The purpose of Dove’s, Golden Oldie poem was to talk about craving love and wanting to find love with that special person, but not knowing where to start. Her sonnet has a tone of loneliness and sorrow in it. Dove uses the simile at the start of her poem to express how lost she is, “Swaying at the wheel like a blind pianist caught in a tune meant for more than two hands playing.” (Dove 2). This line stuck out to me, especially right at the beginning. A blind person will often get lost or confused as to where they are. On top of that, a blind person playing the piano, is incredible. Dove uses this simile, showing how lost she is. The blind pianist messes up many times because they are playing a song that is meant for two, not one. She also refers to a young girl wanting something to live for, “By a young girl dying to feel alive, to discover a pain majestic enough to live by.” (6). Teenagers are thought of as full of emotion, and there is no better way to explain wanting to feel love and being confused, than using a teenage girl. Dove also uses an oxymoron in this line. “Pain majestic”. Pain is not usually seen as a majestic feeling, however with love. Love contains all emotions and Dove points that out here. To finish her sonnet off, she talks about being confused. “Without a clue who my lover might be, or where to start looking.” (13). Being lost and wanting love so badly, but she doesn’t know where to begin.
I loved how well you explained the imagery that Rita Dove creates in this poem. As I was reading the poem, I also interpreted the smilies in the same way. One that especially stood out to me was the “Swaying at the wheel like a blind pianist caught in a tune meant for more than two hands playing.” (Dove 2). First of all, like you said, it’s important to notice how Dove uses a blind person in this similie rather than a person who is not blind. Why do you think she uses a blind person to explain how she was stalled in her driveway? You mentioned how the pianist messes up the song because it is meant for more than two hands to be playing. When I read this line, I saw this as potentially saying that the song the pianist is playing is a duet. A duet only sounds good when two people are playing it. Could the person in this poem be living life with something missing? Could they possibly be missing someone that they love?
I really liked your connection to playing the piano for two. I interpreted this similarly. I also thought that the poem had a very lonely tone. The person in the poem needed their other half. This is true for finding love as well. When two people have found their "other half" they become an even better version of them self. I think Dove used the two hands playing description to show how much better and complete the song would be if they had their other half.
In the poem by Rita Dove, "Demeter, Waiting", Dove utilizes fragment sentences to emphasize the dragging, dreary, chilling tone of the poem. For example: "No. Who can bear it" (Dove, line 1), the fragment allows the reader to realize how unbearable it is for Demeter when her daughter is ripped down through the ground and stolen from her, relating to the allusion in the title. It relates the poem to the myth of Persephone and Demeter, focusing on the point of view of Demeter. Dove also applies a simile, "...like one of those ashen christian philosophers, or a war-bound soldier" (Dove, lines 5-6),in order to relate it to the feeling of having a family member in a war, being so far away in a exceedingly dangerous zone, not knowing what could happen if one is to return. The author also refers to the importance of a close mother-daughter relationship, and with Persephone out of reach it provides the reader an understanding of Demeter's point of view, who feels worthless for she cannot protect her daughter. This is depicted in the beginning, Dove writes in a sarcastic tone, "Only someone who hates herself, who believes to pull a hand back from a daughter's cheek is to put love into her pocket" (Dove, lines 1-4). Dove writes this in a mocking way to show the foolishness of the mothers who allow their daughters to do what they want as a sign of love. The chilling tone continues to refer to how Demeter froze the world over, she could not live without her daughter, the tone changes from dreary to enraged, if she was to wait for her daughter, then the whole world had to wait. This is displayed in the end of the poem, "I will wail and thrash until the whole goddamned golden panorama freezes over. Then I will sit down to wait for her" (Dove, lines 12-14). Another thing I noticed was how the poem begins with "No" and ends with "Yes", it is used to represent the juxtaposition of the different tones of the two sections of the poem, the first being dreary, sorrowful, and full of desolateness to the deep rage and fury of Demeter in the second part. In "Demeter, Waiting" Dove writes with at first a chilling, sorrowful tone then later a raging, angry tone to display the mixed emotion and the meaningless feeling a parent would feel after losing a child, and the desire to be with one's child, but they are just out of reach, dragged into a dark and dangerous place of no return.
Your use of sorrow vs dreary and dragging in your theses at the end and beginning is a little confusing because a sorrowful tone is, to me, very different than a dragging and dreary tone. Other than that, I think it was pretty good.
Yes, you picked up on the "no"-"yes" thing. Dove actually does that often, so be on the lookout for the beginning line and ending line. One thing I really liked line 13's alliteration of "goddamned golden panorama." First off, it has a lyrical quality to it, as if you can taste the words and the way they're shaped. But what really caught my attention is the way this phrase changes the tone of the sentence. The actor in me, when I read pieces, hears the words and applies emotion to them as if I was monologuing. The second paragraph sounds (at least to me) as if it's being yelled. Demeter is frustrated, angry, and is screaming. But once you get to "goddamned golden panorama", the tone shifts. Imagine being enraged, being so unbelievably angry, and trying to yell goddamned golden panorama. In fact, if you can, try it. Because it's very difficult. There are too many syllables. Instead, the tone is shifted to a seethe; a quiet, ferocious tone of voice with a facade of calm hiding a boil of anger. You go from a yell to a seethe, which ties into the next line's calmness of "Then I will sit down and wait for her"(line 14). Being able to create a tone and voice shift is something I really admire and find cool, especially in poetry.
In the poem The Bistro Styx, I really saw a repetition of themes and imagery, especially colors. The poem is based on the ancient greek myth of Persephone. Dove really emphasizes the use of the color gray and synonyms for gray. The three characters in the poem represent Persephone as the girl, Demeter as the mother, and Hades as the boy friend. In the third line of the poem, Dove writes “glass doors to survey the room, silvery cape billowing dramatically behind her” (line 3-4). From here on Dove describes Persephone and her clothes as different tones of gray including silvery, gray, graphite and brushed steel. These bland boring shades and colors gives the poem a very stern and shallow feeling. The poem is based on the greek myth of Persephone being brought down to hell. Dove’s use of the dull colors resembles Persephone’s current state. She was once a very beautiful and buoyant girl, but since she has been brought down to the underworld with Hades, she has lost her glow and happiness. Another common theme throughout the poem is Persephone’s constant eating. According to the greek myth, the pomegranate seeds she eats are what make her stay in hell for eternity. Persephone’s constant eating in the poem symbolizes her never being able to escape the underworld. Later on Dove writes “Nothing seemed to fill her up” (line 61-62). The girl in the poem struggling to be full resembles how Persephone is never really free to go and live her life with Demeter outside of hell. Much like the girl in the poem, she will have to back for more.
I liked your attention to the color imagery used in the poem. Dove seems to use it in many of her poems. I saw other color mentioned in this poems like red and black. There was a prominent theme on food. Do you think that its meaning connects only with the mythological story or if it has another meaning? Also the connection to Greek mythology pulled the poem together and revealed its true meaning.I noticed words like "chimney" and "sooty" which resemble fire or ashes; this connects again to Persephone and her time in hell. Lastly,what do you think the girl in the poem is going back for?
While analyzing ¨Exit¨ by Rita Dove I noticed how she portrays the theme of a new beginning through the use of imagery, repetition, personification, and similes. This free verse is split into 3 sections. The first section is when the girl is opening doors and sees the life ahead of her. The second is when she realizes she is leaving everything behind and the 3rd is when she realizes she has the whole world open to her. Dove uses the use of imagery by using colors in her writing. She says, ¨The windows you have closed behind you are turning pink, doing what they do every dawn. Here its gray; the door to the taxi cab¨ (lines 6-9). The color pink gives off a love and nourishing tone to the reader, which represents the mom who is letting her daughter go. Gray is a gloomy color that can represent uncertainty. Gray is used when talking about the taxi that the girl is leaving in, which shows she is scared to be moving on. The use of repetition is seen throughout this poem when she repeats the phrase ¨Reprieve has been granted¨. This represents the whole theme of a new beginning and new doors opening. The use of personification and similes in Doves writing is also very effective. She says, ¨The door opens onto the street like in the movies¨ (line 2) This simile helps the reader picture this girl entering this world that is so different than what she is used to. Dove also uses personification when she says, ¨This suitcase the saddest object in the world¨ (lines 9-10). This gives the suitcase a human feeling of being sad. It helps the reader understand the emotions this girl is going through as she searches for hope. Dove also uses personification when saying, ¨And now through the windshield the sky begins to blush, as you did when your mother told you what it took to be a women in this life¨ (lines 11-14). I think this is one of the biggest phrases in this whole poem because by giving the sky the human characteristic of blushing, just like the girl, it ties the whole poem together. It introduces the mother and shows us that the girl is thinking back to advice from her mother about how to be a women.
Saint Catherine of Alexandria was known for her intelligence and strong faith. The saint was born into a noble family giving her the access to achieve high standings in education. At eighteen, she saw a vision that converted her to Christianity. Throughout her life she converted hundreds of people to her faith, even those who, at first, firmly refused her religion. Later, in the reign of the Roman Emperor, Maxentius, who was known for his persecution and killing of many christians, Saint Catherine went to him to rebuke his belief. The emperor simply sent fifty of the wisest pagen philosophers to reason with Saint Catherine, after much convincing the philosophers all failed and ended up being persuaded by her and half being converted to her faith. In the emperor's anger he inprisoned and whipped her, this refers to the first part of the poem: "Deprieved of learning and chances to travel," (lines 1-2). While being locked away she was unable to continue in her education and could not travel to convert more people. Although, many came to visit her in prison, drawn in by the rumors and many stories that spread about her. While in prison, Saint Catherine of Alexandria converted hundreds more including the emperor's wife and many prison guards. In one last hope of convincing her, the emperor offered her a royal marriage if she went against her faith, this of which she ultimately refused. She stated that her spouse is Jesus and she vows her life to remain a virgin. The second stanza stands as a reference to her promise to virginity and her strong resistance against the materialistic world that only seeks sexual pleasure. Also, the third stanza also relates to her vow, portraying her deep love for Jesus Christ and her strong faith. After her refusal, the emperor ordered for her death, where everyone was surprised, at her touch the wheel meant to be used for her execution shattered, later she was beheaded. In the fourth stanza, " A kept promise, a ring of milk" (lines 15-16) relates to how she died believing she fulfilled her duty and kept her vow to God. The tone of this poem reeks of a religious feeling and no resentment in her death portraying her prevelant faith until her end.
I thought those last few lines in the poem were interesting too. However, it seemed to me almost as if she were feeding a baby. The last stanza says, "the nightshirt bunched above your waist-- a kept promise, a ring of milk." Since Catherine of Alexandria was a virgin, it seems that Rita Dove is comparing her to the virgin Mary who is the mother of Jesus.
The poem titled “Sonnet in Primary Colors” is written about the life of a famous painter named Frida Kahlo. She uses metaphors and symbols to describe the pain and beauty of Frida Kahlo’s life. In the beginning of the poem Rita writes, “This is for the woman with one black wing perched over her eyes.” This is a metaphor referring to Frida Kahlo’s unibrow seen in her self-portraits. Her unibrow was something that made her unique, strong, and brave. The word “wing” also gives the reader a sense of flight and soaring, just like how Frida Kahlo soared very high in the world of art. Her brow also becomes important in the last line of the poem when Rita calls it, “her immutable brow.” The word immutable sets the tone of stability and unwavering strength. This demonstrates the emotional and physical strength Frida Kahlo had during her life. The line, “wildflowers entwining the plaster corset her spine resides in the romance of mirrors” refers to a terrible accident that Frida Kahlo was apart of that put her into a body cast (plaster corset). The word mirrors is also a metaphor for Kahlo’s self-portraits, which she made many of while she was recovering. Here, Rita Dove uses the word wildflowers as a symbol of Kahlo’s beauty despite the fact that she’s in a body cast. Wildflowers also symbolize a woman's independence, further promoting the idea of Frida Kahlo’s strength. Lastly, the most interesting part about the poem is that, while the title suggests that this is a sonnet, there are only thirteen lines in the poem. This is very symbolic of how Frida Kahlo may have felt as if she were always coming up short due to her physical limitations. Due to polio as a child, Frida Kahlo was left with a shorter and thinner right leg and was bullied incessantly. This also limited her movement and kept her from doing many things.
