same reason two people stay in an unsatisfying relationship.
I did not understand this poem at all until I read your analysis, and it really made this poem a lot more accessible once I understood the general theme. I agree with your comparison of this water glass to a forgotten relationship, but I would emphasize that it is not that the water is unappealing to her later. I think she is trying to say that people can have separate lives and separate interests, but they can still make the relationship work. It will be "no small task", but it is doable and if the people in the relationship work hard and put in effort, it will work out.
In the poem “The Bistro Styx”, Rita Dove uses allusions to Greek mythology and descriptions of color to depict a troubled mother-daughter relationship. The title ”The Bistro Styx” is a reference to the River Styx, and the mother in this relationship is a modern representation of Demeter, and the daughter is a modern representation of Persephone. The daughter has been abducted by a “modern Hades”, who has her model nude and uses her for his art. The underworld of modern Paris is where he lives, and he has taken modern Persephone. Demeter is losing her daughter, and it is obvious during this dinner. In the beginning, the mother is waiting for the daughter to appear for their dinner. The daughter is late, which shows how she has stopped valuing her relationship with her mother. The act of eating and drinking at the restaurant is the main focus of the poem. This shows that the daughter likes the food more than the mother. Additionally, in the ancient Greek myth it was because Persephone ate pomegranate seeds that she couldn’t restore herself to the world of the living. This is shown when modern Persephone ate a lot at dinner. It represents that she will be with modern Hades forever. The description of the color is very important in this poem. When the daughter shows up, she is wearing grey. Grey is a representation of the death of human emotion and sensibility. The food is described as very vibrant in color, which shows how rich it is. She also describes how her modern Hades dressed her in blues and carmine, but she prefers more muted shades. This is important because modern Hades wants her to be more alive than she is.
In the poem “Heart to Heart”, Dove denies the conventional symbolism of the heart in modern culture with lines such as, “It doesn’t melt / or turn over / break or harden, / so it can’t feel / pain, / yearning, / regret” (lines 3-9). Line three is referring to the saying of how human hearts “melt” when around someone they love in a romantic fashion. Line four possibly refers to the saying of “I’ve had a change of heart” which is similar to the phrase “I’ve turned over a new leaf” in its meaning of changing from one attitude to another. The fifth line discusses the phrases “broken heart”, which is used to describe feeling pain after a relationship has ended and the phrase “hard hearted”, which is used to describe someone without compassion. However, later on in the poem it reads, “it isn’t even shapely— / just a thick clutch / of muscle, / lopsided, / mute” (lines 12-17). These lines, combined with the meaning of lines six through nine, it means that despite all of its symbolism in terms of romance, in the end the heart is just a muscle, an organ that isn’t actually responsible for emotions and just beats within “its cage”, the ribcage. Yet, the speaker’s tone of voice shifts at the end of the second stanza and into the third as the speaker turns the subject onto him/herself. Within the third stanza, the speaker also references more of the sayings that refer to the heart. The phrase “You have the key to my heart” is a way of telling a person that you love them. The saying of “wear your heart on your sleeve” means expressing one’s emotions. However, given that the speaker is mentioning that the key is absent, that he/she cannot wear his/her heart on his/her sleeve, and cannot say he/she loves another from the bottom of his/her heart, it can be inferred that the speaker experiences difficulty expressing his/her love for another person. Yet, the speaker desires that despite his/her flaws, he/she hopes that the person he/she loves will accept him/her for who he/she is, as it can be interpreted from lines 28-32, “Here, / it’s all yours, now— / but you’ll have / to take me, / too”.
In the poem “I have been a stranger in a strange land” Rita Dove uses realism and tragedy to describe Eve’s desire within the poem. In lines one a two Dove writes, “It wasn’t bliss. What was bliss/ but the ordinary life?”. This shows how Eve was clearly bored about what she had been doing her whole life even though the life she had was wonderful. To her it was only ordinary. It is human instinct to naturally want change or something new in one’s life because the same thing everyday gets boring and one starts to become curious. It does not matter what kind of life one has or how they live, change is needed and craved among humans. Dove writes in lines eleven through thirteen, “He was off cataloging the universe, probably,/ pretending he could organize/ what was clearly someone else’s chaos”. In this it seems as if Eve is losing faith in God because she talks about him as in ‘pretending’ he could organize and handle the world and all of its chaos. She is doubting the life that he has given her and if beginning to debate whether there is more out there for her. She is searching for something more because her entire life, she has listened to God and she hasn’t experienced any bad or evil in her life because of it. She has nothing to compare her ordinary life to, so she feels God is keeping something from her. In lines seventeen and eighteen Dove writes, “she knew without being told/ this was forbidden”. Later in the poem in the last line she writes, “warming her outreached palm”. This is unfortunate because Eve, knowing it was wrong, decided to go against God and what she was ‘supposed’ to do all because of the desire she had to find something other than what she had. This is an example of her being selfish and not relying on God to give her what’s best. This shows sin and how every human's natural instinct is to desire something other than what they have, no matter how wonderful or poor they portray their life to be.
I agree with your analysis. I also think one of Dove's major themes of this poem was the effects of giving in to temptation, describes by Eve's decision to take the forbidden fruit. Although the poem as direct relation to the story of Adam and Eve, Dove make an effort to generalize their wrong doings to the sin of humanity, temptation. Commonly it is heard as, 'the grass is always greener on the other side', and I think this story is an allusion to not only Adam and Eve, but the ordinary struggle of wanting what you can't have in everyday life.
Rita Dove uses symbolism, allusion, and second person in “Against Flight” to convey the misinterpretation of the peacefulness of dying. The poem starts by implying that everyone wants to die or ‘go up’, ‘up’ meaning heaven. On the same line, Dove writes, “But no one can imagine/what it’s like when the earth smooths out, begins” (line 1-2). By saying, ‘no one can imagine’, it is the first indication that people have a skewed perception of what it really means to die. Nobody knows what will happen when they finally do, and it is often made beautiful to fill the void of the unknown. This poem is an allusion to Heaven and the belief there is life above the clouds after death. Dove negates this when she writes, “There’ll be no more clouds/worth reshaping into daydreams, no more/daybreaks to make you feel larger than life;/no eagle envy or fidgeting for a better view/from the eighteenth row in the theater…” (line 8-12). Dove attempts to convey that once you die, there is no more nature to look at, or views to complain about. There is simply nothing. Dove uses these descriptions with positive connotations to ease the readers mind with relatable memories of finding shape sin the clouds as children, and also small complaints of being back row in a theatre to avoid a depression tone, but still establish the message that death brings emptiness where small joys of life used to be. The last two stanzas act in attempt to persuade readers to not wish to leave their lives. On lines 20-23, Dove says, “Who needs it? Each evening finds you/whipped to fringes, obliged to lie down/in a world of strangers, beyond perdition or pity-/bare to the stars, buoyant in the sweet sink of earth”. Dove addresses that every night is a chance to sleep among strangers rather than those lost in eternal damnation, another allusion to Christian theology, only to wake up with the world a head of you. The last line, the only stanza with one line, brings emphasis to the main theme of this poem. Dove uses second person to address the reader personally and says, you are ‘bare to the stars, buoyant in the sweet sink of earth’. This is a message to remind readers of hope in their lives. Being ‘bare to the stars’ means that they have done no wrong and they have no sin, only innocence that God knows about. They are buoyant due to their ability to relish in the wonders of the world, the earth being compared to a sink, full of opportunities to be had. Life on earth is real and achievable, and Dove ultimately strives to convey that death is overrated and there is hope for everyone.
In Rita Dove’s “Fox Trot Fridays” she uses couplets and a style of repetition as well as enjambment to compare the poem’s structure to an actual foxtrot dance. An actual foxtrot dance style is characterized as long, continuous flowing movements just like how this poem is structured. The poem regularly has one line moving smoothly to the next. In here, “Thank the stars there’s a day/ each week to tuck in/ the grief” (Lines 1-3), each line is enjambed, and through that, the poem becomes continuous, but still retains a flowing characteristic from moving one line to another. Also, different variations of fox trots have a tempo change from being slow-slow to fast-fast back to slow-slow, and this here is axiomatic in the poem. The poem begins with more syllables in each stanza, but as it progresses to the middle-end of the poem there are as few as six syllables in the sixth stanza. However, after this short stanza, the poem returns back to longer stanzas. Through the analysis of the lengths of each stanza based off of the number of syllables it could then be concluded that this foxtrot variation is one of the more modern American style of foxtrots. By thoroughly analyzing the structure of the poem and compare it down to even what kind of variation of a foxtrot it may be, different questions appear as to why did Dove write such a piece? Has Dove fell in love through this dance? Or has Dove felt great emotions of a high she gets from this dance? So far it would be hard to understand why Dove wrote such a piece, but it through the structural evidence found, it is almost certain that she was writing about this dance.
In “Sonnet in Primary Colors”, Rita Dove uses similes, natural imagery, and reference to death to convey the theme of adoration of Frida and admiration for her work and personality.
ReplyDeleteSimiles are used to set Frida apart from the others, as in line 10 where Dove writes “the hundred dogs panting / like children along the graveled walks of the garden”. This puts Frida above other people who are like “dogs” in comparison to her.
Dove uses natural imagery to show how beautiful and exotic Frida is. Dove uses words like “parrots”, “wildflowers”, “butterflies”, and “garden” to give this poem a natural tone. She also uses the phrase “rose” which has multiple connotations, one being the flower and one being an action.
This poem also contains multiple references to death, which leads the reader to believe that Frida was not always happy. Dove writes that Frida is “Each night she lay down in pain and rose / to her celluloid butterflies of her Beloved Dead”. Celluloid butterflies reference pictures, but the use of words like “pain” and Beloved Dead” create a tone of tragedy and despair. Later in the poem it states “Diego’s / love a skull in the circular window” which not only conveys the unhealthy nature of her relationship with Diego but also contributes to the tone of despair. The multiple references to death allude to her alternating personalities of hope and despair.
