In the poem "Used" by Rita Dove, the premise of this poem is the unfiltered repugnance and high expectations placed upon women in modern society. Lines in the poem including "size threes are all the rage" and "every man-child's preadolescent dream" help to support this. When I read the line about the Tabula rasa, the Latin words for 'blank slate', I was confused. What did this have to do with the skinny-girl image? Is Dove applying this to the man-children? Or is she trying to reference how no one is a blank slate anymore, even if they are young and immature? In the second stanza of the poem, the women’s navels, or belly buttons, are "sunk in grief when the last child emptied us of their brief interior light". I believe what Dove is referring to is the loss of innocence of young girls after entering the real world and being exposed to the harsh realities of life. These grown women have experienced being young and immature and ignorant, so their perspective on the world changed as they grew older. They sympathize with the young girls, whose "interior light" is slowly fading. Interior light is, of course, a symbol for innocence and pureness. The older women thrive off of these girls, and live vicariously through them until the light slowly begins to fade, and then the girl is one of them. She is no longer a girl; she is a woman. Then, this newly born ‘women’ is thrown into the roller coaster of life, and is told she must purchase silk sheets from a Macy’s clerk. The silk sheets are in reference to living lavishly and luxuriously, and when these women “couldn’t hang on, slipped to the floor and by morning the quilts had slid off, too”, they struggle to control the aspects in their lives dictated by society. Women aren’t granted silk sheets for bearing children, as in reference to their postnatal dread, they earn silk sheets for wearing “skirts ballooning above twinkling ankles”.
The poem “Wiederkehr” by Rita Dove in her motherly love collection jumped out at me first, purely because of the interesting name. Upon looking the name up I have found that this word is German for Return or Recurrence. This poem could be titled that because the last line “When the choice appeared, I reached for it” is about Persephone leaving the Underworld and returning to her mother Demeanor. Other than the interesting name, Dove’s use of imagery in lines eight-ten about the rain show just how Hades viewed Persephone. Rain can mean sadness and cleansing. Rain is used because it represents Persephone’s sadness about being trapped with Hades and Hades true purpose of her which is just as a cleanser. Persephone then realizes that Hades doesn’t actually love her. “He never asked if I would stay” despite the seemingly impossible task she attempted for him “He merely hoped, in darkness, to smell rain and though he saw how still I sat to hold the rain untouched inside me, he never asked if I would stay”. Obviously, no one was trying to smell rain but Dove uses this to show that even when Persephone tried her hardest to please him by sitting still for the rain, he never even showed he loved her. Just that he wanted to use her for his own good.
I totally agree with your analysis of "Wierderkehr" and how it relates to the myth of Persephone and Demter. I thought the rain symbolism was very crucial for the meaning of this poem as well. Something to adds on to your part about how it means sadness is when the speaker uses untouched to describe the rain. I think that shows how Persephone hasn't emotionally reached her true feelings due to Hades manipulation.
The poem The Narcissus Flower written by Rita Dove tells the Greek Myth of Persephone and Hades. In this myth, Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, is walking along and bends over to pick a flower. This flower just so happens to be Narcissus who was turned into a flower after staring at his own reflection for so long that he starved to death. As Persephone bends to p0ick this beautiful flower, the depths of hell are opened underneath her and she is dragged down to hell by Hades. Hades then makes her his queen and she is trapped in the underworld for six months of each year. Dove begins the poem with the stanza “I remember my foot in its frivolous slipper, a frightened bird... not the earth unzipped”. The first phrase of this stanza “I remember my foot in a frivolous slipper” is used to explain the portion of the myth in which Persephone is looking back on her past life as a mortal walking upon the earth. The second phrase of the stanza “a frightened bird . . . not the earth unzipped” explains that Persephone became “frightened like a bird” when the depths of hell opened up underneath her feet. This is because Hades intended to find a wife among the mortal world and chose Persephone as the one to be dragged into the underworld. In the second stanza Dove writes “but the way I could see my own fingers and hear myself scream as the blossom incinerated.” This is written in the context of Persephone walking and then bending down to pick a flower, this flower being Narcissus. In this stanza Dove explains that Persephone can see her fingers and underneath them the fiery depths of hell open up causing her to scream and incinerating the flower that she had bent down to pick. The third stanza is written, “And though nothing could chasten the plunge, this man adamant as a knife easing into” this phrase was not complete to express the unconsented decision of Hades as he pulls her into the underworld. This stanza explains that nothing could stop Hades from dragging Persephone into the underworld because he was adamant in his decision. The next stanza reads “the humblest crevice , I found myself at the center of a calm so pure, it was hate.” The phrase “a calm so pure it was hate” is an example of juxtaposition. Dove uses Juxtaposition to show that although Hades intentions were only to find himself a wife and have her as his queen allowing her a calm and plentiful life, this only brought Persephone hatred as this was not the life she had chosen. The next stanza reads “The mystery is, you can eat fear before fear eats you,” Dove uses the word mystery to explain that although it took Persephone a while to understand this idea, you can choose to not be afraid rather than to let fear consume your life. Persephone learns this lesson because at first she is afraid of Hades and slowly learns that she will be his queen for six months of every year and being scared of him will not change that. The last stanza of the poem reads “you can live beyond dying--- and become a queen whom nothing surprises.” This final stanza signifies the loss of Persephone’s ability to be amused. Dove uses this stanza to express that although Persephone lived beyond the afterlife, lived in the underworld, that she is now a queen whom will never be satisfied with her life because it was not the life she had chosen.