I found it interesting that the poem says it is in a sonnet, but it only has 13 lines. I like how you related it to Frieda Kahlos life and how she felt that she was coming up short due to her physical in-capabilities. I think the way you analyzed this poem is very unique because you used the layout of the poem and related it to the life of the person it was talking about.
I agree with natalie. I thought it was weird that there was only 13 lines when the title says Sonnet and it is set up in a square to give off the affect of a Sonnet. I also agree with what you said Kevin. The metaphor used about her unibrow, immediatly tells the reader who Dove is writing about. As long as there is prior knowledge on who Frida is. I never thought of the wing being a sense of flight. Great idea!!
In Rita Dove's poem, Canary, she describes the life of Billie Holiday. After researching Billie Holiday, I found that she was an inspirational jazz singer in the 1900s. She died of substance abuse at the age of 44. I noticed how Dove used lots of light and dark imagery in this poem. I think she did this to show that Billie Holiday had so many accomplishments in her life, but she also had dark times with the abuse towards the end of her career. She shows this when she says ¨Billlie Holiday's burned voice had as many shadows as lights¨ (line 1-2). When I think of a shadow I think of something that hides behind light. Dove is probably trying to portray the idea of Billie hiding her addiction behind all of her fame and glory. She seems like this glorified person, but she has a lurking shadow behind her. In the 2nd part Dove talks more about her addiction by using diction that has a drug reference. For example words like: cook, spoon, needle and mirror. This part gives off a very depressed tone, especially when it says, ¨Take all day if you have to with your mirror and your bracelet of song¨ (lines 7-8). I interpreted this by inferring that Billie used drugs as a way to escape life. I think that she had a hard time handling fame, which is what we see in a lot of celebrities. Her dependency is started to increase and she is had to take more and more each day. The last sentence really stuck with me. ¨If you can't be free, be a mystery¨ (line 11). I think Dove is relating to all the pressure put on Billie and how she was so caught up in the world of fame. In a way she was trapped. She died right after giving her final performance in New York. No one was completely aware of how unstable she was at the time. She kept it a secret. Since Billie couldn't be free, she had to hide what was really going on in order to please others.
I really liked your view of how Billie Holiday fit in with the poem. I also saw Dove's use of light and dark imagery. I think the use of light and dark imagery symbolized the highs and lows of her career. The line "Billie Holiday's burned voice had as many shadows as lights" (line 1-2). stood out to me as well. Her burned voice resembles how her voice and performances were altered by the drugs she took. As you said she was very good at hiding it so by holding it in, her voice and throat burns. It pains her to keep her secret in. It's almost like self torture.
In Rita Dove’s poem, Tou Wan Speaks to Her Husband, Dove occupies the voice of Tou Wan as the narrator. Tou Wan was the wife to the Prince of Zhongshan in China during the Western Han Dynasty. Dove uses powerful imagery in the poem to depict Tou Wan’s love for her husband. Dove writes “I will build you a house of limited chambers but it will last forever” (lines 1-4). Dove shows Wans love for her husband by comparing her love to a house she will build for him. Dove wants to instill in the reader that Wans love for her husband is forever, as she writes, and infinite. The poem explains how proud Wan is to express this much love to her husband. She finds such joy in giving her all to him. Later in the poem, Wan describes her husband as “my only conqueror” (line 6-7). The use of such powerful imagery and diction in the poem is very evident throughout. Wans description of her husband being her only conqueror suggests he has stolen her heart. She almost views herself as his property. While reading the poem I felt that Tou Wans love for her husband is not reciprocated to her. There is no mention of her husband besides how much she loves him. I thought of this after the tone of the poem changed after she writes “but you’re bored. Straight ahead then, the hall leading to you” (line 19-21). After these lines, the tone of the poem changes to a more saddened and empathetic tone.
Liu Sheng and Tou Wan were part of the Western Han Dynasty and were known for their elaborate tombs. In this poem I saw Tou Wan describing her husbands tomb, with the six chariots and the jade suits to encompass their "flesh soul", and the "breath soul" or spirituality has left their body. The tone I envisioned was stiff and unmoved, this is more because Liu Sheng was also known for being a "womenizer" this referring to the part: "And a statue of the palace girl you most frequently coveted". Although you saw this poem as displaying her deep love for her husband, I saw it as her more describing their complicated tombs.
The first thing I noticed in the poem was the mention of Billie Holiday as the very first word in the poem which bears a lot of importance. As instructed, looked up some info on Billie Holiday and found out she was a singer-songwriter in the jazz era with Louis Armstrong. She was a powerful figure for women in this time period and as a black woman endured social torment and injustices through life and her career. When Dove describes Holiday’s voice as burned in the first line I interpret this as a sign of weariness worn out. This is supported by the last word in this first stanza, “ruined face”. However, there is a connotation of strong and passionate. Burned gives a hot tone which is brought back in the second line as “lights” and the third line as “candelabra”; both having a connection with heat and light in the poem which gives it power and also a strong base for the mood of the poem. Something else that stood out to me was how Dove put the second stanza in parenthesis. It makes is a side note and gives the reader the feeling of a conscience in life telling you what to do. In this stanza it jumps around on each line from different symbols and also has a bit of repetition. For example, “magic spoons, magic needle” uses repetition with the word magic and also references the traditional roles of a stereotypical housewife in the early 20th century; spoons refers to cooking and needle refers to sewing and repairing things.
I agree with you that when Dove uses the word "burned" to show weariness and how Billie Holiday was slowly becoming unstable. I also noticed that Dove uses a lot of light and dark imagery to represent Billies life and create a mood for the poem, which you mentioned. I interpreted the 2nd stanza different than you did. I saw the phrases "cooking, magic spoon, magic needle, mirror" as a reference to Billie Holidays drug abuse because they all relate to the drug she was addicted to, heroin.
The poem Sonnet in primary colors by Rita Dove talks about Frida Kohlś life. The metaphor “One black wing perched over her eyes” (Dove 1) helped describe Kohl because of her unibrow. Frida gave a new meaning to what beauty was and Dove talks about that in her poem. She says “Lovely Frida” (2) when using her name to show Frida’s beauty. Dove talks about Frida’s poems as well and how they were like children. “And rose to her easel, the hundred dogs painting like children along the graveled walks of the garden” (10). Frida was a painter and she was seen as ugly, however she thought of herself as beautiful. I thought it was weird how Dove says it is a sonnet, however there are only 13 lines.
In Belinda’s Petition, Dove capitalizes nouns in mid sentence to create a strong tone in the poem. The first thing I noticed when I read the poem was the use of nouns being randomly capitalized in the middle of a line. Dove writes “To the honorable Senate and House of Representatives of this Country” (line 1-2). The use of capitalizing nouns was to put specific emphasis on words in the poem. Words like Accusation, Ignorant, Existence and Banks were capitalized to show special meaning for Belinda. Banks emphasis was to show when she was captured near the banks of Rio de Valta in Ghana by white men. The capitalization also gave the line an angry and loud tone, almost like Belinda was exclaiming or yelling. The poem also uses words such as honorable, pitiable, and plead to give it a sarcastic tone. Belinda uses these words to mock the US government by seeming to act respectful and humble. As a slave, Belinda doesn't hold anything back. She says what she wants and is not afraid to speak her mind. Dove doesn’t want the reader to feel bad for Belinda. She should not be viewed with pity, but as a strong African American woman who knew what she wanted and said what she wanted and meant.
I like how you pointed out her strong, firm tone to represent her strong character, although she had been a slave for many years and had grown old and had been tortured like most slaves, was unable to work as much and, once freed, was left to fend for herself. This poem really displays her bitterness, so in petitioning for an annual pension to be paid to her, like you pointed out, was almost mocking and angry, she did not want to be pitied. This is shown when Dove writes: "but to plead and place my pitiable Life/ unto the Fathers of this Nation" (Lines 6-7). Again, Dove emphasizes words by capitalizing words in the middle of lines like "Life" to emphasize she has a life, she is human, and deserves rights. I completely agree that this is written in a sarcastic tone to display her bitterness and demand for what not only she wanted, but needed.
In the poem called “Climbing In,” Rosa Parks uses an allusion to Red Riding Hood as well as fearful diction to show the level of fear african-americans had while riding a bus by creating an unnerving and fearful tone. The first reference to Red Riding Hood is seen in lines 9 through 11 when Rita Dove writes, “these are big teeth, teeth of the wolf under Grandmother’s cap.” In the folktale, “Red Riding Hood,” a wolf pretends to be a grandmother so he can eat a little girl. In this part of the poem, Rita Dove compares the bus driver to the wolf of Red Riding Hood which creates a tone of fear and uneasiness. The bus driver pretends to be nice and happy like an old grandmother, but if they make a wrong move, they will get gobbled up. This tone of uneasiness and fear of the bus driver continues in the next few lines when Rita Dove writes, “Pay him to keep him smiling.” (Line 13). Throughout the poem, Rita Dove uses fearful diction like “Teeth. Metallic. Lie-gapped. Not a friendly shine, like the dime cutting my palm as I clutch the silver pole to step up, up.” (Lines 1-7). The word teeth is associated with eating and death and when combined with the word metallic, it creates an uneasy fearful tone that symbolizes the fear african-americans had while riding those metallic busses. Other words like cutting and clutch create an unnerving tone of tenseness. Overall, the use of the well-known folktale Red Riding Hood and unnerving tone of fear really demonstrate the conditions that african-americans were put in while doing simple everyday tasks like riding a bus.
I really liked your connection between fearful diction in the poem about red riding hood to Rosa Parks experiences on the bus. The imagery of the wolfs teeth really stuck out to me as well. I viewed the description of metallic as Rosa Parks steel like beliefs. She was planted in the ground like a steel pole, unmoving.
When analyzing Rita Dove's poem, “Climbing in”, I noticed the allegory Dove used with mentioning the story of little red riding hood. The poem starts by saying one word, “teeth.” Starting a poem with one word is a very effective strategy because it catches the reader's attention. For me, I thought of the teeth as the bus door as an African American is staring at it from the outside. It also relates to the wolf's teeth in little red riding hood. Dove describes the bus as being metallic and having a not friendly shine. This gives the poem in unwelcoming tone. The next stanza is when they are entering the bus and holding the rail. Dove uses a nervous tone because it says “like the dime cutting my palm”(lines 4-5), which shows that the person is clutching their bus fare money very hard because they are nervous. The african american is portrayed as little red riding hood and she sees the bus as having big teeth like the wolf under grandmother's cap. When Dove says “pay him to keep to keep smiling”(line 13), I think she is referring to the harsh rules african americans must follow in order to please society. In the last stanza the lady is on the bus and Dove says “as the bright lady tumbles head over tail down the clinking gullet” (line 14-16). A gullet is the esophagus. This is referring to the part when the wolf swallows little red riding hood. I took this as the part when the bus doors close and the lady is trapped within this scary place. The bus is like society and how she is swallowed up by it.