The title of this poem is also very important. Frida Kahlo uses vibrant colors in her artwork, which may have inspired the title. It is also worth noting that the title “Sonnet in Primary Colors” is not entirely accurate, as a sonnet has 14 lines and this poem has only 13 lines. This is done to emphasize how Frida is not quite like the others, and that she liked to break the rules and Dove breaks the rules of poetry to demonstrate this.
I agree with your ideas about similes and the natural imagery she used and especially how you compare the skull to an unhealthy relationship. However, I believe her distant relationship with Diego may have been part of the reason she was able to maintain her feminist ideas and personal identity throughout her 2 marriages to him. You did touch on this with the juxtaposition of hope and despair, which I agree she struggled between the two.
DeleteYour comment on the title was informative and most likely intentional. I would agree that Kahlo was not a big fan of going with the flow. I actually think the title is also a juxtaposition of boldness and simplicity. Her sonnet was not a classic sonnet but primary colors are the most basic form of color to exist. Dove may have been trying to show that despite her uniqueness, she was still just a human that had problems like everyone else.
Rita Dove uses metaphors in her poem “Sonnet in Primary Colors” in order to convey feminism. In the first line of this poem, Dove writes, “This is for the woman with one black wing perched over her eyes...”. She makes the comparison between Frida Kahlo’s eyebrow and a black wing. She was somewhat known for her unibrow that appeared in all of her self portraits. This serves most clearly the purpose of identification. In the poem, Dove mentions the name Frida but the unibrow makes it clear she is writing about Frida Kahlo. The diction she uses to make this comparison reminds the reader of a bird. She calls it a “wing” and describes it “perched” above the eyes. Frida painted herself holding birds in several paintings. She also once asked “Feet, what do I need you for when I have wings to fly?” By saying this, she was sharing that she felt she had no use for small things in life because she was powerful enough to do anything she pleased. This is very much how she lived her life. She was an influential political leader and made bold statements through her paintings. She defied stereotypes pertaining to women. This is like defying gravity, which birds do every time they fly.
ReplyDeleteIn the early 20th century, a woman’s life revolved around her husband and home life. Near the end of the poem Dove writes, “Diego’s love a skull in the circular window”. This comparison is significant because a skull is fairly small. She places it in a window as if it is decorative. Contrary to societal expectations, Diego did not dominate her. Dove describes him in almost the opposite way. Hunters place the heads of their prized kill in their homes, just as this skull sits in Frida’s window. It serves as a trophy of her independence. This is in line with feminist beliefs. Women should maintain their own identities within a relationship. This poem focuses on feminist ideals through metaphors.
I agree with many of your points. I liked how you went in depth to connect how Frida paints lots of pictures of birds. You explain how the bird being able to fly represents that she felt no use for small things because she was powerful enough to do anything she pleased. I like this point you made and how you showed that the bird represented freedom in a sense because since she was such an influential person, she felt free to do anything. Since she fought for a lot women's rights and equality, I also think that that was a main part of why she drew pictures of birds. Not only because she was free to do what she pleased, but she hoped that women would be free to do as they pleased too.
DeleteIn Rita Dove’s “Canary”, she uses negative diction, visual imagery, and metaphors to portray Billie Holiday’s struggle as a very famous singer and drug addict.
ReplyDeleteNegative diction is used a lot throughout the poem to render the darkness and negativity that comes along with Holiday’s life. In the beginning of the poem in line one and two, Rita Doe writes, “Billie Holiday’s burned voice had as many shadows as lights”. This shows negative diction because it is describing how her voice is getting ‘burned’ out because of the drugs she had been taking. Even though she knew that she had one of the best voices in the music industry at that time, she could not stop the drugs which caused her voice to get worse early in her career. Rita also uses negative diction in line ten when she writes, “If you can’t be free, be a mystery”. She writes, ‘can’t be free’ which implies that with the fame, she felt trapped within the light of the paparazzi and the public.
Rita Dove uses visual imagery in line six when she writes, “magic spoon, magic needle.” This creates an image in the reader's mind of Holiday taking drugs to take away the pain that she endured. Rita describes the spoon and needle as ‘magic’ which puts emphasis on the fact the Holiday needed the drugs to deal with what was and had already happened in her life.
Lastly, Rita uses a metaphor to depict Billie Holiday’s life as a singer. In line eight she says, “With your mirror and bracelet of song.” She uses the term, ‘bracelet of song’ to describe how the songs that Holiday sang were wrapped around her life such as a bracelet wraps around one's wrist. This poem shows the life of Billie Holiday and the struggle she had with her drug addiction.
I completely agree with your analysis, as all of these literary devices truly do play a role in contributing to Holiday’s life in terms of her struggles, and successes. The way Dove structures her poem is in such a mesmerizing way that I believe we both see, because of how each line represents some part of her life in a sequence where it could be understood for the reader to make easy comparisons. For an example I like how you mentioned how Dove wrote about Holidays voice being burnt out because of the drug abuse she was doing in her life. This was a really nice analysis and I agree with your points!
DeleteRita Dove’s uses symbolism in the poem, “Tou Wan Speaks to Her Husband, Liu Sheng”, to convey the theme of woman suppression in marriage. The wife of Liu Sheng, Tou Wan, is the narrator of this poem. In the first three stanzas of the poem, Dove compares the couple’s life they have made to a house. On line one, she writes, “I will build you a home of limited chambers but it shall last forever”. Tou Wan is saying to her husband that she will not provide a surplus of riches and possessions, but she will love her husband endlessly. Dove symbolizes this when she writes that the house has ‘limited chambers’, meaning there is no room for materialistic items, and Tou Wan can only offer her vow to love. The second stanza addresses Liu Shengs’ journey where he left Tou Wan for a period of time, and the mood shifts to a darker, vengeful tone as Dove begins the third stanza. She writes on lines thirteen to fifteen, “a figurine household poised in servitude and two bronze jugs worth more than a family pays in taxes”. Now, the couple’s home is characterized as a figurine; it is now fake, and without liveliness and feeling. Dove used the same symbol, a house, but changed the meaning to show the evolution of the couple, and the feelings of neglect Tou Wan has. She feels ‘poised in servitude’, enslaved in a relationship where her husband’s true feelings for her have been lost as he now relishes in the money and power he owns as an emperor, represented by the bronze jugs that are ‘worth more than a family pays in taxes’. Dove chose a home to symbolize this relationship because women of the 900s spent their entire lives in their homes cooking and cleaning. Women often would seem to have more a relationship with their house than their husbands, which is evidently the theme Dove was aiming to convey as she writes the story of Tou Wan’s home beginning as small and cherished to end as large and forgotten.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your analysis of the importance of a home in this symbol and see many of the same devices you used to back up this claim. However I would argue that this tomb is specifically for materialistic items and that the fact that the tomb has "limited chambers" does not affect the amount of material goods they have. The tomb contains "two thousand jade wafers" in the shape of a suit, meaning that the couple mentioned definitely values material goods and this aligns with the elaborate tomb that was built. The tomb is in actuality filled with material goods, which shows that they placed value on worldly possessions.
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ReplyDeleteIn Rita Dove’s poem “Catherine of Alexandria” which is part of her collection of strong women Catherine’s strength, and legacy could greatly be portrayed in this poem alone through the uses of metaphors, allusions and tone. During the first stanza of the poem we learn that Catherine of Alexandria had no option except for sainthood, because as quoted “Deprived of learning and the chance to travel”(1-2), sainthood would be her best option. As the poem goes to the next Stanzas they explain how Jesus was her husband and she was saving her virginity for him. “in your bed-- and what went on each night was fit for nobody’s ears”(5-8). In here Dove uses allusions and metaphors to reference that ears mean the man and that his body cannot be with Catherine on her bed. Catherine of Alexandria suffered by not succumbing to the world and saved her virginity for Jesus, and in order to preserve her promise she would not conceive when Dove writes “a ring of milk”(16). This is a metaphor of her longing to be a mother but suffering, because she can’t in this world. Although it may seem simple that all she did was just keep her virginity for Jesus, it plays a bigger role when understanding her life. Catherine died as a martyr, and one of the reasons that made her die was her refusal to marry the Roman emperor Maxentius who in turn became furious and had her killed. This devotion to Jesus was strongly influential to the Catholic community that was to rise and a legacy of admiration to Catherine. Through all of this, I believe Dove had one question in her mind for Catherine of Alexandria as she wrote this poem and it was “Was all of this pain worth it to save your virginity for Jesus”. Her tone in each line was expressed with some pity for Catherine’s loneliness such as when she wrote “each night was fit for nobody’s ears”(7-8) and “Each morning the nightshirt bunched above your waist”(12-14) which uses words like nobody and the second quote is another reference to her coping method used to stay as a virgin.
ReplyDeleteDove uses capitalization to convey emotion and formality in her poem, “Belinda’s Petition”. She capitalizes proper nouns and the beginnings of sentences in addition to many words that , grammatically, do not necessitate capital letters. She does this to put emphasis on words that evoke emotion in the reader. Dove writes, “pure Air being the sole Advantage / of which I can boast in my present Condition”(11-12). This slave, Belinda, is deprived of all possessions except for air. Dove capitalized air because she wanted it to be apparent that the life of a slave is simply biological, emotionally they are drained of emotion and happiness by their difficult and exhausting lives. Dove also puts emphasis on condition because it is so poor. Both of these ideas are likely to evoke emotion in the reader.
ReplyDeleteMany historical documents are written with a plethora of capital letters. These convey formality and draw the reader’s attention to the correct places. In this time period, slaves were thought to be less mentally capable than other races. Dove writes, “Lately your Countrymen have severed / the Binds of Tyranny”(8-9). The capitalization in this section makes it very clear that a slave is capable of using higher level vocabulary correctly and staying up to date with political events. She is referring to the United State’s Declaration of Independence which freed Americans from Britain. Although she could have phrased it that way she, instead, wrote “severed the Binds of Tyranny” to make the point that African Americans are just as capable of writing and speaking formally as any other race. This poem’s capitalization is used to emphasize the hardships of slave life and prove the mental capabilities of African Americans.