The poem “Breakfast of Champions” alludes back to the Greek mythology of Persephone and Demeter. “A little dust on the laurel branch” is what the poem says in line 4. Laurel branches were used for crowns of the gods in Greek mythology which ties back to Demeter. In the poem, Demeter is trying to accept her daughter’s fate by “diving into a grateful martini” (5) in a place “fit for mourning” (3). Losing a daughter would be like the world splitting in two and one can only imagine how Demeter must feel. Demeter is in a desperate state, trying to hide in drinks where she can escape her terrible reality. This poem greatly gives the reader a sense of how Demeter is feeling going through this. Reading the poem, one almost feels woozy. The thought of being small enough to dive into your own martini glass greeting you with open arms, peering at the floating olive with eyes fixed on you gives a feeling of stupefied or being tipsy, like Demeter as she drinks. The tone of the passage is woe which can be seen with the imagery. The cloudy skies finally fit Demeter’s mood after searching through sunlight and flowers. The sunlight and flower petals represent happiness and liveliness which Demeter worked her way to get out of to find overcast weather. Demeter isn’t happy so she doesn’t want to be in the sun, she’s grieving and the cloud filled skies match her mood.
I totally agree with your analysis of Rita Dove's "Breakfast of Champions." I loved how you used the word woozy when describing how readers feel when they read it, I totally relate to that. The line, "Diving into a grateful martini," I think was a very thoughtful choice for your analysis. I totally see how it can relate to Demeter's motherly mourning and her desire to escape those thoughts.
As I started reading these collections of sonnets, i realized that they were all about Greek mythology; more specifically, the story of Persephone and Demeter, so I started to research their story a bit. Initially however, Heros meant a very different thing to me. Instead of seeing the poppy in the weedy field as an allusion to Persephone being trapped in hell, I simply saw it as misunderstood hope that was being ‘taken away‘ to save it’s glory and to make it true again, and the woman as society and not as Demetre being distraught over her lost child. The “juicy spot” only made sense to me after researching their story as a reference to the pomegranate seeds persephone ate. The white bolder made me think of how a mother is hit with grief of something pure, my mind went to how a mother becomes grief-stricken as her son goes to war, yet instead is likely refers to how Demeter’s head becomes overruled by destroying the world with winter.I believe this poem is told in the eyes of a mortal hades because he questions himself, and hates himself for picking that flower. Hades is the god of the underworld and has no remorse so it's relating his actions to the action of regular people.
When reading “Sonnet in Primary Colors,” by Rita Dove, something that stood out to me was the use of alliteration and how it relates to the overall theme. “Sonnet in Primary Colors” is based off of the famous mexican painter by the name of Kahlo. The speaker uses deep imagery and alliteration to describe how unique Frida was. The first prominent alliteration that stood out to me was in line three and four and it reads, “Erect among parrots, in the stern petticoats of the peasant, who painted herself a flower.” The repetition of the “p” sounds adds a flowing tone to the the lines of pure admiration of Frida. The line “erect among parrots,” sets the tone for the “p” sound as the alliteration continues. The speaker is highlighting how uniquely Frida stood out. The “p” sound is used to describe the culture she set herself apart in, like in the words peasant, petticoats, and painted. Another example of alliteration that the speaker uses is in the lines seven and eight. It reads, “Each night she lay down in pain and rose to her celluloid butterflies of her Beloved Dead.” This is explaining the pain Frida experienced due to her interesting relationship with Diego. The use of the ‘l” sound creates a soft tone to describe Frida. This highlights how special she was from the persona’s point of view. The use of alliteration was very crucial for this poem to explain how the persona views Frida and her traits.