I agree with this to an extent. I did freedom ride for mine, which is about the freedom rides at the end of segregation and I think that the idea of the wolf as the bus is really interesting. However, I kind of see the wolf as society in general, rather than specifically busses.
I really liked your interpretation of Climbing In. For some reason I missed the meaning of the last line, but I really liked how Rita Dove ended the poem. The poem left me unsettled and the way you described it makes it all the more chilling. While I think that the poem used busses as an example, I also agree with Taylor that the poem was talking about society in general in addition to busses.
In this poem Dove utilizes references to the Red Riding Hood story to portray how one may hide their hostility toward people behind fake smiles. In the poem, "Not a friendly smile" (Dove, line 3), relates to the bus driver who is paid to smile, paid to be kind to the customers, although because of the time era this takes place in, has a prejudice against black people; the narrator. This is also shown when Dove writes "Pay him to keep smiling," (Dove, line 13), to depict how his smile, although smiles are usually portrayed as happiness and kindness, but in this scenario is depicted as an evil, hating, grim grin, this shows the bus driver's hatred against black people and is only smiling because it is his job. Also this poem tends to have a metallic, cold tone to play out how the bus driver feels toward Narrator or Rosa Parks, as well as her feelings toward him and his treatment of her. Some examples of this is her use of metallic, silver, clinking gullet, all having a correlation to metal. The author employed these references to give the reader a feel for how people felt toward each other in this time, displaying the cold cruelty toward African-Americans. Also, the utilization of the childhood story: "Red Riding hood", is to show the irony that it is not anywhere like a light-hearted kid story just to teach children not to talk to strangers, but a deep dark truth of the popular prejudices in the Civil Rights Era.
I like how you talked about Dove's use of metallic diction. I think the point of this is to create a cold feeling like you said, as well as showing a tough side. The tough side of what prejudices were like in the civil rights era. I also really liked when you talked about the paid smile. A paid smile is fake and when its towards African Americans, often times back then it was fake. Great analyses!
In Rita Dove’s poem Rosa, she is speaking about Rosa Parks. We know this from looking at the title and in the first stanza when Dove writes “How she sat there, the time rights inside a place so wrong it was ready.” (Dove 1). I found it very interesting that Dove wrote this poem with 4 stanzas with 3 lines in each one. I think she did this in order to create a mood of melancholy. Dove also wrote in the last stanza “How she stood up when they bent down to retrieve her purse. That courtesy.” (10). Dove wrote this poem to create a mood of peace. As Rosa Parks reaction when sitting on the front of the bus. In the third stanza, Dove talks about Rosa Parks being famous. “Carved by a camera flash.” (9). Dove wrote this poem in order to acknowledge Rosa Parks and what she did for African Americans. Especially since she is a woman, talking about Parks gave power to women. A remembrance to the women who also, have helped end segregation.
I agree with you when you said that Dove was trying to create a mood of peace.I noticed this throughout the poem as she was trying to show Rosa's life. Another thing I noticed was that she uses controversial phrases such as in the first stanza she says "How she sat there, the time right inside a place so wrong it was ready" (Dove 1-3). This relates to the saying "so wrong it was right". Dove also says "Doing nothing was the doing" (Dove 7). I found this interesting throughout the poem and it really showed the reader that Rosa stood up for what she believed in despite what other people thought.
In Rita Dove’s poem Parsley, she speaks on the topic of Haitian slaves. A main character in the poem is el general, which translated to english is the general. In the second section of the poem, it is focused solely on the general. Dove uses harsh diction to express his grief. In the poem the general is getting over the recent death of his mother. Dove writes “how she died in the fall and he planted her walking cane at the grave and it flowered” (4-6). This line shows the generals love for his dead mother. Her walking cane gives the reader the idea that the general's mother was elderly but passed quite suddenly. The flowering of her grave is connected to the parsley green parrot in the poem, which represents peace and spring. The flowering of her grave shows how his mother is at peace. Dove later writes through the perspective of the general, “Who can I kill today” (12). This short line holds a lot of power. It shows how much hatred and cruelty the general has in his heart in the aftermath of losing his mother. The general wants revenge for his mother's death and does not care who pays for it. To many of us our mother can be a guide and friend to us in the world. Since the general has lost his mother he has neither of those things. He is a man lost in the world with a heart full of hatred.
I also noticed the generals hate throughout the poem. One line I really saw it in was when Dove says "God knows his mother could roll an R like a queen. even a parrot could roll an R" (lines 39-41). He is saying this because Haitians can't roll their R's. I found it interesting that the general is using his mothers death as a motive to kill thousands of innocent people. I agree with you that a mother is known to be a guide in the world and without her, he has lost his way.
I liked how you pointed out Dove's use of a shift in point of view, not many people look at the massacre from the general's point of view, only from the view of the Haitians who were fearing for their lives and how the Dictator cruelly killed them. In the second part of this poem, it showed the general's point of view, showing his hatred, his anger. I agree that he has lost his path when he lost his mother.
In Rita Dove's poem, Parsley (The cane fields), a dark tone is created throughout the poem. The poem is based off of the Haitian massacre that occurred in 1937. It was named the Parsley Massacre because Dominican soldiers would carry a sprig of parsley and would ask people suspected of being haitian to pronounce the spanish word “perejil”. If you couldn't say it you were killed. Most couldn't do this because they couldn't roll their R’s. This is represented throughout the poem. In lines 3-4 Dove says “Out of the swamp the cane appears to haunt us, and we cut it down.” I interpreted this as the cane sort of representing the dictator at the time coming for the Haitians. The haitians are hiding from him and having nightmares about him. The line “out of the swamp the cane appears” is repeated throughout the poem. I noticed how Dove used harsh diction throughout her writing for example words like screaming, punches, lashed, etc. These words help the reader see how horrible these 5 years were. Dove says in the 2nd stanza, “El General searches for a word; he is all the world there is” (line 4-6). This poem is narrated by the haitians and in this part “el general” is referring to the Dominican president, Rafael Trujillo. He is looking for the word he is going to make the people say. In the 5th stanza he has found the word. Dove says “Who says it, lives. He laughs, teeth shining out of the swamp” (line 18). Dove writes in the present, which helps the reader almost picture Trujillo finding joy in killing all these people. We can picture him coming out of the “swamp” smiling. Dove repeats throughout her poem “the parrot imitating spring”. It was hard to interpret what that meant, but I did find that Trujillo did own a parrot.
I really liked your connection between the Haitian massacre and the poem. I also saw Dove's harsh diction used throughout the poem as well. I saw a connection to the line "out of the swamp the cane appeared" with color imagery. The swamp and cane give me a gross, greenish feel which can be attributed to how the Haitians felt during the Haitian Massacre. They were constantly in fear of their lives, while also trying to work hard.
I like how Jared connected the color imagery of how the Haitian people would feel. It is a super sad story and the way Dove wrote it brought this to life. I also found it interesting about the parrot. It makes me interested in wondering what significance this parrot had to Trujillo. Dove used repetition so much that there must be some significance to the story of the Haitian people.
In the excerpt from The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticat, they are speaking of the Haitian people. How they were murdered and brutally tormented with perejil. I noticed that there was a lot of spanish words in this poem. This was important because that was the language of the people then and bringing that into the poem, brings out the culture. They talk about how strong these people were in the middle of the poem. “Yves chewed with all of the strength in his bulging Jaws.” (Danticat 14) and following this the writer writes “At least they were not beating us, I thought.” (15). When reading, The Farming of Bones the tone feels powerful. Reading about this story without the poem, would make you feel sad for these people and want to help them. But when you read this poem, it feels powerful. It makes the reader think that the Haitian people did not go down without a fight. The second part of the poem talks about parsley being used for everyday life. “We used parsley for our food, our teas, our baths, to cleanse our insides as well as our outsides” (36). Parsley is used for good and yet it is being used for the bad here. I found it interesting that the writer wrote “... to cleanse our insides as well as our insides” (36). And these soldiers were shoving parsley into the Haitian people’s mouths, as if they were cleansing them.
Rita Dove wrote this poem relating to the Haitian Massacre in 1937 where between 9,000 and 20,000 were killed. At this time, many Haitians, in order to find work as a cane field laborer, would cross the border in to the Dominican republic controlled by the Dominican Dictator Rafael Trujillo, the Dominicans had a deep hatred for the Haitians. The Dominican soldiers would carry around a sprig of parsley, and if one was suspected of being Haitian, they would ask the person to say "perejil", the spanish word for parsley. The people whom had the first language of Haitian Creole had trouble pronouncing the word, this would cost them their life. This is shown in the repetition of the line "there is a parrot imitating spring", this is not only to portray how parrots repeat lines, but also, the Haitians felt like hunted parrots, having to continually pronounce one word, but this word could save their life. Throughout this poem, Dove constantly references teeth, specifically that they are gnawed to arrowheads, this is to portray their sharp teeth referring to their evil ways like monsters. The poem has a dark, fearing, paranoid tone, to display how in this bloody massacre, how the Haitians felt, hunted, running for their lives; in constant fear.
In Rita Dove’s poem Fox, it is all about the “She” (Dove 1-15). Dove made this poem to give a feminist feel. When reading Fox, there is a strong, proud, and independent feel to it. There is also a lot of repetition and feminine diction. Dove repeats the words “She” and “Imagine”(10) and lots of “A” words like “Anyone, any, and anything”. She does this to emphasize the woman in the story, when talking about she. Dove also repeats many “A words” to show how anything is possible for woman and create a tone throughout the entire story, of independence and make that a repetitive concept. Also, at the end of the first stanza Dove uses a sarcastic tone as to mock the social normalities. “She loved what she was, there for the taking, imagine.” (7-10). You can hear the sarcastic tone when reading it because of the comma at the end of “taking” (9) It is as if, imagine that! A woman is content on her own and loves herself, without any man. Which a lot of times in society, a woman is meant to compliment the man. While this idea of woman being individuals and not needing a man has changed, it is still a normality for some. Following this, the title Fox has great significance to the overall poem. A fox is seen as stealthy,cunning, or sly. Which can represent women. However, following this there is also the lady way of looking at the word fox. Fox can be seen as a beautiful woman. Overall, Dove wrote this poem to show how powerful woman are and the way society sees women, is nothing like a woman sees herself.
I thought your analysis of this poem was really good and interesting. When I first read Fox I hadn't given too much thought to what the title meant and I really liked how you explained how it could be referring to a woman. I also liked how you emphasized that this poem was showing the difference in how a woman sees herself versus how society sees her. The only thing i'm wondering about is why would Dove include a poem like this in her American Smooth collection? All the rest of the poems in American Smooth have to do with music and/or dance so how does this one relate to that?