I agree with your analysis of the capitalization and it's importance in emphasizing emotion and that the advanced vocabulary makes the point that African Americans are as intelligent as any other race. I would also add that this may be Belinda proving that blacks are as worthy of freedom as everyone else, having fought alongside the patriots in the revolutionary war. Belinda is definitely referencing the Declaration of Independence as you said, and I think this is important because of the "all men are created equal" part of that document. Belinda is pointing out the hypocrisy of the Revolution and the founding fathers.
DeleteIn the poem “The House Slave”, Rita Dove uses similes and a paradox to represent how horrible life as a slave was. Dove uses similes to contrast the hard life of the slave to the life of the owner. Dove writes that the slaves are “driven into the vague before-dawn / while their mistress sleeps like an ivory toothpick”. This simile is used to represent the physical frailty of the white mistress while also making it clear that it is talking about a white mistress. Dove uses another simile later to describe how busy and hardworking the slaves are forced to be, saying that they are “like bees among the fat flowers”. This contrasts the mistress who is sitting around with the slaves who are working in the fields.
ReplyDeleteThe paradox is used to emphasize the terrible living conditions of the slave. She writes that the house slave lies on her cot, “shivering in the early heat.” In normal context, heat would never elicit a shiver, and this paradox is used to convey how frightened the slave is and how the slaves’ pain and sorrow have a physical manifestation. The paradox is used to emphasize this feeling and to make the reader aware of the tremendous discomfort of the slave. This slave is a house slave that is observing the life of field slaves, and her shiver can be seen as a manifestation of the fear that she may become a field slave as well and have to undergo those terrible conditions.
Slaves lived in terrible conditions and were treated inhumanely, and Rita Dove brings these truths to light in her poem “The House Slave”.
I like that you focused on the similes in this poem because I agree that they are very symbolic in the life of a slave. The comparison between the mistress and the ivory toothpick was a great choice because it could mean many things. I personally interpreted it as Dove's way of comparing a toothpick, something incapable of motion and flexibility to the way a slave owner may be lazy and strict. I agree that she used ivory because not only is she white, but very fair skinned because she has probably never worked a day in her life. In this time period, fair skin was a symbol of wealth. Your analysis of the heat and shiver was very in depth and insightful and I agree with your conclusion as to why it was used.
DeleteIn Rita Dove’s poem “The Abduction”, the stanzas’ structure is formatted to mimic the suspense and quickness of the capturing of former slave, Solomon Northrup. This poem is arranged in 5 stanzas, each line count lessening by one as the poem continues. The first two stanzas are long and filled with description of the hopeful life Solomon Northrup plans to live now that he is freed. Positive connotations with the use of the words ‘free’, ‘jig’, and ‘squealed’ imply a joyous mood. However, the next three stanzas are concise. They contain visual imagery of the abduction as it happens. Dove writes, “…the windows rattled with each report/then the wine, like a pink lake, tipped” (Dove 10-11). ‘Rattling windows’ is a use of audible diction that Dove included to shift the tone of the poem and arise angst in the readers. The wine tipping compared to a lake symbolizes the large change of events that is about to occur. Dove uses this simile to foreshadow the catastrophic ending and the major effects it will have, much like if a lake were to spill. The fourth stanza contains only two lines, both containing ironic descriptions of the slave’s location. Dove says, “I floated on water I could not drink. Though the pillow/was stone I climbed no ladders in that sleep” (Dove 13-14). These two lines convey the defeat of Northrup, suggesting that he is to now live without the luxury of accessible water, a vital necessity for survival. Dove uses this to illustrate how slaves were not treated as humans. Climbing no ladders in his sleep symbolizes how Northrup is trapped and without any obvious means of escape and will be forced to wither in dehydration. In the last and final line of the poem, Dove writes, “I woke and found myself alone, in darkness and in chains” (Dove 15). Dove constructed it this way to put emphasis on the final line as it is the main focus of the poem. The descending count brings the poem to an abrupt end, just as the abduction would be. Readers are meant to understand the sudden, violent action of being taken, and the darkness that follows as a slave will awake alone and bound once again. Although Dove specified this poem to one person, Solomon Northrup, it represents a general upheaval and abuse of human rights as slaves were universally captured again and again during this time.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your points in how Rita Dove uses the stanzas' structure to portray suspense in the readers mind. I thought it was very creative how she formatted them in a sense where it was counting backwards and then at one was when he was abducted. I did not consider the part when you went into depth about how he would not have water for a long time and would lead to dehydration. I think you make a very interesting and creative point.
DeleteIn Rita Dove’s Poem, “David Walker” she writes almost a homage, but really a small biography of the life of David Walker. In the analysis of Dove’s poem many parts of Walker's life could be learned through her use of metaphors and visual imagery which incorporates kinesthetic imagery as well. It does require understanding the life of Walker though, which includes his work in a clothing shop as a free black man. Although he may have been free he felt great sympathy for his fellow blacks that were slaves and grew a deep hatred against it, in which he smuggled pamphlets that expressed his feelings. In the first stanza much is said about his work, “All day at the counter-/whitecaps, ale strained pea coats”(Lines 4-5). This quote here portrays his life working and selling to mostly sailors, because they wear white caps, and pea coats. Later in the second stanza it is said that these pamphlets were put in the pockets of the jackets sold and read on the ships, which proved to play a profound effect for stirring up emotions. With the use of visual imagery of this, David Walker’s significance and strategy is then realized which plays a role in understanding the poem and his life. Next in the third stanza, it’s said “The jewelled canaries in the lecture halls tittered,”(line 20), which is a metaphor for the feelings other people felt about Walker’s radicalism. Finally in the third stanza it says that even abolitionists were appalled by Walker, and later implies Walker is dead with the visual imagery of him being found face down in Brattle Street, which implies he was killed or suddenly died.
ReplyDeleteIn Rita Dove’s poem “Belinda’s Petition”, sarcasm is used to draw attention to the main points in the poem. In lines 8 through 12 Dove writes, “Lately your Countrymen have severed//the Binds of Tyranny. I would hope/ you would consider the Same for me,/ pure Air being the sole Advantage/of which I can boast in my present Condition”. Here Dove uses sarcasm within the tone of voice that Belinda uses. Dove explains how they had just broken aways from the ‘Binds of Tyranny’ or an oppressive government. In the last lines she says, ‘pure Air being the sole Advantage/of which I can boast in my present Condition’. Belinda uses sarcasm to express how they’re flaunting how they broke away from an oppressive government when the only thing she has to flaunt is her ability to breathe. Another example of Dove using sarcasm is in line 15 and 16 when she writes, “All my Childhood/I expected nothing, if that be Ignorance”. Here Belinda is being sarcastic because she says how expecting nothing her whole childhood was ignorant when in fact it is the opposite.
ReplyDeleteRita Dove also uses hyperbole to portray how difficult it was to live the life of a slave. In lines 17 and 18 Rita Dove writes, “ The only Travelers were the Dead who returned/from the Ridge each Evening”. The word dead is used to show how working as a slave was so difficult that all the men who came back each night were so tired that they were practically dead.
After reading your analysis, I more clearly understood Dove's purpose when writing this poem. I had never thought before that it could be based on sarcasm. I think sarcasm also is used here to mock the slave system. Belinda addresses how she is not worth anything to the slave owners, and that because of this, there should be less resistance to slaves when they try to be free. In my opinion, Belinda is trying to convey that because whites make it so visibly clear that slaves should be treated with no respect, why is there so much fight when slaves begin to live their lives minding their own business? I agree with you that Dove aimed to portray the difficult life of a slave, and how ironic their lives would become through the use of sarcasm.
DeleteThe poem by Rita Dove titled The Abduction illustrates the man Solomon Northup who was born free but then abducted and sold into slavery. The second sentence of the second to last stanza reads, “Though the pillow / was stone, I climbed no ladders in that sleep”. This sentence could be an allusion to the biblical story of Jacob, son of Isaac, in the Old Testament. It refers specifically to when Jacob was travelling from the land of his fathers and ended up stopping to spend the night in one spot of land. That night, while Jacob slept using rocks as pillows, he dreamed of a ladder reaching up into heaven. At the top of the ladder there stood God, while angels ascended and descended the ladder between earth and Heaven. This dream was symbolic in that it meant that the ground upon where Jacob lay was a holy place, one that was near unto God. However, within this poem, the speaker is telling about there were “no ladders in that sleep”. Taking into context the symbolic meaning of Jacob’s dream and the context of the poem, this biblical allusion conveys messages about the hardships and slavery and just the brutality of it. It could refer that slavery is not of God as this sleep spoken of in the poem most likely refers to Northup when he is being drugged and kidnapped. Another thing is that this line adds to a dark and dreary tone towards the end of the poem as no ladders could symbolize either a lost connection with God because of the struggles of slavery, or it could symbolize a loss of hope that God and religion tend to bring.
ReplyDeleteIn Rita Dove’s Poem “Climbing In” Dove uses several literary devices such as tactile imagery, visual imagery, end stops, and negative imagery to make the comparison between the story “The Little Red Riding Hood” and how it is very similar to a black taking the bus around the mid 20th century.
ReplyDeleteThe first stanza begins with one single word “Teeth”(Line 1), ending with a period and already a negative connotation of danger could be implied from this one word. Then the tactile imagery from the second stanza makes it possible to interpret that the danger is coming from a city bus. “Like the dime/ cutting my palm/ as I clutch the silver pole/ to step up, up”(Lines 4-7). In a denotative sense, the person is holding on to his/her bus fee very tightly at a bus stop hene the pole. The steps refer to the person walking into the bus. Dove uses tactile imagery to describe the person’s fear, because of the tone Dove gives by writing how the person was acting very anxious at the bus stop. The only reason the person would be afraid to ride the bus is if they were black, because blacks were discriminated at this time on buses, and so it could then be inferred the person is black. At the third stanza, “Not quite a grin./Pay him to keep smiling”(12-13), the person is in the bus and pays the driver his/her fee. The tone in this stanza makes everything seem very ominous and dangerous as the tone/visual imagery makes everything seem very fake. Words such as “Not quite” and “Pay him” make the quote of the poem ingenuine and the bus driver only takes her because of the law as well as the purpose of business. Finally in the final stanza, Dove uses the metaphor “as the bright lady tumbles/ head over tail/ down the clinking gullet” (Lines 16-19), to establish that the person has fallen into the danger of the bus. In this case, the danger of the bus was having to face discrimination by sitting in the back. The purpose Dove wrote this poem, must have been to portray the perspective of how blacks truly felt about riding the bus in a discriminatory manner, and she wishes to hope the audience will consider this scenario is more than just assigned seats on a bus.