From the American Smooth poems, by Rita Dove, I decided to talk about “Fox Trot Fridays”. In this poem Dove creates a relaxing, yet upbeat feel, in order to help the reader understand this important dance of the early 1900s. By just looking at the title you can see that this dance was done on Fridays. In the first two stanzas Dove says “Thank the stars there's a day each week to tuck in the grief, lift your pearls and stride brush stride…” (lines 1-4). Dove is telling the reader how important friday is for the people dancing. It is a time for them to relax and forget about all the stress in their lives. For most of us, Friday is the day we all wait for because there is a huge burden lifted off our shoulders after a long week. In the third stanza, Dove uses one syllable words such as “quick-quick, heel-ball-toe” which adds to the musical rhythmic tone. She also does this in the 7th stanza when she says “rib to rib”. These short assonance sounds and the repetition makes the poem have a “fast pace”, just the the fox trot dance. Dove uses short couplets to create this poem. I really enjoyed this structure of poetry because it kept me engaged and I could easily see how it related to the fox trot. Dove also uses an alliteration, in the 4th stanza, when she says “slow satin smile”. I thought of slow as not the pace of the dance, but the idea of people slowing down their lives and dancing away their worries. I thought of satin as the material of the dresses that the girls wore while dancing. Finally, for smile, it was to portray that this dance brought joy to people. In the 6th and 7th stanza, Dove describes the dance more in detail. She says “one man one women” (lines 11-12), to show that this dance was done with 2 people. Then Dove says, “rib to rib” (line 13), because the 2 people danced very close. In the last stanza and final line Dove uses dream like diction when she says “sweep of paradise” and “space of a song”. She is trying to show the reader that this dance was almost therapeutic for people.
I also saw the importance of Friday in the poem most notably in the title and first line. I saw this as Dove alluding to Fridays being the day where she can escape her grief with Fred. I can relate to Dove's actions because when I am frustrated or upset I turn to being active or basketball to take my mind of it.
In Rita Dove’s poem Fox Trot Fridays, Dove uses allusion to help the reader understand the feeling of ballroom dancing. In the late 1990’s Rita Dove and her husband's house burned down along with hundreds of their manuscripts. Imagine the anger and grief you would have if years of your art that you created burned away to nothing in one night. To ease the pain both Rita and Fred took up ballroom dancing. They both fell in love with it and continue to partake in it. Dove wrote Fox Trot Fridays to express how ballroom dancing helped her get over her lost art. Dove writes “Thank the stars there’s a day each week to tuck in the grief” (1-2). This is an allusion to the title and the day of the week she would go ballroom dancing, Fridays. The second part of the line is an allusion to getting rid of her grief by dancing. Many of us use something to cover up a certain part of our lives. For Dove it was ballroom dancing with her husband. Another part of the poem where I saw allusion was in “Nat King Cole’s slow satin smile” (7-8). Nat King Cole was a famous jazz singer in the 50’s and 60’s. He was known for his warm, kind, and smooth smile. Dove alludes Nat King Cole’s smile to the smooth, rhythmic movements of ballroom dancing.
While reading Rita Dove's poem, “The House Slave”, I noticed an anxious and hopeless tone throughout the poem. I think that the poem is trying to compare being a house slave to being a field slave through a child's point of view. The poem is formatted in 5 tercets that describe a normal morning for a slave and what the narrator sees. In the first stanza Dove says, “The first horn lifts its arm over the dew-lit grass and in the slave quarters there is rustling” (line 1-2) Dove uses personification here when she says that the horn lifts its arm. I think she uses personification here to portray to the reader that this alarm in the morning was very powerful and in a way it controlled the slaves. It was what woke them up so that they could start their day in the fields. There is a tone of hopelessness and sadness in this poem. This is shown in the 2nd stanza when Dove says “I watch them driven into the vague before dawn” (line 5) and “I cannot fall asleep again” (line 8). You can tell that this kid watches this happen day after day and there is nothing he can do about it. In the 3rd stanza Dove describes what happens when the second horn rings. Doves says “the whip curls across the backs of the laggards” (line 8-9). The harsh diction that is used- “whip, curl, cries, shivering”- all helps create a hopeless tone. We can picture what this kid is going through especially when he sees his own sister among them. In the last stanza Dove compares the slaves to “bees”. The smile, “they spill out like bees among the fat flowers” (line 14), adds to the whole idea that slaves weren't treated as individuals they were looked at as objects or only workers. This poem can tell us a lot about the lives of house slaves versus field slaves. For one they are held to high expectations and were expected to wake up at way earlier times before the “massa”. We can see the torture they were put through and how that was seen through a child's eyes. This poem is very depressing because the child sees all of this but is hopeless and can't help.
I also saw the comparison trying to be made between being a house slave and a slave in the fields. Being a house slave was considered a privilege because they were not working in the harsh labor conditions, and were always around the proper white people, reaping the benefits of that such as eating better food and having a better place to sleep. I saw Dove trying to potray this as much as possible throughout the poem.
I agree with Jared when he talks about seeing the comparison of the two different types of slaves. I really like how you said it was in a child's point of view because I never saw it that way. At first I thought of it as a siblings point of view. An older sister and her younger sister. Specifically when Dove writes "Sometimes my sister's voice, unmistaken" (10). It gave the effect of looking down on her sister and wishing she could protect her. Really great analysis, especially your ending when talking about a child who sees all of this but is helpless.
In Rita Dove’s poem The Abduction, Dove tells the story of Solomon Northrup, a free black man who was captured and turned into a slave. In the time of slavery it was very common for white slave catchers to capture free African Americans and claim them as slaves. Dove expresses this by writing through Northrup’s perspective, “Solomon Northrup form Saratoga Springs, free papers in my pocket, violin under arm” (3-5). Dove talks about Northrup's attitude while walking through the streets a free man, and how that can change so quickly. One of the first things I noticed when I read this poem was the structure of the stanzas. The first stanza has five lines and every stanza after that loses one line so that the last stanza is only one line. The structure of the poem resembles Northrup losing hope through the poem and as he is a slave. The first two stanzas talk about Northrup’s life as a free man as Dove writes, “Why should i have doubted them? The wages were good” (6). Dove emphasises his life as a free man to capture his sorrow and anger when he is captured and made a slave. The third and fourth stanzas show Northrup’s ride over from Africa when Dove writes, “I remember how the windows rattled with each report” (10). Dove talks about his journey to America using very distinct imagery of the boat. The reflection of his time on the boat shows how Northrup is thinking back to when he was free, although there were hardships, they were not as bad as becoming a slave. The final stanza or line is Northrup’s final realization of being back in chains and being a slave.
I like how you addressed the unique structure of the poem and Dove's use to portray the lonely, betrayed feeling of being a slave. I agree that this poem served to show Solomon Northrup's journey and his dream of being back home, free and lively, surrounded with family, where when he awake, he notices that he is still completely alone, in chains. Rita Dove finishes this poem with one line to truly emphasize this line and create a deep impact on the reader to depict the feeling of being abducted and forced to become a slave; lonely and tortured.
I liked your interpretation of the dwindling number of lines in each stanza. I had a slightly different interpretation, but your version makes sense. Rita Dove probably meant for there to be more than one meaning. Your version also makes sense since it follows the overall direction of the poem and how Solomon is slowly losing hope and losing his freedom. The lines in each stanza reinforce this loss of hope and freedom.
Rita Dove’s poem, “The Abduction,” is about an African-American named Solomon Northrup who got kidnapped from the north and sent to the south where he was a slave for twelve years (The movie “Twelve Years a Slave,” is based of his memoirs). As the poem goes on, each sequential stanza loses a line. The first one has five lines, the second one has four lines, and so on. Rita Dove uses this structure to give a visual of moving farther and farther away from something. This is just like when someone is on a ship or any other vehicle and as they move farther and farther away, the objects behind them get smaller and smaller until they cannot see them anymore. This is what Solomon would have felt like as he was taken further and further away from his home. Secondly, in lines seven through nine, Rita Dove uses circus imagery to create a tone of deception. Words like, “Tent flap,” “jig on a tightrope,” and “bleachers,” are all related to circuses. Circuses are known for their magic and how their tricks can deceive the eye. This shows how the two men Hamilton and Brown were playing Solomon all along. Also, in line nine, Rita Dove writes, “pigs squealed invisibly from the bleachers and I fiddled.” Pigs in judeo-christian tradition are often connected with the devil and seen as a symbol of greed. This represents Hamilton and Brown perfectly as they are committing a devilish act and they are doing it out of their own greed. The fact that the pigs are invisible also play on the fact that Solomon is just being fooled into believing he is doing something, but really he is just falling into the hands of the bad men.
I found it interesting how you compared the sequential stanza as a visual of moving farther and farther away from something.I agreed with this idea because Solomon was moving farther and farther away from his home since he was kidnapped. when I first read this poem I didn't think much of the quote about the pigs squealing. Now that you mentioned pigs connected with the devil and greed I completely agree.
When I first read through this poem I knew I recognized the name Solomon Northrup but I couldn't remember where i'd heard it until I saw what you wrote. I really liked how you explained the circus diction and the symbolism of the pigs compared to Hamilton and Brown, I had't really thought of the pigs representing them. I also liked how you compared the stanzas reducing in number of lines each time to getting further away from something.
In this poem, Rita Dove employs historical allusions, capitalized words mid sentence, and simile to relate to Belinda's petition on May 29, 1783 discussing the inhuman treatment of slaves and her right to freedom. In Belinda's Petition, Belinda is a slave from Massachusetts who was kidnapped at the age of twelve: "I received Existence on the Banks/ I have known of Men with Faces like the Moon,? who would ride toward me steadily for twelve years" (lines 14; 18-19). Later in Belinda's life, her previous master wrote in his will that his slave Belinda would be granted freedom. In her petition, Belinda points out the inhuman treatment of her and fellow slaves, it was as if she did not truly exist as a person; a human being. Belinda addresses the unrighteous,cruel attitude given to them by the white people and how she felt she had not rights. Dove portrays this when she writes "I would hope/ you would consider the Same for me" (lines 9-10), Dove capitalizes the word same to emphasize the importance for equality. Through this poem, Rita Dove relates this to Belinda's actual petition and her point to show the cruel treatment toward slaves and her petition for freedom.
I like your attention to the capitalized words, there is definitely a deep meaning behind that and i like your interpretation of it. You did a good job connecting the poem to the real petition and how closely they relate. What else do your think was Doves goal in writing this poem? What do you think about the tone or the mood of the poem and what Dove is trying to get at with that?
In Rita Dove’s poem The House Slave I noticed that every stanza is in 3 lines. When starting her poem she writes “The first horn” (Dove 1) to show that it is time for the slaves to wake up. It then proceeds to talk about children getting ready to cook in their aprons and corn bread and water being grabbed and all of the things they have to do before it is dawn. This imagery was meant to give the reader a greater understanding of everything the slaves have to do in the morning, specifically the house slaves. Dove then compares the mistress to an ivory toothpick. “While their mistress sleeps like an ivory toothpick” (6). Meaning the mistress or house owner is white, flat, and hard. When the second horn goes off, it is meant that the slaves need to be prepared and working, which if they are not then they will be whipped. “At the second horn, the whip curls across the backs of the laggards-” (8-9) Laggard meaning a person who slacks or is behind others. The persona of the story talks about her sister and her sister being whipped. It gives the story a mourningful and cringe worthy feeling when the sister is crying out “Oh! Pray!” (11). Finally in the last stanza Dove writes “...the fields unfold to whiteness, and they spill like bees among the fat flowers” (13-14) Talking about the slaves picking cotton and wprking like bees in the flowers. The overall poem gives off a tone of sorrow and helplessness for the slaves, focusing in a lot, on the house slaves. Hence the title.