I agree with your analysis of the negative diction and the foreboding tone, and I also see some similarities with Fairy Tales in this poem. I would emphasize the similarities between this poem and Little Red Riding Hood more, as I think it is very important to the poem. The person riding the bus can be seen as Little Red, and the bus itself combined with the society can be seen as the big bad wolf. There may also be some similarities with another Fairy tale, and I saw some parallels with Alice in Wonderland. Firstly the title "Climbing In" reminded me of Alice climbing into the hole, and the last stanza mirrors her chaotic fall through the hole and wonderland. I think Dove uses these Fairy tale references to make her poem more accessible and universal, and also to further the themes you discussed in your analysis.
DeleteIn the poem “Lady Freedom Among Us”, Rita Dove uses anaphoras and historical references to remind the audience that the problems of the past are not solved and to criticize those who believe they are. This poem is about the statue of Lady Freedom that sits on top of the capitol building in Washington DC. It was erected in 1863 and she wears a helmet and robes, which can be linked to Minerva or Bellona, Roman goddesses of war. Dove uses an anaphora to emphasize what she is wearing when she writes “with her oldfashioned sandals / with her leaden skirts / with her stained cheeks”. She is also holding a sword, which represents that she is prepared to defend the nation in the civil war that was during this time period.
ReplyDeleteDove uses anaphoras in the third, fifth, and eighth stanzas to command the reader to do something. Twice she repeats the word “don’t”, which emphasizes how one shouldn’t do the actions she is describing. The actions she is describing are ignoring the importance of the statue and ignoring the equality it represents. Dove writes “don’t think you can ever forget her / don’t even try”, which demonstrates how one can never forget equality and other people. The statue represents freedom and equality, and Rita Dove is criticizing the people who see the fight for equality as a thing of the past. She is also criticizing the hypocritical nation who has a statue representing freedom and equality on its capitol building, yet does not grant equality to all. It is very fitting that this poem is in the “Civil Rights” section of our study.
The last two lines of this poem are “for she is one of the many / and she is each of us” which sounds remarkably similar to the slogan “E Plurbis Unum” or “Out of many, one”, which is what is engraved on the pedestal on which Lady Liberty stands. This is important because it shows that everyone is connected and must work together to bring about real change.
I like that you focused on repetition because it stood out to me as well and I agree that it is an important part of the message in this poem. You connected to the time period nicely and clearly did some research. All of your facts are relevant and really help with comprehending the poem in addition to the message it communicates. Whether you intended to or not, this entry is very timely with all of the outbreaks and issues with social justice so your emphasis on the importance of remembering freedom and equality are applicable to current events.
DeleteI think you made a very good point about how this poem represents how people look at equality issues as a thing from the past. I agree with this and your explanation because equality is definitely not in the past and we still have current issues with it today. I thought it was creative how you interpreted the poem this way because you bring up a very good point.
DeleteDove uses visual imagery and slang in her poem “The Situation is Intolerable” to show the hardships fought by blacks during the civil rights movement. The first stanza is an attempt to prove that African Americans are as civilized as whites. She writes, “Shoes shined, / each starched cuff unyielding, / each dove grey pleated trouser leg / a righteous sword advancing / onto the field of battle / in the name of the Lord...” (2-7). She describes their attire in great detail. It is clear that these people are dressed formally and may even be of some social standing which goes against the popular belief of the time that African Americans were poor. This stanza takes a turn at the fifth line and Dove begins to write about a battle. She compares the clothing to a sword. She did this because the formality and respect was a sort of weapon for African Americans. As they gained status, their message about inequality gained support. This fueled the battle that existed between the African Americans and the racist policies and Americans, especially in the South.
ReplyDeleteThis poem was written from the perspective of an African American. During the civil rights movement, the majority of schools were segregated. White schools received the majority of funding and left black children without many necessary tools to learn and succeed later in life. In the last stanza Dove uses slang as a way to show the lack of eloquence and vocabulary, a result of poor education. Dove writes, “So what if we were born up a creek / and knocked flat with the paddle, / if we ain’t got a pot to piss in / and nowhere to put it if we did?”(15-18). Dove emphasized the disadvantages of being born with dark skin and called it being “born up a creek” and “knocked flat with a paddle”. Being an African American in this period was a lot like paddling up a creek. Constantly battling racist remarks and politics that prevented social reform. These problems lead to economic disadvantages which caused them to live without running water, or “a pot to piss in” and some were homeless because employers would often reject them because of their skin color. Dove could have written it that way, however, she chose to use slang as a way to show that the segregation of schools was separate, but far from equal. It is also another way society subjected them to disadvantages at the very beginning of their life. Through visual imagery and slang, Dove communicates the difficulties of life as an African American during the civil rights movement.
Your analysis is very good, and your evidence shows a really intellectual interpretation of how Dove's poem could be understood. You noticing her subtle yet significant use of slang diction really amazed me, because such an important literary device used by Dove could have easily been overlooked. I appreciate very much of how you understood the historical context very well and easily connected it to the poem with strong evidence. Towards the ending of your analysis you write about the separate but equal court ruling, which in fact were not equal, and this got me wondering the very feelings of the blacks. To me at least the very need for segregation is discrimination in itself even if it were equal and by reading your analysis of interpreting Dove's poem we learn the perspective of blacks during this time.
DeleteIn the poem “The situation is intolerable” by Rita Dove, one main point that stood out to me was how the last lines of every stanza have religious connotation. For example, In line seven Dove writes, “in the name of the Lord”. In the last line of the poem Dove writes, “O yes. O mercy on our souls”. This is what stood out to me most when I first read the poem because it reminded me a lot of how African Americans at this time were reliant on religion. When African American activists made points about how slavery was wrong, they often used sections from the bible to justify that blacks had the right to be just as equal as anyone else. After reading this, I connected it to the poem “David Walker” also written by Rita Dove. David Walker used the Bible and Declaration of Independence to argue against slavery. This was a prime example of how African Americans used religion to attack the institution of slavery.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that I noticed was how every stanza was the same length. They all had seven lines and with this, Dove writes, “Intolerable: that civilized word” (line 1). This conveys how the whites were acting civilized by following the same routine because it was comfortable. This is why the blacks had to fight against slavery because the whites were too comfortable with the tradition which was being greater than African Americans.
The connection you made between the religious connotations and the African Americans is very interesting. During this time, African Americans did not have a lot to live with, so turning to faith would serve as their only hope. Dove including this in the poem created a realistic perspective. However, I believe in this poem that the word intolerable was used in a more sarcastic way. The narrator, an African American, is bringing up the irony used with the word intolerable. Whites would often describe the issues dealing with black rights as intolerable because they did not believe that they were equals, and any actions raised to help end segregation would cause turmoil. At the end of this poem, Dove raises the point that without fighting, nothing will change, and that is the most intolerable.
DeleteRita Dove uses personification to convey the significance of Rosa Parks’ legacy in her poem, “Rosa”. Dove honors Parks’ actions with this poem and states that her act and uprising was inevitable, and she is one that was born to be remembered. Dove writes, “The time right inside a place/so wrong it was ready” (Dove 2-3). Parks’ moment was set up perfectly, as if it were just waiting for her to arrive. Dove uses personification to describe time as being a place and represented as something physical one could walk in to, and that it was ‘so wrong it was ready’, meaning the situation was constructed as if it had been waiting for one person to finally speak up. In this stanza, time is given the characteristics of something physical to convey how Rosa Parks was the first to walk into a clearly misguided time and finally bring attention to it. In the second stanza, Dove expresses how Rosa Parks was destined to be a beacon of change and says, “That trim name with/its dream of a bench” (Dove 4-5). Rosa Parks’ name having a dream of being on a bench signifies how she was born with the potential to be a legacy, and that it was in her life’s plan to be remembered. A ‘trim name’ contributes to the idea that Parks was born with the attributes to be someone famous.
ReplyDeleteRita Dove uses a parrot in her poem, “Parsley” to symbolize General Trujillo. Throughout the entire poem Dove writes, “...a parrot imitating spring”. Spring is typically associated with new beginnings. Many will clean their homes and bodies as a part of spring cleaning. Trujillo had similar ideas when he seized presidency of the Dominican Republic. He wanted to make it a better, more powerful country and in several ways he did. One of his goals was to “lighten” the population. He promoted a series of anti-Haitian sentiments. As part of his cleaning, he ordered the killing of thousands of Haitians.
ReplyDeleteDove describes the bird “who has traveled / all the way from Australia in an ivory / cage, is, as coy as a widow...”. She describes the parrot coming from a far away because Trujillo seized the presidency after being in the US Marines. This transition from representing one nation to leading a completely different one is unique to Trujillo. The bird and Trujillo do have one major difference, however. The bird is described as coy and Trujillo is anything but coy. He intimidated other candidates so much that they dropped out of the race.
Dove also writes that the bird arrives in an “ivory cage” and is fed pastries dusted with sugar and served on a “bed of lace”. This is an extravagant life for anyone, especially a bird. It is meant to represent the way Trujillo made many lives better. It is unknown by many that Trujillo significantly improved the economy, quality of life and education of Dominicans. This fact is disregarded as a result of the awful genocide he committed. The description, background and extravagant life of the parrot in this poem are meant to depict General Trujillo.
I agree with your description of Rafael Trujillo but would argue that while the parrot represents him, it is also an actual parrot. In the second section of this poem it states that even the bird could pronounce the word "perejil", which makes me believe that he actually had a pet parrot. He feels that the Haitians are below his pet, because even his pet can roll an R. Additionally he cannot eat sweets because his mother was baking sweets the day she died, so instead he feeds sweets to his parrot. This part furthers the idea that the parrot is him because the parrot is eating the sweets that he cannot. And about overlooking his achievements, I would argue that the advancements made were not worth the over 20,000 Haitians he had executed to "improve" his country.
DeleteI found your connection between spring cleaning and the killings of thousands of Haitians very creative and that is not what I thought of when I originally read this. You explain how it was good in a sense because he was making his country stronger and lessening the population. My original thought was how horrible it was that he was killing immigrants and I now see it from a different perspective.
DeleteIn the poem “Parsley”, Rita Dove uses a refrain in the first section to further the theme of violence and hatred. This poem is split into two sections, the first from the perspective of the field worker and the second inside the mind of Rafael Trujillo or “El General”. Trujillo was the dictator of the Dominican Republic, and in 1937 he had 20,000 Haitian migrant workers executed in an effort to “purify” his country. To determine which workers were Haitian he had them pronounce the Spanish word for parsley, which Haitians pronounce “pelejil”, while natives roll the R and pronounce it “perejil”. This made it easy to determine who was Haitian and made it easier to find and execute them. In the second stanza it states “El General / searches for a word; he is all the world” which shows how Trujillo searched for a word to determine who was Haitian. The second part of this quote that states “he is all the world” shows how he controls everything and is in control of the country. In the fifth stanza it states “El General has found his word: perejil. / Who says it, lives.” which shows how Trujillo has found a word and begun executing people, and the fear of this has set into the Haitian workers.
ReplyDeleteDove uses a refrain of “there is a parrot imitating spring” and “out of the swamp the cane appears” in the first section to create a tone of fear and hatred in this poem. This parrot imitating spring may mean literally that the parrot is green, which is stated later in the stanza, but it may also mean that the parrot represents new beginnings. Spring is a time of new beginnings and the parrot may represent a new day, where the workers are still doing the same things. In the second stanza it also contrasts the “swamp” that the workers are in to the “palace” that the parrot is in. This adds the idea of a class struggle to this poem. The second refrain of “the cane appears” may reference both the sugarcane they are farming and the cane of the master used to beat them. In both cases the “cane haunts” them, meaning that it both oppresses and terrifies the workers.
The use of refrain also stuck out to me in this poem however it didn't seem like a representation of violence in my opinion. Your first example does sort of send shivers running down my back but I don't think the repeated parrot is intended to do that. In my mind, new beginnings and palaces represent good things. I could see how this may be seen as something negative, because the beginning was a genocide and the palace was a result of economic inequality, but I also believe that the parrot is meant to be somewhat innocent in this poem. Possibly representing a bystander that is Dominican and benefitting from the reign of Trujillo while the Haitians are slaughtered by the thousands.
DeleteRefrain used with the parrot and the cane, in my opinion, were used to contradict each other. The parrot represents new beginnings, while the cane and swamp symbolize how out of all the darkest times, the cane, Trujillo's dictatorship, appears. And while the parrot could be interpreted as Trujillo pet and symbolized negatively, I saw it more as a beacon of hope for the workers. This parrot was living with green feathers, green representing spring and the rebirth of life, and followed any violence or destruction that occurred to remind that there will come a time when it all ends and live is reborn. The swamp and cane, on the other hand, are the symbols of the violence and horror. A swamp is thick and dark and feels impossible to escape, much like the time of Trujillo's reign. A cane is a common representation of power and therefore symbolizes Trujillo. Dove writes, "Out of the swamp the cane appears" (Dove 19). Trujillo was the only one to survive his tyranny because he was the one who caused it. His cane appearing out of the swamp shows his power over the Haitians .
DeleteIn the excerpt from The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticat, visual imagery is used to depict the happenings of the Parsley Massacre. In 1937, the dictator of the Dominican Republic, President Rafael Trujillo, and his soldiers commited a genocide of immigrant Afro-Haitians, or people not originally from the Dominican Republic. The soldiers would establish who was foreign by holding up a sprig of parsley to a person, asking what it was, and their fate would depend on how the person pronounced parsley in Spanish (perejil). At the end of the second paragraph Danticat writes, “Yves and I were shoved onto our knees. Our jaws were pried open and parsley stuffed into our mouths. My eyes watering, I chewed and swallowed as quickly as I could, but not nearly as fast as they were forcing the handfuls into my mouth”. This is used to show how intense the event was and how corrupt the government must’ve been to have done that to a human being. This proves how badly they treated people during this time just for their own personal prejudice. Another example of visual imagery was in the sixth paragraph. Danticat writes, “Yves fell headfirst, coughing and choking. His face was buried in a puddle of green spew. He was not moving. Someone threw a bucketful of water at the back of his head”. This illustrates the brutal deaths that people faced when accused of being an immigrant.
ReplyDeleteRita dove uses the symbol of a parrot in different ways to portray the travesty of the Parsley Massacre during the time of Trujillo’s ruling in the poem “Parsley”. In the first part of the poem, “The Cane Fields”, the beginning line introduces the parrot and Dove writes, “There is a parrot imitating spring” (Dove 1). Before even reading the rest of the poem, this line conveys that the parrot is portraying beauty and peace. Spring is a time of rebirth and growth, so saying the parrot is imitating that means that this parrot brings similar connotation of this season. However, the following line contradicts this. On line 2, Dove says, “in the palace, its feathers parsley green”. Now, the parrot’s feathers are described as ‘parsley green’. ‘Parsley’ in this poem represents the Haitians that were killed, and this parrots feathers juxtapose the death of many to the color green, another connotation of spring. Dove has symbolized this parrot to represent the irony of beauty found in destruction. This parrot is the color of green, representing rebirth and life, and it lives in the palace, the home for the tyrant who viciously killed thousands of Haitians. The contrast shows how beauty is evident throughout horror. Dove writes the first line containing the parrot, and the second to last line as well. Life is omnipresent despite all travesties. At the end of Trujillo’s reign, there were countless lives taken and homes destroyed. However, as it ended, a new life began. Ultimately the parrot in this poem symbolizes the ironic truth that even in the worst of times, there is beauty to be found in the destruction and rebirth of a life.
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DeleteWhile I do agree with the beginning of your analysis of what the parrot symbolizes I do somewhat disagree or at least have a different perspective of what the parrot could really mean. I actually believe the parrot is an evolving symbol that may mean one thing in one stanza, but something more in the next. Yes the parrot may mean beauty and destruction in the first stanza, but when reading the other stanzas the parrots meaning changes. As the stanzas progress the parrot at the same time symbolizes something with a more dangerous/negative meaning. This is just my idea of how you could further analyze the meaning of the parrot rather than just limiting your evidence from the first stanza.
DeleteIn the poem of “Parsley”, Rita Dove utilizes local color to assist in conveying a mood of contempt towards the general. Near the end of the poem, starting at line sixty seven and through to the end of the poem at line seventy-one, it reads, “The general remembers the tiny green sprigs / men of his village wore in their capes / to honor the birth of a son. He will / order many, this time, to be killed / for a single, beautiful word”. With of the use of local color, revealing the detail that to celebrate the birth of a son the village’s men wore green sprigs, it juxtaposes the two circumstances and almost shows that the general, Rafael Trujillo, is making a mockery of the tradition of his hometown. During his regime, Trujillo sought out and ordered that many people not native to the Dominican Republic be executed. Soldiers determined who was a non-native by holding up a sprig of parsley and questioning the person what it was. The process all depended upon how the person pronounced the word parsley in Spanish, which is perejil. Instead of the sprig of green being a celebratory herb, one used to congratulate the birth of a son, it became connected to the source of fear and potentially death if one mispronounced its name. Yet Dove isolates the last of the poem, “for a single, beautiful word” into its own stanza. This causes the line to stand out and increases the tone of verbal irony, particularly with the choice of the word “beautiful”. To those whose lives depended upon pronouncing the word in the desired manner, that word probably wouldn’t have been viewed as praiseworthy or lovely.
ReplyDeleteIn Rita Dove’s poem “Parsley” she uses visual and auditory imagery to give Trujillo actual human characteristics such as the internal conflict he had of getting over his mother’s death. Also, by knowing about his problem of his mother’s death it could explain the actions he took of exterminating Haitians who could not roll their R’s as a way to deal with his psychological issues. In the first part of the poem it mainly portrays Trujillo as an evil character who wants to kill all Haitians that cannot correctly pronounce the word parsley in Spanish. As the poem moves on to the second part, a lot of visual imagery appears which display Trujillo’s feelings and adds his mother in as a character. “Ever since the morning his mother collapsed in the kitchen while baking skull shaped candies for the Day of the Dead, the general has hated sweets”(Lines 37-38), in here the audience could learn what events Trujillo’s mother was doing before her death, and the impact it had on Trujillo. Clearly, the impact was huge for Trujillo as he for reason now hates sweets, and maybe it is because it reminds him too much of his mother, but one thing for sure is known and that his mother’s death had a great impact on him. Later auditory imagery appears as we learn Trujillo’s mother was very adept in rolling her R’s, and this could then be inferred to an idea as to why Trujillo chose to exterminate those who cannot roll their R’s. The idea is that Trujillo loved his mother so much, and that he wishes to honor her in all of his life, To protect her honor he thinks anybody who fails to roll their R’s proves to be an offense to his mother, and is inferior as even a parrot could perform the task. Through that the Parsley Massacre may have been started for that reason by Trujillo as a way to preserve the honor of his beloved mother. By knowing this, the excerpt taken from Edwidge Danticat’s The Farming of Bones could be connected Dove’s poem. In the excerpt the characters are seemingly questioning why the pronunciation of parsley determines one’s fate, and how would Trujillo react if one were to purposefully pronounce the word wrong. If only Trujillo were to be fully understood by the characters in the excerpt they may be able to find out what the purpose behind the Parsley Massacre may have been in accordance to Dove’s Poem.
ReplyDeleteIn the poem “Persephone, Falling”, Rita Dove uses an imperfect sonnet and juxtapositions to contrast a high subject matter with a low writing style. This poem is an allusion to Greek mythology, specifically the mother-daughter relationship of Persephone and Demeter and the exact instant that Persephone is taken by Hades. Hades took Persephone while she was picking flowers, and then Demeter, Persephone’s mother, got so angry that she refused to let any plants grow. The relationship between Persephone and Demeter is a typical mother-daughter relationship, and Demeter had warned Persephone to go straight to school and not talk to strangers. This represents a typical mother-daughter relationship with the child’s longing to be free and the mother’s fear of the dangers of freedom. But Persephone stopped to pick flowers, and subsequently something terrible happened.