Hi guys! Feel free to post comments before 3am! :)
ReplyDeleteMs. Ballard
The purpose of Dove’s, Golden Oldie poem was to talk about craving love and wanting to find love with that special person, but not knowing where to start. Her sonnet has a tone of loneliness and sorrow in it. Dove uses the simile at the start of her poem to express how lost she is, “Swaying at the wheel like a blind pianist caught in a tune meant for more than two hands playing.” (Dove 2). This line stuck out to me, especially right at the beginning. A blind person will often get lost or confused as to where they are. On top of that, a blind person playing the piano, is incredible. Dove uses this simile, showing how lost she is. The blind pianist messes up many times because they are playing a song that is meant for two, not one. She also refers to a young girl wanting something to live for, “By a young girl dying to feel alive, to discover a pain majestic enough to live by.” (6). Teenagers are thought of as full of emotion, and there is no better way to explain wanting to feel love and being confused, than using a teenage girl. Dove also uses an oxymoron in this line. “Pain majestic”. Pain is not usually seen as a majestic feeling, however with love. Love contains all emotions and Dove points that out here. To finish her sonnet off, she talks about being confused. “Without a clue who my lover might be, or where to start looking.” (13). Being lost and wanting love so badly, but she doesn’t know where to begin.
ReplyDeleteI loved how well you explained the imagery that Rita Dove creates in this poem. As I was reading the poem, I also interpreted the smilies in the same way. One that especially stood out to me was the “Swaying at the wheel like a blind pianist caught in a tune meant for more than two hands playing.” (Dove 2). First of all, like you said, it’s important to notice how Dove uses a blind person in this similie rather than a person who is not blind. Why do you think she uses a blind person to explain how she was stalled in her driveway? You mentioned how the pianist messes up the song because it is meant for more than two hands to be playing. When I read this line, I saw this as potentially saying that the song the pianist is playing is a duet. A duet only sounds good when two people are playing it. Could the person in this poem be living life with something missing? Could they possibly be missing someone that they love?
DeleteI really liked your connection to playing the piano for two. I interpreted this similarly. I also thought that the poem had a very lonely tone. The person in the poem needed their other half. This is true for finding love as well. When two people have found their "other half" they become an even better version of them self. I think Dove used the two hands playing description to show how much better and complete the song would be if they had their other half.
DeleteIn the poem by Rita Dove, "Demeter, Waiting", Dove utilizes fragment sentences to emphasize the dragging, dreary, chilling tone of the poem. For example: "No. Who can bear it" (Dove, line 1), the fragment allows the reader to realize how unbearable it is for Demeter when her daughter is ripped down through the ground and stolen from her, relating to the allusion in the title. It relates the poem to the myth of Persephone and Demeter, focusing on the point of view of Demeter. Dove also applies a simile, "...like one of those ashen christian philosophers, or a war-bound soldier" (Dove, lines 5-6),in order to relate it to the feeling of having a family member in a war, being so far away in a exceedingly dangerous zone, not knowing what could happen if one is to return. The author also refers to the importance of a close mother-daughter relationship, and with Persephone out of reach it provides the reader an understanding of Demeter's point of view, who feels worthless for she cannot protect her daughter. This is depicted in the beginning, Dove writes in a sarcastic tone, "Only someone who hates herself, who believes to pull a hand back from a daughter's cheek is to put love into her pocket" (Dove, lines 1-4). Dove writes this in a mocking way to show the foolishness of the mothers who allow their daughters to do what they want as a sign of love. The chilling tone continues to refer to how Demeter froze the world over, she could not live without her daughter, the tone changes from dreary to enraged, if she was to wait for her daughter, then the whole world had to wait. This is displayed in the end of the poem, "I will wail and thrash until the whole goddamned golden panorama freezes over. Then I will sit down to wait for her" (Dove, lines 12-14). Another thing I noticed was how the poem begins with "No" and ends with "Yes", it is used to represent the juxtaposition of the different tones of the two sections of the poem, the first being dreary, sorrowful, and full of desolateness to the deep rage and fury of Demeter in the second part. In "Demeter, Waiting" Dove writes with at first a chilling, sorrowful tone then later a raging, angry tone to display the mixed emotion and the meaningless feeling a parent would feel after losing a child, and the desire to be with one's child, but they are just out of reach, dragged into a dark and dangerous place of no return.
ReplyDeleteYour use of sorrow vs dreary and dragging in your theses at the end and beginning is a little confusing because a sorrowful tone is, to me, very different than a dragging and dreary tone. Other than that, I think it was pretty good.
DeleteYes, you picked up on the "no"-"yes" thing. Dove actually does that often, so be on the lookout for the beginning line and ending line.
DeleteOne thing I really liked line 13's alliteration of "goddamned golden panorama." First off, it has a lyrical quality to it, as if you can taste the words and the way they're shaped. But what really caught my attention is the way this phrase changes the tone of the sentence. The actor in me, when I read pieces, hears the words and applies emotion to them as if I was monologuing. The second paragraph sounds (at least to me) as if it's being yelled. Demeter is frustrated, angry, and is screaming. But once you get to "goddamned golden panorama", the tone shifts. Imagine being enraged, being so unbelievably angry, and trying to yell goddamned golden panorama. In fact, if you can, try it. Because it's very difficult. There are too many syllables. Instead, the tone is shifted to a seethe; a quiet, ferocious tone of voice with a facade of calm hiding a boil of anger. You go from a yell to a seethe, which ties into the next line's calmness of "Then I will sit down and wait for her"(line 14). Being able to create a tone and voice shift is something I really admire and find cool, especially in poetry.
In the poem The Bistro Styx, I really saw a repetition of themes and imagery, especially colors. The poem is based on the ancient greek myth of Persephone. Dove really emphasizes the use of the color gray and synonyms for gray. The three characters in the poem represent Persephone as the girl, Demeter as the mother, and Hades as the boy friend. In the third line of the poem, Dove writes “glass doors to survey the room, silvery cape billowing dramatically behind her” (line 3-4). From here on Dove describes Persephone and her clothes as different tones of gray including silvery, gray, graphite and brushed steel. These bland boring shades and colors gives the poem a very stern and shallow feeling. The poem is based on the greek myth of Persephone being brought down to hell. Dove’s use of the dull colors resembles Persephone’s current state. She was once a very beautiful and buoyant girl, but since she has been brought down to the underworld with Hades, she has lost her glow and happiness. Another common theme throughout the poem is Persephone’s constant eating. According to the greek myth, the pomegranate seeds she eats are what make her stay in hell for eternity. Persephone’s constant eating in the poem symbolizes her never being able to escape the underworld. Later on Dove writes “Nothing seemed to fill her up” (line 61-62). The girl in the poem struggling to be full resembles how Persephone is never really free to go and live her life with Demeter outside of hell. Much like the girl in the poem, she will have to back for more.
ReplyDeleteI liked your attention to the color imagery used in the poem. Dove seems to use it in many of her poems. I saw other color mentioned in this poems like red and black. There was a prominent theme on food. Do you think that its meaning connects only with the mythological story or if it has another meaning? Also the connection to Greek mythology pulled the poem together and revealed its true meaning.I noticed words like "chimney" and "sooty" which resemble fire or ashes; this connects again to Persephone and her time in hell. Lastly,what do you think the girl in the poem is going back for?
DeleteWhile analyzing ¨Exit¨ by Rita Dove I noticed how she portrays the theme of a new beginning through the use of imagery, repetition, personification, and similes. This free verse is split into 3 sections. The first section is when the girl is opening doors and sees the life ahead of her. The second is when she realizes she is leaving everything behind and the 3rd is when she realizes she has the whole world open to her. Dove uses the use of imagery by using colors in her writing. She says, ¨The windows you have closed behind you are turning pink, doing what they do every dawn. Here its gray; the door to the taxi cab¨ (lines 6-9). The color pink gives off a love and nourishing tone to the reader, which represents the mom who is letting her daughter go. Gray is a gloomy color that can represent uncertainty. Gray is used when talking about the taxi that the girl is leaving in, which shows she is scared to be moving on. The use of repetition is seen throughout this poem when she repeats the phrase ¨Reprieve has been granted¨. This represents the whole theme of a new beginning and new doors opening. The use of personification and similes in Doves writing is also very effective. She says, ¨The door opens onto the street like in the movies¨ (line 2) This simile helps the reader picture this girl entering this world that is so different than what she is used to. Dove also uses personification when she says, ¨This suitcase the saddest object in the world¨ (lines 9-10). This gives the suitcase a human feeling of being sad. It helps the reader understand the emotions this girl is going through as she searches for hope. Dove also uses personification when saying, ¨And now through the windshield the sky begins to blush, as you did when your mother told you what it took to be a women in this life¨ (lines 11-14). I think this is one of the biggest phrases in this whole poem because by giving the sky the human characteristic of blushing, just like the girl, it ties the whole poem together. It introduces the mother and shows us that the girl is thinking back to advice from her mother about how to be a women.
ReplyDeletePoem: Catherine of Alexandria
ReplyDeleteSaint Catherine of Alexandria was known for her intelligence and strong faith. The saint was born into a noble family giving her the access to achieve high standings in education. At eighteen, she saw a vision that converted her to Christianity. Throughout her life she converted hundreds of people to her faith, even those who, at first, firmly refused her religion. Later, in the reign of the Roman Emperor, Maxentius, who was known for his persecution and killing of many christians, Saint Catherine went to him to rebuke his belief. The emperor simply sent fifty of the wisest pagen philosophers to reason with Saint Catherine, after much convincing the philosophers all failed and ended up being persuaded by her and half being converted to her faith. In the emperor's anger he inprisoned and whipped her, this refers to the first part of the poem: "Deprieved of learning and chances to travel," (lines 1-2). While being locked away she was unable to continue in her education and could not travel to convert more people. Although, many came to visit her in prison, drawn in by the rumors and many stories that spread about her. While in prison, Saint Catherine of Alexandria converted hundreds more including the emperor's wife and many prison guards. In one last hope of convincing her, the emperor offered her a royal marriage if she went against her faith, this of which she ultimately refused. She stated that her spouse is Jesus and she vows her life to remain a virgin. The second stanza stands as a reference to her promise to virginity and her strong resistance against the materialistic world that only seeks sexual pleasure. Also, the third stanza also relates to her vow, portraying her deep love for Jesus Christ and her strong faith. After her refusal, the emperor ordered for her death, where everyone was surprised, at her touch the wheel meant to be used for her execution shattered, later she was beheaded. In the fourth stanza, " A kept promise, a ring of milk" (lines 15-16) relates to how she died believing she fulfilled her duty and kept her vow to God. The tone of this poem reeks of a religious feeling and no resentment in her death portraying her prevelant faith until her end.
I thought those last few lines in the poem were interesting too. However, it seemed to me almost as if she were feeding a baby. The last stanza says, "the nightshirt bunched above your waist-- a kept promise, a ring of milk." Since Catherine of Alexandria was a virgin, it seems that Rita Dove is comparing her to the virgin Mary who is the mother of Jesus.
DeleteThe poem titled “Sonnet in Primary Colors” is written about the life of a famous painter named Frida Kahlo. She uses metaphors and symbols to describe the pain and beauty of Frida Kahlo’s life. In the beginning of the poem Rita writes, “This is for the woman with one black wing perched over her eyes.” This is a metaphor referring to Frida Kahlo’s unibrow seen in her self-portraits. Her unibrow was something that made her unique, strong, and brave. The word “wing” also gives the reader a sense of flight and soaring, just like how Frida Kahlo soared very high in the world of art. Her brow also becomes important in the last line of the poem when Rita calls it, “her immutable brow.” The word immutable sets the tone of stability and unwavering strength. This demonstrates the emotional and physical strength Frida Kahlo had during her life. The line, “wildflowers entwining the plaster corset her spine resides in the romance of mirrors” refers to a terrible accident that Frida Kahlo was apart of that put her into a body cast (plaster corset). The word mirrors is also a metaphor for Kahlo’s self-portraits, which she made many of while she was recovering. Here, Rita Dove uses the word wildflowers as a symbol of Kahlo’s beauty despite the fact that she’s in a body cast. Wildflowers also symbolize a woman's independence, further promoting the idea of Frida Kahlo’s strength. Lastly, the most interesting part about the poem is that, while the title suggests that this is a sonnet, there are only thirteen lines in the poem. This is very symbolic of how Frida Kahlo may have felt as if she were always coming up short due to her physical limitations. Due to polio as a child, Frida Kahlo was left with a shorter and thinner right leg and was bullied incessantly. This also limited her movement and kept her from doing many things.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that the poem says it is in a sonnet, but it only has 13 lines. I like how you related it to Frieda Kahlos life and how she felt that she was coming up short due to her physical in-capabilities. I think the way you analyzed this poem is very unique because you used the layout of the poem and related it to the life of the person it was talking about.
DeleteI agree with natalie. I thought it was weird that there was only 13 lines when the title says Sonnet and it is set up in a square to give off the affect of a Sonnet. I also agree with what you said Kevin. The metaphor used about her unibrow, immediatly tells the reader who Dove is writing about. As long as there is prior knowledge on who Frida is. I never thought of the wing being a sense of flight. Great idea!!
DeleteIn Rita Dove's poem, Canary, she describes the life of Billie Holiday. After researching Billie Holiday, I found that she was an inspirational jazz singer in the 1900s. She died of substance abuse at the age of 44. I noticed how Dove used lots of light and dark imagery in this poem. I think she did this to show that Billie Holiday had so many accomplishments in her life, but she also had dark times with the abuse towards the end of her career. She shows this when she says ¨Billlie Holiday's burned voice had as many shadows as lights¨ (line 1-2). When I think of a shadow I think of something that hides behind light. Dove is probably trying to portray the idea of Billie hiding her addiction behind all of her fame and glory. She seems like this glorified person, but she has a lurking shadow behind her. In the 2nd part Dove talks more about her addiction by using diction that has a drug reference. For example words like: cook, spoon, needle and mirror. This part gives off a very depressed tone, especially when it says, ¨Take all day if you have to with your mirror and your bracelet of song¨ (lines 7-8). I interpreted this by inferring that Billie used drugs as a way to escape life. I think that she had a hard time handling fame, which is what we see in a lot of celebrities. Her dependency is started to increase and she is had to take more and more each day. The last sentence really stuck with me. ¨If you can't be free, be a mystery¨ (line 11). I think Dove is relating to all the pressure put on Billie and how she was so caught up in the world of fame. In a way she was trapped. She died right after giving her final performance in New York. No one was completely aware of how unstable she was at the time. She kept it a secret. Since Billie couldn't be free, she had to hide what was really going on in order to please others.
ReplyDeleteI really liked your view of how Billie Holiday fit in with the poem. I also saw Dove's use of light and dark imagery. I think the use of light and dark imagery symbolized the highs and lows of her career. The line "Billie Holiday's burned voice had as many shadows as lights" (line 1-2). stood out to me as well. Her burned voice resembles how her voice and performances were altered by the drugs she took. As you said she was very good at hiding it so by holding it in, her voice and throat burns. It pains her to keep her secret in. It's almost like self torture.
DeleteIn Rita Dove’s poem, Tou Wan Speaks to Her Husband, Dove occupies the voice of Tou Wan as the narrator. Tou Wan was the wife to the Prince of Zhongshan in China during the Western Han Dynasty. Dove uses powerful imagery in the poem to depict Tou Wan’s love for her husband. Dove writes “I will build you a house of limited chambers but it will last forever” (lines 1-4). Dove shows Wans love for her husband by comparing her love to a house she will build for him. Dove wants to instill in the reader that Wans love for her husband is forever, as she writes, and infinite. The poem explains how proud Wan is to express this much love to her husband. She finds such joy in giving her all to him. Later in the poem, Wan describes her husband as “my only conqueror” (line 6-7). The use of such powerful imagery and diction in the poem is very evident throughout. Wans description of her husband being her only conqueror suggests he has stolen her heart. She almost views herself as his property. While reading the poem I felt that Tou Wans love for her husband is not reciprocated to her. There is no mention of her husband besides how much she loves him. I thought of this after the tone of the poem changed after she writes “but you’re bored. Straight ahead then, the hall leading to you” (line 19-21). After these lines, the tone of the poem changes to a more saddened and empathetic tone.
ReplyDeleteLiu Sheng and Tou Wan were part of the Western Han Dynasty and were known for their elaborate tombs. In this poem I saw Tou Wan describing her husbands tomb, with the six chariots and the jade suits to encompass their "flesh soul", and the "breath soul" or spirituality has left their body. The tone I envisioned was stiff and unmoved, this is more because Liu Sheng was also known for being a "womenizer" this referring to the part: "And a statue of the palace girl you most frequently coveted". Although you saw this poem as displaying her deep love for her husband, I saw it as her more describing their complicated tombs.
DeleteThe first thing I noticed in the poem was the mention of Billie Holiday as the very first word in the poem which bears a lot of importance. As instructed, looked up some info on Billie Holiday and found out she was a singer-songwriter in the jazz era with Louis Armstrong. She was a powerful figure for women in this time period and as a black woman endured social torment and injustices through life and her career. When Dove describes Holiday’s voice as burned in the first line I interpret this as a sign of weariness worn out. This is supported by the last word in this first stanza, “ruined face”. However, there is a connotation of strong and passionate. Burned gives a hot tone which is brought back in the second line as “lights” and the third line as “candelabra”; both having a connection with heat and light in the poem which gives it power and also a strong base for the mood of the poem.
ReplyDeleteSomething else that stood out to me was how Dove put the second stanza in parenthesis. It makes is a side note and gives the reader the feeling of a conscience in life telling you what to do. In this stanza it jumps around on each line from different symbols and also has a bit of repetition. For example, “magic spoons, magic needle” uses repetition with the word magic and also references the traditional roles of a stereotypical housewife in the early 20th century; spoons refers to cooking and needle refers to sewing and repairing things.
Sorry this was supposed to be posted in group 3. Also this is on the poem "Canary"
DeleteI agree with you that when Dove uses the word "burned" to show weariness and how Billie Holiday was slowly becoming unstable. I also noticed that Dove uses a lot of light and dark imagery to represent Billies life and create a mood for the poem, which you mentioned. I interpreted the 2nd stanza different than you did. I saw the phrases "cooking, magic spoon, magic needle, mirror" as a reference to Billie Holidays drug abuse because they all relate to the drug she was addicted to, heroin.
DeleteThe poem Sonnet in primary colors by Rita Dove talks about Frida Kohlś life. The metaphor “One black wing perched over her eyes” (Dove 1) helped describe Kohl because of her unibrow. Frida gave a new meaning to what beauty was and Dove talks about that in her poem. She says “Lovely Frida” (2) when using her name to show Frida’s beauty. Dove talks about Frida’s poems as well and how they were like children. “And rose to her easel, the hundred dogs painting like children along the graveled walks of the garden” (10). Frida was a painter and she was seen as ugly, however she thought of herself as beautiful. I thought it was weird how Dove says it is a sonnet, however there are only 13 lines.
ReplyDeleteIn Belinda’s Petition, Dove capitalizes nouns in mid sentence to create a strong tone in the poem. The first thing I noticed when I read the poem was the use of nouns being randomly capitalized in the middle of a line. Dove writes “To the honorable Senate and House of Representatives of this Country” (line 1-2). The use of capitalizing nouns was to put specific emphasis on words in the poem. Words like Accusation, Ignorant, Existence and Banks were capitalized to show special meaning for Belinda. Banks emphasis was to show when she was captured near the banks of Rio de Valta in Ghana by white men. The capitalization also gave the line an angry and loud tone, almost like Belinda was exclaiming or yelling. The poem also uses words such as honorable, pitiable, and plead to give it a sarcastic tone. Belinda uses these words to mock the US government by seeming to act respectful and humble. As a slave, Belinda doesn't hold anything back. She says what she wants and is not afraid to speak her mind. Dove doesn’t want the reader to feel bad for Belinda. She should not be viewed with pity, but as a strong African American woman who knew what she wanted and said what she wanted and meant.
ReplyDeleteI like how you pointed out her strong, firm tone to represent her strong character, although she had been a slave for many years and had grown old and had been tortured like most slaves, was unable to work as much and, once freed, was left to fend for herself. This poem really displays her bitterness, so in petitioning for an annual pension to be paid to her, like you pointed out, was almost mocking and angry, she did not want to be pitied. This is shown when Dove writes: "but to plead and place my pitiable Life/ unto the Fathers of this Nation" (Lines 6-7). Again, Dove emphasizes words by capitalizing words in the middle of lines like "Life" to emphasize she has a life, she is human, and deserves rights. I completely agree that this is written in a sarcastic tone to display her bitterness and demand for what not only she wanted, but needed.
DeleteIn the poem called “Climbing In,” Rosa Parks uses an allusion to Red Riding Hood as well as fearful diction to show the level of fear african-americans had while riding a bus by creating an unnerving and fearful tone. The first reference to Red Riding Hood is seen in lines 9 through 11 when Rita Dove writes, “these are big teeth, teeth of the wolf under Grandmother’s cap.” In the folktale, “Red Riding Hood,” a wolf pretends to be a grandmother so he can eat a little girl. In this part of the poem, Rita Dove compares the bus driver to the wolf of Red Riding Hood which creates a tone of fear and uneasiness. The bus driver pretends to be nice and happy like an old grandmother, but if they make a wrong move, they will get gobbled up. This tone of uneasiness and fear of the bus driver continues in the next few lines when Rita Dove writes, “Pay him to keep him smiling.” (Line 13). Throughout the poem, Rita Dove uses fearful diction like “Teeth. Metallic. Lie-gapped. Not a friendly shine, like the dime cutting my palm as I clutch the silver pole to step up, up.” (Lines 1-7). The word teeth is associated with eating and death and when combined with the word metallic, it creates an uneasy fearful tone that symbolizes the fear african-americans had while riding those metallic busses. Other words like cutting and clutch create an unnerving tone of tenseness. Overall, the use of the well-known folktale Red Riding Hood and unnerving tone of fear really demonstrate the conditions that african-americans were put in while doing simple everyday tasks like riding a bus.
ReplyDeleteI really liked your connection between fearful diction in the poem about red riding hood to Rosa Parks experiences on the bus. The imagery of the wolfs teeth really stuck out to me as well. I viewed the description of metallic as Rosa Parks steel like beliefs. She was planted in the ground like a steel pole, unmoving.
DeleteWhen analyzing Rita Dove's poem, “Climbing in”, I noticed the allegory Dove used with mentioning the story of little red riding hood. The poem starts by saying one word, “teeth.” Starting a poem with one word is a very effective strategy because it catches the reader's attention. For me, I thought of the teeth as the bus door as an African American is staring at it from the outside. It also relates to the wolf's teeth in little red riding hood. Dove describes the bus as being metallic and having a not friendly shine. This gives the poem in unwelcoming tone. The next stanza is when they are entering the bus and holding the rail. Dove uses a nervous tone because it says “like the dime cutting my palm”(lines 4-5), which shows that the person is clutching their bus fare money very hard because they are nervous. The african american is portrayed as little red riding hood and she sees the bus as having big teeth like the wolf under grandmother's cap. When Dove says “pay him to keep to keep smiling”(line 13), I think she is referring to the harsh rules african americans must follow in order to please society. In the last stanza the lady is on the bus and Dove says “as the bright lady tumbles head over tail down the clinking gullet” (line 14-16). A gullet is the esophagus. This is referring to the part when the wolf swallows little red riding hood. I took this as the part when the bus doors close and the lady is trapped within this scary place. The bus is like society and how she is swallowed up by it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this to an extent. I did freedom ride for mine, which is about the freedom rides at the end of segregation and I think that the idea of the wolf as the bus is really interesting. However, I kind of see the wolf as society in general, rather than specifically busses.