ReplyDeleteThis poem is written in the form of an imperfect sonnet, because it has many qualities of a sonnet but it is also lacking some important ones. This poem has 14 lines, a characteristic of a sonnet, and it has a clear turn after the 8th line. It follows the pattern of a sonnet of an octave followed by a sestet, and the last two lines of this poem are similar to the final couplet of a Shakespearean sonnet because they summarize and reinterpret the poem. This poem does not, however, have a rhyme scheme or a meter, and is instead written in Free Verse, something that is uncommon of traditional sonnets. There is a very loose end rhyme, but there is no direct pattern. The end rhyme is present in the words “beautiful”, “pulled”, and “terrible” and in the words “harder”, “her”, and “heard” in the first octave. In the sestet there is some rhyme in the words “around”, “down”, and “ground”, and in the words “”stick” and “pit”.
Dove uses juxtaposition to emphasize the beauty of the flowers and the evil of Hades. Juxtaposition is used in the phrases “ordinary beautiful” and “glittering terrible”, which puts emphasis on these lines and these phrases. Additionally, in the first line, it states that there is “One narcissus”. Narcissus is another word for daffodil, which is a flower that she was picking, and it is a toxic flower.
I was unfamiliar with that greek myth and I'm glad you shared that because the poem makes a lot more sense. You clearly did some research on traditional sonnets and it's great that you were able to apply that to this poem. I wonder if it was her intention to stray from a traditional sonnet or if she just prioritized getting the message across. The oxymorons used made this poem relatable because young people are often drawn to bad things that their parents warned them about.
DeleteIn “Exit” by Rita Dove the use of verbs, refrain and similes convey the theme of leaving home and entering adulthood. Dove juxtaposes “withers” and “granted” and “opens” and “closed”. She uses verbs like this to convey that leaving home is not just leaving, it is also entering a new world full of opportunities. The first verbs are in present tense because they represent the young woman moving on and the second ones are in past tense because they represent the life she lived as a child at home.
ReplyDeleteRefrain is used in the first stanza when Dove writes, “a reprieve is granted”. The reason she repeats this phrase is because obstacles are continuously greeting a young person as they try to live on their own. Each time an obstacle is overcome, “a reprieve is granted”.
There are two similes in this poem, one in the first stanza and one in the last. The first one reads, “The door opens onto a street like in the movies” (2). Entering this new world is scary because nothing is really known. She uses the example in a movie because that is often the only thing young people have to compare their new life to. The second simile compares a memory from her childhood to her current situation. Dove writes, “the sky begins to blush, / as you did when your mother told you / what it took to be a woman in this life” (12-14). Other than movies, parents try to teach their children what “real life” is like. Dove makes this comparison because this character is now living the life that she once knew nothing about.
I really liked how you focused on the verb tense and how that affects the message because I didn't even notice that while I was reading this poem. I think this poem definitely fits in this section about the relationship between mothers and daughters, and I also focused on the similes in this poem. I think the last lines that you mentioned are when the mother tells the daughter all of the downsides of being a woman. Additionally I think the line that states "The windows you have closed behind / you are turning pink, doing what they do / every dawn." is a very important line because even though the daughter is leaving her home and growing up and closing the windows behind her as she leaves, life is still going to go on as normal. I think this is making the statement that life goes on even after you leave home and even after people leave.
DeleteIn the poem of “Persephone, Falling”, Rita Dove utilizes a few allusions to illustrate a theme. Within this poem, the main allusion is to Persephone’s kidnapping. In Greek myth the god of the Underworld, Hades, fell in love with the goddess when he ventured to the surface. After bringing it up with her father, Zeus allowed Hades to marry Persephone. So one day, Zeus lured her away by causing stunning flowers to grow. When Persephone got far enough away and plucked a certain flower, a crevice opened up in the earth from which Hades appeared and kidnapped her. Another allusion is contained in the first line, “One narcissus among the ordinary beautiful / flowers, one unlike all the others”. While in this poem the word narcissus refers to a flower, it also alludes to the Greek myth of a man named Narcissus who was cursed to become enraptured with his own reflection in a pool of water which eventually led to him drowning. This myth is the origin for the word narcissism, extreme vanity in oneself and one’s physical appearance. Persephone, while not a total narcissist, did grow up in a pampered environment with an overprotective mother and thus, in her innocence, was sort-of led to believe that the world revolved around her whims, much like any other spoiled child.
ReplyDeleteReferencing back to the poem, there was one section in parenthesis that sounded like a mother warning her child stating, “(Remember: go straight to school. / This is important, stop fooling around! / Don’t answer to strangers. Stick / with your playmates. Keep your eyes down)”. Combined with the allusions discussed earlier, it presents a mood of warning and danger. It also conveys a theme that disregarding well-meaning advice/rules from parents/adults due to teenage rebellion can lead to disastrous consequences.
Your analysis is very nice and makes a lot of sense as it strongly connects to Greek mythology as you have argued. However, aside from Dove's denotative meaning of the poem and it just being a retelling of the story, wouldn't you agree that there is a more personal connection Dove has with this poem that you could write about? To me at least I know Dove has a daughter of her own, and maybe as a mother herself she writes the parenthesized part of the poem not only in Demeter's perspective but her own. It could be argued that both women want to protect their daughters and such warnings are necessary for them and so they would not end up taken away which is every mother's last wish. This is just my interpretation of how the second part of the poem could have been looked at, but yours is great too!
DeleteIn the poem “Heros” Rita Dove uses tragedy, negative diction, and refrain to show how one’s actions always have a consequence. Dove uses tragedy when she writes, “you’ve plucked the last poppy in her miserable garden, the one that gave her the strength every morning to rise”. The hero is the flower because it kept the woman going everyday. It is very significant and there is more emphasis on it because it was the only one of its kind as well as the only living flower in the garden. When Dove explains how the poppy was “plucked”, she shows how it was suddenly taken away without having any control of the matter. This connects to how everything has a consequence because rash actions more times than not will result in negative outcomes.
ReplyDeleteDove also uses negative diction. In line ten she writes, “It’s too late for apologies” and in line sixteen she writes, “there’s nothing to be done”. This shows how a person’s wrong or negative actions will lead to consequences and guilt. Lastly, Dove uses refrain within the stanzas to show consequences of one’s actions. She uses triplets throughout the entire poem until the very end. She wanted to imply how your actions can be unexpected even when things are going normally. Then suddenly something happens the person has to deal with the consequences of their actions. In the last line Dove writes, “it was going to die”. She wanted to emphasize the word ‘die’ because that is the ultimate consequence. In terms of religion, when you sin and turn your back away from the Lord, you have eternal death.
I agree with your analysis of the flower being the hero in the poem. I also think that because a girl picked the flower, it shows how easily someone's whole life could shatter because of another's actions. When first reading the poem, I did not make a connection with the last line, however, I agree with you when you connected it to religion and the sins people commit.
DeleteRita Dove uses personification and vulgar diction to express the unbearable pain Demeter feels each time her daughter leaves in the poem, “Demeter, Waiting”. Persephone, Demeter’s daughter, is forced to leave her mother and live six months out of the year in the underworld as Hades’ wife. This is the myth that the ancient Greeks used to give reason to the four seasons. Dove wrote this poem to describe the feelings Demeter had each time her daughter would leave. Dove writes, “I will drag my grief through a winter/of my own making and refuse/any meadow that recycles itself into/hope” (Dove 8-11). Greif is personified as something Demeter must drag with her, signifying it brings a great amount of heavy weight to her life. The loss of her daughter each year renders a dull ache to her heart that is stays stuck with her until spring. The line, “refuse/any meadow that recycles itself into/hope” is very cynical. Demeter is depressed and Dove portrays those feelings by saying that even if the earth did not bear a cold winter and the warmth from summer lasts longer than normal, Demeter will refuse it to bring joy into her life. She wants others to live in the misery she feels and will force a horrid winter despite the circumstances. While the imagery in the poem establishes a despiteful mood, Dove embellishes on it with the use of vulgar diction. On line 11, Dove says, “Shit on the cicadas”, and then, again, on line 13, “until the whole goddamned golden panorama freezes”. These words emphasize the mood of this poem. The invoke rage and despair in the reader that relates to the feelings of this broken mother. While this poem is specifically written to match the story of Demeter and Persephone, I found that it could easily be related to a mother whose daughter was killed or had died. Both feel empty and lost without their child, and they do not wish to find peace in the quiet of their homes or in winter.
ReplyDeleteRita Dove’s poem “Breakfast of Champions” is of course part of her collection of poems about Demeter’s bond with her daughter Persephone, but this one is specifically about Demeter going on with her painful day knowing her daughter is in the Underworld. This poem here is an Italian Sonnet where the first part is about Demeter and her sadness of her daughter being gone, but is a resolving problem in the second part when she realizes her daughter will visit her soon. Understanding that the poem’s parts are about those things takes understanding the Greek mythology allusions, and the tone being given. First of all the poem is being told in Demeter’s perspective and her tone in the first part is very passive and down, but once on the second part her tone becomes much lighter, genuine, and positive. The allusions made also expect the reader to know that Demeter’s feelings determine the seasons, and her feelings are determined by how she imagines her daughter Persephone’s wellbeing. When it is winter Demeter is very sad, and when it is Spring Demeter is very happy and full of spirit. Seeing words in the beginning like “Overcast skies”(line 1) further prove the argument that she is sad in the first part of the sonnet. However, towards the ending of the first part and the beginning of the second, the words “The first pair of Canada Geese have arrived”(Lines 8-9) means the season is changing to Spring and that Demeter is expecting Persophone’s visit. Finally this in all proves that Mothers care deeply about their daughters and their emotions of happiness or sadness are heavily dependant on the daughter’s safety.
ReplyDeleteIn the poem “Cozy Apologia”, Rita Dove uses similes, metaphors, and historical references to create a different mood in each stanza and to portray the love between the person writing the poem and the person the poem is being written about. This poem is dedicated to “Fred”, who is Rita Dove’s husband, and this poem is written from the perspective of Rita Dove. Rita Dove admires this person so much that she cannot think of any words to describe the feeling, yet everything she looks at reminds her of him.