DeleteI really liked your interpretation of Climbing In. For some reason I missed the meaning of the last line, but I really liked how Rita Dove ended the poem. The poem left me unsettled and the way you described it makes it all the more chilling. While I think that the poem used busses as an example, I also agree with Taylor that the poem was talking about society in general in addition to busses.
DeletePoem used: "Climbing In"
ReplyDeleteIn this poem Dove utilizes references to the Red Riding Hood story to portray how one may hide their hostility toward people behind fake smiles. In the poem, "Not a friendly smile" (Dove, line 3), relates to the bus driver who is paid to smile, paid to be kind to the customers, although because of the time era this takes place in, has a prejudice against black people; the narrator. This is also shown when Dove writes "Pay him to keep smiling," (Dove, line 13), to depict how his smile, although smiles are usually portrayed as happiness and kindness, but in this scenario is depicted as an evil, hating, grim grin, this shows the bus driver's hatred against black people and is only smiling because it is his job. Also this poem tends to have a metallic, cold tone to play out how the bus driver feels toward Narrator or Rosa Parks, as well as her feelings toward him and his treatment of her. Some examples of this is her use of metallic, silver, clinking gullet, all having a correlation to metal. The author employed these references to give the reader a feel for how people felt toward each other in this time, displaying the cold cruelty toward African-Americans. Also, the utilization of the childhood story: "Red Riding hood", is to show the irony that it is not anywhere like a light-hearted kid story just to teach children not to talk to strangers, but a deep dark truth of the popular prejudices in the Civil Rights Era.
I like how you talked about Dove's use of metallic diction. I think the point of this is to create a cold feeling like you said, as well as showing a tough side. The tough side of what prejudices were like in the civil rights era. I also really liked when you talked about the paid smile. A paid smile is fake and when its towards African Americans, often times back then it was fake. Great analyses!
DeleteIn Rita Dove’s poem Rosa, she is speaking about Rosa Parks. We know this from looking at the title and in the first stanza when Dove writes “How she sat there, the time rights inside a place so wrong it was ready.” (Dove 1). I found it very interesting that Dove wrote this poem with 4 stanzas with 3 lines in each one. I think she did this in order to create a mood of melancholy. Dove also wrote in the last stanza “How she stood up when they bent down to retrieve her purse. That courtesy.” (10). Dove wrote this poem to create a mood of peace. As Rosa Parks reaction when sitting on the front of the bus. In the third stanza, Dove talks about Rosa Parks being famous. “Carved by a camera flash.” (9). Dove wrote this poem in order to acknowledge Rosa Parks and what she did for African Americans. Especially since she is a woman, talking about Parks gave power to women. A remembrance to the women who also, have helped end segregation.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you when you said that Dove was trying to create a mood of peace.I noticed this throughout the poem as she was trying to show Rosa's life. Another thing I noticed was that she uses controversial phrases such as in the first stanza she says "How she sat there, the time right inside a place so wrong it was ready" (Dove 1-3). This relates to the saying "so wrong it was right". Dove also says "Doing nothing was the doing" (Dove 7). I found this interesting throughout the poem and it really showed the reader that Rosa stood up for what she believed in despite what other people thought.
DeleteIn Rita Dove’s poem Parsley, she speaks on the topic of Haitian slaves. A main character in the poem is el general, which translated to english is the general. In the second section of the poem, it is focused solely on the general. Dove uses harsh diction to express his grief. In the poem the general is getting over the recent death of his mother. Dove writes “how she died in the fall and he planted her walking cane at the grave and it flowered” (4-6). This line shows the generals love for his dead mother. Her walking cane gives the reader the idea that the general's mother was elderly but passed quite suddenly. The flowering of her grave is connected to the parsley green parrot in the poem, which represents peace and spring. The flowering of her grave shows how his mother is at peace. Dove later writes through the perspective of the general, “Who can I kill today” (12). This short line holds a lot of power. It shows how much hatred and cruelty the general has in his heart in the aftermath of losing his mother. The general wants revenge for his mother's death and does not care who pays for it. To many of us our mother can be a guide and friend to us in the world. Since the general has lost his mother he has neither of those things. He is a man lost in the world with a heart full of hatred.
ReplyDeleteI also noticed the generals hate throughout the poem. One line I really saw it in was when Dove says "God knows his mother could roll an R like a queen. even a parrot could roll an R" (lines 39-41). He is saying this because Haitians can't roll their R's. I found it interesting that the general is using his mothers death as a motive to kill thousands of innocent people. I agree with you that a mother is known to be a guide in the world and without her, he has lost his way.
DeleteI liked how you pointed out Dove's use of a shift in point of view, not many people look at the massacre from the general's point of view, only from the view of the Haitians who were fearing for their lives and how the Dictator cruelly killed them. In the second part of this poem, it showed the general's point of view, showing his hatred, his anger. I agree that he has lost his path when he lost his mother.
DeleteIn Rita Dove's poem, Parsley (The cane fields), a dark tone is created throughout the poem. The poem is based off of the Haitian massacre that occurred in 1937. It was named the Parsley Massacre because Dominican soldiers would carry a sprig of parsley and would ask people suspected of being haitian to pronounce the spanish word “perejil”. If you couldn't say it you were killed. Most couldn't do this because they couldn't roll their R’s. This is represented throughout the poem. In lines 3-4 Dove says “Out of the swamp the cane appears to haunt us, and we cut it down.” I interpreted this as the cane sort of representing the dictator at the time coming for the Haitians. The haitians are hiding from him and having nightmares about him. The line “out of the swamp the cane appears” is repeated throughout the poem. I noticed how Dove used harsh diction throughout her writing for example words like screaming, punches, lashed, etc. These words help the reader see how horrible these 5 years were. Dove says in the 2nd stanza, “El General searches for a word; he is all the world there is” (line 4-6). This poem is narrated by the haitians and in this part “el general” is referring to the Dominican president, Rafael Trujillo. He is looking for the word he is going to make the people say. In the 5th stanza he has found the word. Dove says “Who says it, lives. He laughs, teeth shining out of the swamp” (line 18). Dove writes in the present, which helps the reader almost picture Trujillo finding joy in killing all these people. We can picture him coming out of the “swamp” smiling. Dove repeats throughout her poem “the parrot imitating spring”. It was hard to interpret what that meant, but I did find that Trujillo did own a parrot.
ReplyDeleteI really liked your connection between the Haitian massacre and the poem. I also saw Dove's harsh diction used throughout the poem as well. I saw a connection to the line "out of the swamp the cane appeared" with color imagery. The swamp and cane give me a gross, greenish feel which can be attributed to how the Haitians felt during the Haitian Massacre. They were constantly in fear of their lives, while also trying to work hard.
ReplyDeleteI like how Jared connected the color imagery of how the Haitian people would feel. It is a super sad story and the way Dove wrote it brought this to life. I also found it interesting about the parrot. It makes me interested in wondering what significance this parrot had to Trujillo. Dove used repetition so much that there must be some significance to the story of the Haitian people.
DeleteIn the excerpt from The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticat, they are speaking of the Haitian people. How they were murdered and brutally tormented with perejil. I noticed that there was a lot of spanish words in this poem. This was important because that was the language of the people then and bringing that into the poem, brings out the culture. They talk about how strong these people were in the middle of the poem. “Yves chewed with all of the strength in his bulging Jaws.” (Danticat 14) and following this the writer writes “At least they were not beating us, I thought.” (15). When reading, The Farming of Bones the tone feels powerful. Reading about this story without the poem, would make you feel sad for these people and want to help them. But when you read this poem, it feels powerful. It makes the reader think that the Haitian people did not go down without a fight. The second part of the poem talks about parsley being used for everyday life. “We used parsley for our food, our teas, our baths, to cleanse our insides as well as our outsides” (36). Parsley is used for good and yet it is being used for the bad here. I found it interesting that the writer wrote “... to cleanse our insides as well as our insides” (36). And these soldiers were shoving parsley into the Haitian people’s mouths, as if they were cleansing them.
ReplyDeletePoem used: Parsley
ReplyDeleteRita Dove wrote this poem relating to the Haitian Massacre in 1937 where between 9,000 and 20,000 were killed. At this time, many Haitians, in order to find work as a cane field laborer, would cross the border in to the Dominican republic controlled by the Dominican Dictator Rafael Trujillo, the Dominicans had a deep hatred for the Haitians. The Dominican soldiers would carry around a sprig of parsley, and if one was suspected of being Haitian, they would ask the person to say "perejil", the spanish word for parsley. The people whom had the first language of Haitian Creole had trouble pronouncing the word, this would cost them their life. This is shown in the repetition of the line "there is a parrot imitating spring", this is not only to portray how parrots repeat lines, but also, the Haitians felt like hunted parrots, having to continually pronounce one word, but this word could save their life. Throughout this poem, Dove constantly references teeth, specifically that they are gnawed to arrowheads, this is to portray their sharp teeth referring to their evil ways like monsters. The poem has a dark, fearing, paranoid tone, to display how in this bloody massacre, how the Haitians felt, hunted, running for their lives; in constant fear.
In Rita Dove’s poem Fox, it is all about the “She” (Dove 1-15). Dove made this poem to give a feminist feel. When reading Fox, there is a strong, proud, and independent feel to it. There is also a lot of repetition and feminine diction. Dove repeats the words “She” and “Imagine”(10) and lots of “A” words like “Anyone, any, and anything”. She does this to emphasize the woman in the story, when talking about she. Dove also repeats many “A words” to show how anything is possible for woman and create a tone throughout the entire story, of independence and make that a repetitive concept. Also, at the end of the first stanza Dove uses a sarcastic tone as to mock the social normalities. “She loved what she was, there for the taking, imagine.” (7-10). You can hear the sarcastic tone when reading it because of the comma at the end of “taking” (9) It is as if, imagine that! A woman is content on her own and loves herself, without any man. Which a lot of times in society, a woman is meant to compliment the man. While this idea of woman being individuals and not needing a man has changed, it is still a normality for some. Following this, the title Fox has great significance to the overall poem. A fox is seen as stealthy,cunning, or sly. Which can represent women. However, following this there is also the lady way of looking at the word fox. Fox can be seen as a beautiful woman. Overall, Dove wrote this poem to show how powerful woman are and the way society sees women, is nothing like a woman sees herself.
ReplyDeleteI thought your analysis of this poem was really good and interesting. When I first read Fox I hadn't given too much thought to what the title meant and I really liked how you explained how it could be referring to a woman. I also liked how you emphasized that this poem was showing the difference in how a woman sees herself versus how society sees her. The only thing i'm wondering about is why would Dove include a poem like this in her American Smooth collection? All the rest of the poems in American Smooth have to do with music and/or dance so how does this one relate to that?