ReplyDeleteThe first stanza describes how that she could choose “any hero, any cause or age” and would see him in it. She says that it is “as sure shooting arrows” which means that it is completely positive.
Dove references Hurricane Floyd in the second stanza, which was a large, powerful storm that happened along the Atlantic coast in 1999, just four years before this poem was written. This storm could be a comparison to her memories of relationships. They were drastic and completely extraordinary.
In the last stanza, she and her husband are both nestled away, safe from the storm. They are both very happy, just falling short of perfection, The narrator still does not understand why someone would settle for “ordinary” when one could find perfection.
The title “Cozy Apologia” literally means “comforted apology”. Dove may be apologizing for not being “ordinary”, but almost in a sarcastic manner. Dove knows that her life was not ordinary in the view of society, but she is happy.
This poem was very relatable for me. I think that everybody has someone that they build up in their mind and they can do no wrong. The comparison to a hurricane is accurate because this type of relationship can be very damaging. I like that you also noticed how this apology isn't very sincere at all. No one should have to apologize for being themselves and I think that's the real message in this poem.
DeleteIn “Meditation at Fifty yards, Moving Target”, Rita Dove uses second person point of view to give the poem more personal meaning to the reader. This poem is broken up into three parts: “Safety First.”, “Open Air.”, and “Gender Politics”. The first stanza is basic gun safety. However, the second person point of view gives this information a little more value when Dove writes, “You could wound the burglar and kill your child sleeping in the next room, all with one shot” (11-12). Had this been worded as a warning that “a person” could be killed rather than “your child sleeping in the next room”, it would’ve been read as a simple warning. Instead, the second person point of view provokes a sense of grief and even guilt in the reader, even though they have done nothing. The idea of killing your own child, not to mention while they are vulnerably sleeping, is overwhelming to most people.
ReplyDeleteThe second stanza is also in second person and allows the reader to picture themselves firing the gun. Dove writes, “Level the scene with your eyes. Listen. Soft now: squeeze” (23-24). After the first stanza warns the reader of the danger of firearms, they are then placed in the “Open Air” to fire one. The tone of this stanza is very different from that of the first. The point of view makes the reader feel calm by the simple instructions given. The tone changes again in the third stanza, as does the point of view. Third person point of view is used as a way to generalize males and females. Guns are historically masculine and Dove describes their experience with guns as a way for them to live up to images they have in their mind of tough guys like “Rambo”. She describes women practicing for skill. The use of third person forces the reader to place him/herself in a category. This is similar to the category they already placed themselves in earlier in the poem, either fearing of guns or relieved by guns.
I completely agree with you analysis of these stanzas and the importance of the point of view of this poem, but I think you missed an incredibly important part of this poem, the last stanza of this poem titled "The Bullet". (It was probably on the next page of the book and you just didn't see it). This stanza writes from the perspective of the bullet, personifying it as hungry and dangerous. The stanza is written as a string of phrases with no punctuation or capitalization, which give it an ominous feeling. Additionally at the end of the stanza it refers to the body as "home", which hints to the fact that this bullet is being shot at someone.
DeleteIn Rita Dove’s “Chocolate” from her book American Smooth, she uses personification and symbolism in order to make a comparison between an irresistible square of chocolate with an irresistible man that the author desires. For the whole first stanza she describes the chocolate and her actions of observing it. As she does this it sets a tone of the poem that the chocolate is truly a prize and that it is valuable to the character in the poem. Moving on to the next stanza, the tone is given the same expression as the author describes their actions with the chocolate. Aside from further setting the tone, this stanza could also be interpreted as personifying and giving the traits irresistible man to the chocolate. In stanzas four and five the revelation of the chocolate being a valued possession for any woman appears. “for a taste of you/ any woman would gladly crumble to ruin”(Lines 12-14). In this quote it reveals much more than the traits of the chocolate, but it provides enough evidence to make the claim that the chocolate symbolizes a man. This is further supported in the final two lines where the author writes she is ready to fall in love. In most cases it is absurd to fall in love with just chocolate, but through the interpretation made before that it makes sense as the chocolate represents a man.. After examining the evidence that the chocolate is personified and given traits of a man any woman would want, it could be fully concluded that this outstanding square of chocolate is really a symbol of a man that the author desires.
ReplyDeleteIn the poem “Chocolate” Rita Dove uses symbolism to show the connection between chocolate and a man that she finds appealing. She does this because chocolate is something that most people find delightful. This is a way she can connect with the readers more because it can be hard to explain something that isn’t familiar to others. In line four and five Dove writes, “how you numb me/with your rich attentions!” This connects to chocolate and how it attracts people with its rich taste, but also how a man can do the same. A man can ‘numb’ or deceive a woman with attention. To a woman, it can become very ‘rich’ or satisfying when a man shows attention. As well as attention, looks also play a part in luring in a woman. In lines six and seven Dove explains, “If I don’t eat you quickly,/ you’ll melt in my palm”. This is another connection because chocolate literally melts in one’s hand if it isn’t eaten fast enough, and after it’s melted in one’s hand, it is usually unwanted and people lose their chance to eat it. She is making this connection with men as well because if she doesn’t make her move or act on her feelings, sooner or later it will become too late and the man will ‘melt’ away right in her grasp. Right after that in lines eight and nine, Dove writes, “Pleasure seeker, if I let you/ you’d liquefy everywhere”. This explains how if she doesn’t keep an eye on the man, he could slide out of her grasp or ‘liquefy’. She explains the man as a ‘pleasure seeker’ which explains that he can go another woman to give him pleasure or love if the narrator doesn’t satisfy him. Lastly, Dove writes, “for a taste of you/any woman would gladly/crumble to ruin”(12-14). Dove explains how any woman would die to get a taste of a delicious piece of chocolate. However, also shows how a woman would die to get a taste of the man or have him to themselves because he is so desirable.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your analysis completely. This poem was easy for me to understand because it used a reference that I, and most people, are familiar with. Almost everyone has eaten chocolate once in their life, and has either been in or witnessed a relationship much like the one Dove describes. Society often portrays women as the desirable ones, but this poem flips it around and show how women search for men they find desirable.The different ways chocolate can be eaten and malformed was a clever and accurate way to represent a woman's relation with a man, and possibly their life together.
DeleteRita Dove uses symbolism in the poem, “All Souls’” to convey the tiresome life Americans live due to the capitalistic nature of this country. The first stanza of this poem names many animals, birds and small rodents, who use their voices to signal the world. Dove writes, “sent out a feeble cry signifying/grief and confusion, et cetera” (line 7-8). Personifying animals to cry out in grief represent the pre-modern and natural ways of life. Nature often symbolizes the simpler beginnings of life, and Dove uses it here to contrast the later descriptions of the world now. The next stanza states the obvious conclusion that the world is continually changing, and Dove describes what it did to man and says, “Then yearn/for what he would learn to call/distraction. This was the true loss” (line 13-15) Dove is criticizing the way humans evolved to overlook all the beauty that come with enjoying life as it is. People ache for ways to not deal with the present and to never sit still and be bored. In the third stanza, Dove introduces the two souls. She writes, “Standing outside the gates/(no more than a break in the hedge; how had they missed it?) were not/ thinking” (Line 19-22). The two people were standing in the hedge, a symbol for the moment they break away from the simpler ways of life to one full of distractions, ultimately, what Dove views to be the fatal flaw of this generation. As they stood on the break in the hedge, they could see what was going on, and because they chose to continue, Dove is appalled and says, ‘how had they missed it?’, meaning how had they still left after seeing what the world has become. The final stanza bring clarity to the theme that America is business oriented to the point that people become blinded by their work and live dreary, tiresome lives. Dove conveys this as she writes, “In time/they hunkered down to business,/filling the world with sighs” (Line 26-28). These two souls filed in to this world and became one just as everyone else. Dove calls them ‘anonymous, pompous creatures’ (Line 27), symbolizing how they are self-centered, ordinary workers caught up in the system of jobs and money. Their relates back to the nature motif of finding happiness in following a simpler life instead of crossing over the hedge into what will end up as a boring, conventional existence.
ReplyDeleteIn the poem “Cozy Apologia” from the book American Smooth, Rita Dove uses end rhymes to build a mood of comfort. Within the first stanza, there is strong rhyming in couplets, with two successive sentences ending in a similar-sounding word. (An aabb etc. type of pattern) This continues into the second stanza, but begins to fade about halfway through, eventually switching into a more subtle, slight every other line rhyme scheme in the first half of the third stanza. (An abab type pattern.) However, the very last two lines of the poem end with the words “blues” and “you”, which is similar to the ends of the first two lines of the poem, which were “you” and “blue”. The close, fairly easy to spot rhyme scheme of the first stanza creates more of a cozy atmosphere and could be symbolic of the relationship between the speaker to the person they love. (In this case it’s Rita Dove to her husband, Fred, to whom the poem is dedicated.) The rhyme scheme fades in the second stanza as the speaker talks about “awkward reminiscences / Of teenage crushes on worthless boys / Whose only talent was to kiss you senseless” (lines 15-17). As the lines talk about relationships that didn’t work out, the fading of the rhyme scheme here could symbolize how previous relationships with other boys only broke apart and faded away. The shift into a different rhythm and rhyme scheme in the third stanza could represent how well she fits with her current partner, like a couple’s hands that are intertwined with one another. Then at the end of the poem the rhyme that mirrors the one at the beginning could be meant to take the reader back to the start of the poem and reminding readers of the ‘cozy’ atmosphere between the speaker and their love.
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DeleteI really do enjoy your analysis and your idea about the rhyme scheme's role in the poem as it is very interesting, but I do have some questions. You write that the importance of the rhyme is scheme is to ultimately create a feeling of comfort, but to me I don't get the same feelings of same rhyme schemes. Yes, it is interesting to think that since the first stanza may have been full of love, but when reading the final stanza I don't get that same feeling. It also seems that the only evidence you seem to provide that there is a feeling of comfort in the final lines is that it has the same rhyme schemes of the first stanza. To me at least I think you should explain with more than just the rhyme scheme to portray the mood of comfort, but with the words in the last stanza that imply settlement in a life that is comfortable.