DeleteFrom the American Smooth poems, by Rita Dove, I decided to talk about “Fox Trot Fridays”. In this poem Dove creates a relaxing, yet upbeat feel, in order to help the reader understand this important dance of the early 1900s. By just looking at the title you can see that this dance was done on Fridays. In the first two stanzas Dove says “Thank the stars there's a day each week to tuck in the grief, lift your pearls and stride brush stride…” (lines 1-4). Dove is telling the reader how important friday is for the people dancing. It is a time for them to relax and forget about all the stress in their lives. For most of us, Friday is the day we all wait for because there is a huge burden lifted off our shoulders after a long week. In the third stanza, Dove uses one syllable words such as “quick-quick, heel-ball-toe” which adds to the musical rhythmic tone. She also does this in the 7th stanza when she says “rib to rib”. These short assonance sounds and the repetition makes the poem have a “fast pace”, just the the fox trot dance. Dove uses short couplets to create this poem. I really enjoyed this structure of poetry because it kept me engaged and I could easily see how it related to the fox trot. Dove also uses an alliteration, in the 4th stanza, when she says “slow satin smile”. I thought of slow as not the pace of the dance, but the idea of people slowing down their lives and dancing away their worries. I thought of satin as the material of the dresses that the girls wore while dancing. Finally, for smile, it was to portray that this dance brought joy to people. In the 6th and 7th stanza, Dove describes the dance more in detail. She says “one man one women” (lines 11-12), to show that this dance was done with 2 people. Then Dove says, “rib to rib” (line 13), because the 2 people danced very close. In the last stanza and final line Dove uses dream like diction when she says “sweep of paradise” and “space of a song”. She is trying to show the reader that this dance was almost therapeutic for people.
ReplyDeleteI also saw the importance of Friday in the poem most notably in the title and first line. I saw this as Dove alluding to Fridays being the day where she can escape her grief with Fred. I can relate to Dove's actions because when I am frustrated or upset I turn to being active or basketball to take my mind of it.
DeleteIn Rita Dove’s poem Fox Trot Fridays, Dove uses allusion to help the reader understand the feeling of ballroom dancing. In the late 1990’s Rita Dove and her husband's house burned down along with hundreds of their manuscripts. Imagine the anger and grief you would have if years of your art that you created burned away to nothing in one night. To ease the pain both Rita and Fred took up ballroom dancing. They both fell in love with it and continue to partake in it. Dove wrote Fox Trot Fridays to express how ballroom dancing helped her get over her lost art. Dove writes “Thank the stars there’s a day each week to tuck in the grief” (1-2). This is an allusion to the title and the day of the week she would go ballroom dancing, Fridays. The second part of the line is an allusion to getting rid of her grief by dancing. Many of us use something to cover up a certain part of our lives. For Dove it was ballroom dancing with her husband. Another part of the poem where I saw allusion was in “Nat King Cole’s slow satin smile” (7-8). Nat King Cole was a famous jazz singer in the 50’s and 60’s. He was known for his warm, kind, and smooth smile. Dove alludes Nat King Cole’s smile to the smooth, rhythmic movements of ballroom dancing.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading Rita Dove's poem, “The House Slave”, I noticed an anxious and hopeless tone throughout the poem. I think that the poem is trying to compare being a house slave to being a field slave through a child's point of view. The poem is formatted in 5 tercets that describe a normal morning for a slave and what the narrator sees. In the first stanza Dove says, “The first horn lifts its arm over the dew-lit grass and in the slave quarters there is rustling” (line 1-2) Dove uses personification here when she says that the horn lifts its arm. I think she uses personification here to portray to the reader that this alarm in the morning was very powerful and in a way it controlled the slaves. It was what woke them up so that they could start their day in the fields. There is a tone of hopelessness and sadness in this poem. This is shown in the 2nd stanza when Dove says “I watch them driven into the vague before dawn” (line 5) and “I cannot fall asleep again” (line 8). You can tell that this kid watches this happen day after day and there is nothing he can do about it. In the 3rd stanza Dove describes what happens when the second horn rings. Doves says “the whip curls across the backs of the laggards” (line 8-9). The harsh diction that is used- “whip, curl, cries, shivering”- all helps create a hopeless tone. We can picture what this kid is going through especially when he sees his own sister among them. In the last stanza Dove compares the slaves to “bees”. The smile, “they spill out like bees among the fat flowers” (line 14), adds to the whole idea that slaves weren't treated as individuals they were looked at as objects or only workers. This poem can tell us a lot about the lives of house slaves versus field slaves. For one they are held to high expectations and were expected to wake up at way earlier times before the “massa”. We can see the torture they were put through and how that was seen through a child's eyes. This poem is very depressing because the child sees all of this but is hopeless and can't help.
ReplyDeleteI also saw the comparison trying to be made between being a house slave and a slave in the fields. Being a house slave was considered a privilege because they were not working in the harsh labor conditions, and were always around the proper white people, reaping the benefits of that such as eating better food and having a better place to sleep. I saw Dove trying to potray this as much as possible throughout the poem.
DeleteI agree with Jared when he talks about seeing the comparison of the two different types of slaves. I really like how you said it was in a child's point of view because I never saw it that way. At first I thought of it as a siblings point of view. An older sister and her younger sister. Specifically when Dove writes "Sometimes my sister's voice, unmistaken" (10). It gave the effect of looking down on her sister and wishing she could protect her. Really great analysis, especially your ending when talking about a child who sees all of this but is helpless.
DeleteIn Rita Dove’s poem The Abduction, Dove tells the story of Solomon Northrup, a free black man who was captured and turned into a slave. In the time of slavery it was very common for white slave catchers to capture free African Americans and claim them as slaves. Dove expresses this by writing through Northrup’s perspective, “Solomon Northrup form Saratoga Springs, free papers in my pocket, violin under arm” (3-5). Dove talks about Northrup's attitude while walking through the streets a free man, and how that can change so quickly. One of the first things I noticed when I read this poem was the structure of the stanzas. The first stanza has five lines and every stanza after that loses one line so that the last stanza is only one line. The structure of the poem resembles Northrup losing hope through the poem and as he is a slave. The first two stanzas talk about Northrup’s life as a free man as Dove writes, “Why should i have doubted them? The wages were good” (6). Dove emphasises his life as a free man to capture his sorrow and anger when he is captured and made a slave. The third and fourth stanzas show Northrup’s ride over from Africa when Dove writes, “I remember how the windows rattled with each report” (10). Dove talks about his journey to America using very distinct imagery of the boat. The reflection of his time on the boat shows how Northrup is thinking back to when he was free, although there were hardships, they were not as bad as becoming a slave. The final stanza or line is Northrup’s final realization of being back in chains and being a slave.
ReplyDeleteI like how you addressed the unique structure of the poem and Dove's use to portray the lonely, betrayed feeling of being a slave. I agree that this poem served to show Solomon Northrup's journey and his dream of being back home, free and lively, surrounded with family, where when he awake, he notices that he is still completely alone, in chains. Rita Dove finishes this poem with one line to truly emphasize this line and create a deep impact on the reader to depict the feeling of being abducted and forced to become a slave; lonely and tortured.
DeleteI liked your interpretation of the dwindling number of lines in each stanza. I had a slightly different interpretation, but your version makes sense. Rita Dove probably meant for there to be more than one meaning. Your version also makes sense since it follows the overall direction of the poem and how Solomon is slowly losing hope and losing his freedom. The lines in each stanza reinforce this loss of hope and freedom.
DeleteRita Dove’s poem, “The Abduction,” is about an African-American named Solomon Northrup who got kidnapped from the north and sent to the south where he was a slave for twelve years (The movie “Twelve Years a Slave,” is based of his memoirs). As the poem goes on, each sequential stanza loses a line. The first one has five lines, the second one has four lines, and so on. Rita Dove uses this structure to give a visual of moving farther and farther away from something. This is just like when someone is on a ship or any other vehicle and as they move farther and farther away, the objects behind them get smaller and smaller until they cannot see them anymore. This is what Solomon would have felt like as he was taken further and further away from his home. Secondly, in lines seven through nine, Rita Dove uses circus imagery to create a tone of deception. Words like, “Tent flap,” “jig on a tightrope,” and “bleachers,” are all related to circuses. Circuses are known for their magic and how their tricks can deceive the eye. This shows how the two men Hamilton and Brown were playing Solomon all along. Also, in line nine, Rita Dove writes, “pigs squealed invisibly from the bleachers and I fiddled.” Pigs in judeo-christian tradition are often connected with the devil and seen as a symbol of greed. This represents Hamilton and Brown perfectly as they are committing a devilish act and they are doing it out of their own greed. The fact that the pigs are invisible also play on the fact that Solomon is just being fooled into believing he is doing something, but really he is just falling into the hands of the bad men.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting how you compared the sequential stanza as a visual of moving farther and farther away from something.I agreed with this idea because Solomon was moving farther and farther away from his home since he was kidnapped. when I first read this poem I didn't think much of the quote about the pigs squealing. Now that you mentioned pigs connected with the devil and greed I completely agree.
DeleteWhen I first read through this poem I knew I recognized the name Solomon Northrup but I couldn't remember where i'd heard it until I saw what you wrote. I really liked how you explained the circus diction and the symbolism of the pigs compared to Hamilton and Brown, I had't really thought of the pigs representing them. I also liked how you compared the stanzas reducing in number of lines each time to getting further away from something.
DeletePoem used: Belinda's Petition
ReplyDeleteIn this poem, Rita Dove employs historical allusions, capitalized words mid sentence, and simile to relate to Belinda's petition on May 29, 1783 discussing the inhuman treatment of slaves and her right to freedom. In Belinda's Petition, Belinda is a slave from Massachusetts who was kidnapped at the age of twelve: "I received Existence on the Banks/ I have known of Men with Faces like the Moon,? who would ride toward me steadily for twelve years" (lines 14; 18-19). Later in Belinda's life, her previous master wrote in his will that his slave Belinda would be granted freedom. In her petition, Belinda points out the inhuman treatment of her and fellow slaves, it was as if she did not truly exist as a person; a human being. Belinda addresses the unrighteous,cruel attitude given to them by the white people and how she felt she had not rights. Dove portrays this when she writes "I would hope/ you would consider the Same for me" (lines 9-10), Dove capitalizes the word same to emphasize the importance for equality. Through this poem, Rita Dove relates this to Belinda's actual petition and her point to show the cruel treatment toward slaves and her petition for freedom.
I like your attention to the capitalized words, there is definitely a deep meaning behind that and i like your interpretation of it. You did a good job connecting the poem to the real petition and how closely they relate. What else do your think was Doves goal in writing this poem? What do you think about the tone or the mood of the poem and what Dove is trying to get at with that?
DeleteIn Rita Dove’s poem The House Slave I noticed that every stanza is in 3 lines. When starting her poem she writes “The first horn” (Dove 1) to show that it is time for the slaves to wake up. It then proceeds to talk about children getting ready to cook in their aprons and corn bread and water being grabbed and all of the things they have to do before it is dawn. This imagery was meant to give the reader a greater understanding of everything the slaves have to do in the morning, specifically the house slaves. Dove then compares the mistress to an ivory toothpick. “While their mistress sleeps like an ivory toothpick” (6). Meaning the mistress or house owner is white, flat, and hard. When the second horn goes off, it is meant that the slaves need to be prepared and working, which if they are not then they will be whipped. “At the second horn, the whip curls across the backs of the laggards-” (8-9) Laggard meaning a person who slacks or is behind others. The persona of the story talks about her sister and her sister being whipped. It gives the story a mourningful and cringe worthy feeling when the sister is crying out “Oh! Pray!” (11). Finally in the last stanza Dove writes “...the fields unfold to whiteness, and they spill like bees among the fat flowers” (13-14) Talking about the slaves picking cotton and wprking like bees in the flowers. The overall poem gives off a tone of sorrow and helplessness for the slaves, focusing in a lot, on the house slaves. Hence the title.
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