DeleteIn “Now” by Rita Dove, she uses a glass of water to symbolize the theme of the importance of nurturing a relationship. This poem starts with a cold glass of water that is clearly desirable. The main character drinks half the water in one gulp and is then distracted. He/she leaves the glass of water to tend to something else all day. This is similar to the way a person may spend all day at work or occupy themselves in some other way. Once the main character has returned he/she noticed that the water now stood “forgotten, slippery in a darkening ring of neglect - mute evidence of my earlier thirst” (22-26). The way that the water changes is the way humans grow and change, especially apart from each other. The time spent separately has changed the both of them. The water, or relationship, is clearly less desirable at this point and yet the main character still drinks the rest of the water. This happens in relationships also. Two people that are married most likely started their relationship off well. They both desire each other greatly but sometimes when they are both distracted, neither put in the necessary effort to maintain the strong relationship. In a way, they both feel stuck. The main character doesn’t want to waste the water that once brought him/her such great refreshment, the way two married people don’t want to give up on their relationship. The main character keeps drinking the water because it’s what he/she knows. The same reason two people stay in an unsatisfying relationship.
ReplyDeleteI did not understand this poem at all until I read your analysis, and it really made this poem a lot more accessible once I understood the general theme. I agree with your comparison of this water glass to a forgotten relationship, but I would emphasize that it is not that the water is unappealing to her later. I think she is trying to say that people can have separate lives and separate interests, but they can still make the relationship work. It will be "no small task", but it is doable and if the people in the relationship work hard and put in effort, it will work out.
DeleteIn the poem “The Bistro Styx”, Rita Dove uses allusions to Greek mythology and descriptions of color to depict a troubled mother-daughter relationship. The title ”The Bistro Styx” is a reference to the River Styx, and the mother in this relationship is a modern representation of Demeter, and the daughter is a modern representation of Persephone. The daughter has been abducted by a “modern Hades”, who has her model nude and uses her for his art. The underworld of modern Paris is where he lives, and he has taken modern Persephone. Demeter is losing her daughter, and it is obvious during this dinner. In the beginning, the mother is waiting for the daughter to appear for their dinner. The daughter is late, which shows how she has stopped valuing her relationship with her mother.
ReplyDeleteThe act of eating and drinking at the restaurant is the main focus of the poem. This shows that the daughter likes the food more than the mother. Additionally, in the ancient Greek myth it was because Persephone ate pomegranate seeds that she couldn’t restore herself to the world of the living. This is shown when modern Persephone ate a lot at dinner. It represents that she will be with modern Hades forever.
The description of the color is very important in this poem. When the daughter shows up, she is wearing grey. Grey is a representation of the death of human emotion and sensibility. The food is described as very vibrant in color, which shows how rich it is. She also describes how her modern Hades dressed her in blues and carmine, but she prefers more muted shades. This is important because modern Hades wants her to be more alive than she is.
In the poem “Heart to Heart”, Dove denies the conventional symbolism of the heart in modern culture with lines such as, “It doesn’t melt / or turn over / break or harden, / so it can’t feel / pain, / yearning, / regret” (lines 3-9). Line three is referring to the saying of how human hearts “melt” when around someone they love in a romantic fashion. Line four possibly refers to the saying of “I’ve had a change of heart” which is similar to the phrase “I’ve turned over a new leaf” in its meaning of changing from one attitude to another. The fifth line discusses the phrases “broken heart”, which is used to describe feeling pain after a relationship has ended and the phrase “hard hearted”, which is used to describe someone without compassion. However, later on in the poem it reads, “it isn’t even shapely— / just a thick clutch / of muscle, / lopsided, / mute” (lines 12-17). These lines, combined with the meaning of lines six through nine, it means that despite all of its symbolism in terms of romance, in the end the heart is just a muscle, an organ that isn’t actually responsible for emotions and just beats within “its cage”, the ribcage. Yet, the speaker’s tone of voice shifts at the end of the second stanza and into the third as the speaker turns the subject onto him/herself. Within the third stanza, the speaker also references more of the sayings that refer to the heart. The phrase “You have the key to my heart” is a way of telling a person that you love them. The saying of “wear your heart on your sleeve” means expressing one’s emotions. However, given that the speaker is mentioning that the key is absent, that he/she cannot wear his/her heart on his/her sleeve, and cannot say he/she loves another from the bottom of his/her heart, it can be inferred that the speaker experiences difficulty expressing his/her love for another person. Yet, the speaker desires that despite his/her flaws, he/she hopes that the person he/she loves will accept him/her for who he/she is, as it can be interpreted from lines 28-32, “Here, / it’s all yours, now— / but you’ll have / to take me, / too”.
ReplyDeleteIn the poem “I have been a stranger in a strange land” Rita Dove uses realism and tragedy to describe Eve’s desire within the poem. In lines one a two Dove writes, “It wasn’t bliss. What was bliss/ but the ordinary life?”. This shows how Eve was clearly bored about what she had been doing her whole life even though the life she had was wonderful. To her it was only ordinary. It is human instinct to naturally want change or something new in one’s life because the same thing everyday gets boring and one starts to become curious. It does not matter what kind of life one has or how they live, change is needed and craved among humans. Dove writes in lines eleven through thirteen, “He was off cataloging the universe, probably,/ pretending he could organize/ what was clearly someone else’s chaos”. In this it seems as if Eve is losing faith in God because she talks about him as in ‘pretending’ he could organize and handle the world and all of its chaos. She is doubting the life that he has given her and if beginning to debate whether there is more out there for her. She is searching for something more because her entire life, she has listened to God and she hasn’t experienced any bad or evil in her life because of it. She has nothing to compare her ordinary life to, so she feels God is keeping something from her. In lines seventeen and eighteen Dove writes, “she knew without being told/ this was forbidden”. Later in the poem in the last line she writes, “warming her outreached palm”. This is unfortunate because Eve, knowing it was wrong, decided to go against God and what she was ‘supposed’ to do all because of the desire she had to find something other than what she had. This is an example of her being selfish and not relying on God to give her what’s best. This shows sin and how every human's natural instinct is to desire something other than what they have, no matter how wonderful or poor they portray their life to be.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your analysis. I also think one of Dove's major themes of this poem was the effects of giving in to temptation, describes by Eve's decision to take the forbidden fruit. Although the poem as direct relation to the story of Adam and Eve, Dove make an effort to generalize their wrong doings to the sin of humanity, temptation. Commonly it is heard as, 'the grass is always greener on the other side', and I think this story is an allusion to not only Adam and Eve, but the ordinary struggle of wanting what you can't have in everyday life.
DeleteRita Dove uses symbolism, allusion, and second person in “Against Flight” to convey the misinterpretation of the peacefulness of dying. The poem starts by implying that everyone wants to die or ‘go up’, ‘up’ meaning heaven. On the same line, Dove writes, “But no one can imagine/what it’s like when the earth smooths out, begins” (line 1-2). By saying, ‘no one can imagine’, it is the first indication that people have a skewed perception of what it really means to die. Nobody knows what will happen when they finally do, and it is often made beautiful to fill the void of the unknown. This poem is an allusion to Heaven and the belief there is life above the clouds after death. Dove negates this when she writes, “There’ll be no more clouds/worth reshaping into daydreams, no more/daybreaks to make you feel larger than life;/no eagle envy or fidgeting for a better view/from the eighteenth row in the theater…” (line 8-12). Dove attempts to convey that once you die, there is no more nature to look at, or views to complain about. There is simply nothing. Dove uses these descriptions with positive connotations to ease the readers mind with relatable memories of finding shape sin the clouds as children, and also small complaints of being back row in a theatre to avoid a depression tone, but still establish the message that death brings emptiness where small joys of life used to be. The last two stanzas act in attempt to persuade readers to not wish to leave their lives. On lines 20-23, Dove says, “Who needs it? Each evening finds you/whipped to fringes, obliged to lie down/in a world of strangers, beyond perdition or pity-/bare to the stars, buoyant in the sweet sink of earth”. Dove addresses that every night is a chance to sleep among strangers rather than those lost in eternal damnation, another allusion to Christian theology, only to wake up with the world a head of you. The last line, the only stanza with one line, brings emphasis to the main theme of this poem. Dove uses second person to address the reader personally and says, you are ‘bare to the stars, buoyant in the sweet sink of earth’. This is a message to remind readers of hope in their lives. Being ‘bare to the stars’ means that they have done no wrong and they have no sin, only innocence that God knows about. They are buoyant due to their ability to relish in the wonders of the world, the earth being compared to a sink, full of opportunities to be had. Life on earth is real and achievable, and Dove ultimately strives to convey that death is overrated and there is hope for everyone.
ReplyDeleteIn Rita Dove’s “Fox Trot Fridays” she uses couplets and a style of repetition as well as enjambment to compare the poem’s structure to an actual foxtrot dance. An actual foxtrot dance style is characterized as long, continuous flowing movements just like how this poem is structured. The poem regularly has one line moving smoothly to the next. In here, “Thank the stars there’s a day/ each week to tuck in/ the grief” (Lines 1-3), each line is enjambed, and through that, the poem becomes continuous, but still retains a flowing characteristic from moving one line to another. Also, different variations of fox trots have a tempo change from being slow-slow to fast-fast back to slow-slow, and this here is axiomatic in the poem. The poem begins with more syllables in each stanza, but as it progresses to the middle-end of the poem there are as few as six syllables in the sixth stanza. However, after this short stanza, the poem returns back to longer stanzas. Through the analysis of the lengths of each stanza based off of the number of syllables it could then be concluded that this foxtrot variation is one of the more modern American style of foxtrots. By thoroughly analyzing the structure of the poem and compare it down to even what kind of variation of a foxtrot it may be, different questions appear as to why did Dove write such a piece? Has Dove fell in love through this dance? Or has Dove felt great emotions of a high she gets from this dance? So far it would be hard to understand why Dove wrote such a piece, but it through the structural evidence found, it is almost certain that she was writing about this dance.
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