The poem, “Catherine of Alexandria” by Rita Dove is a 2nd person point of view poem giving the reader a small glimpse into the beliefs of a Christian virgin, and later a martyr, living in the early 4th century. Despite the religious background surrounding Catherine, Dove’s poem is anything but holy. The tone of the poem leaves the reader feeling somewhat uncomfortable in the second stanza of the poem, which reads, “...and what went on each night was fit for nobody’s ears…”. This obviously implies sexual relations in some way, but the first line of the next stanza reads, “...but Jesus’”. Catherine of Alexandria was born a princess in the 4th century, and is well known for being born a Christian and converting hundreds of people to Christianity. She is even revered as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers in the Catholic Church. This woman was so devoted to her religion that she remained a virgin until she was 18, at which age she was martyred by a Pagan Emperor, Maxentius. Catherine was so trapped in her life as a princess, as evident in the first stanza “Deprived of learning and the chance to travel, no wonder sainthood came as a voice in your bed-”, that the only escape she had was Christianity. She found that the one man she could give herself to was Jesus, and whether or not she was making love to a man whom she pretended to be Jesus, or she was having sexual relations with a man of the church is not clear in this poem. In the line, “Each morning the nightshirt bunched above your waist- a kept promise, a ring of milk”, suggests that Catherine may have offered herself to Jesus every night, and “a ring of milk” may refer to breast milk. This poem is an unsettling combination of religion and sex that is not often made in everyday life, let alone poetry, and though Catherine consecrated her virginity to Jesus, her devotion was not enough to prevent her from being beheaded.
I wrote half of my blog on the same poem as you: Catherine of Alexandria. I agree with how it discusses the sexual themes of religion, but I saw it more as it showing how sex is taboo and not accepted, and it was almost this Catherine’s way of rebelling. I saw it as being connected to the poem directly before it “Catherine of Siena” because in that poem it is discussing someone that is enveloped in religion. I did not know that Catherine of Alexandria was based off of a real person, so that was quite interesting and made me reconsider a few of the things I blogged about already.
In Dove’s poem “Catherine of Siena”, the speaker explores themes of religion and determination toward it. Siena is a city in Italy, and the first line of the poem is “You walked the length of Italy to find someone to talk to”. This is an excellent use of metaphor to show the determination, of course because walking a whole country is an exaggeration. Someone’s faith is extremely important to them and this poem demonstrates it with the use of imagery throughout its entirety. “You prayed until tears streaked the sky” is interpreted as someone giving their whole being to the religion and spending all the time possible with it. Not only is it a powerful statement about someone’s faith, but it is written in second-person narrative to give a chilling tone. When reading this, I feel as if it were written to me, rather than just something I am reading for fun. I see this poem as a connection to “Catherine of Alexandria”. In Catherine of Alexandria, it caused me to feel like Catherine of Sienna wasn’t meant to be full of hope and wonder, when in fact it was meant to feel like this “Catherine” character is being deprived of knowledge. She is so stuck on her faith that she doesn’t know how to actually live without Jesus or whoever else this is referring. “Deprived of learning and a chance to travel” could be referring to how sheltered Catherine really is. Sure, she may have “walked the length of Italy” but she was so fixed on one thing--faith that is, to even learn and see the world. Catherine of Alexandria seems to explore sexuality and how taboo it is in some religions. “In your bed and what went on each night was fit for nobody’s ears but Jesus’”. I see this as speaking of sex, and how no one should know of it, but Jesus is always watching. The first line of the poem being about deprivation of knowledge, no wonder this “Catherine” character wants to rebel, wants to do something other than religion.
I think that it was written in second person to give a chilling tone as well. But i think more importantly it was written in second person to demonstrate the subjectivity of religion and the emptiness it can bring. When first exploring religion the ideas of your life already having a set course, or the possible lack of an almighty power, or that said almighty power allows so much pain to happen can make one feel insignificant and empty and oi think this is a big reason behind the use of second person as well. Especially giving the tone of the poem.
“Nestor’s Bathtub” is a poem by Rita Dove being used to explain history’s heavy focus upon the males involved in the story rather than the females. The title of this poem “Nestor’s Bathtub” gives the impression that this bathtub is solely Nestor’s and not belonging to or cared for by his wife either Eurydice or Anaxibia. Nestor was the King of Pylos, having become king after all his brothers were slain by Hercules. In Dove’s first stanza it reads “As Usual, legend got it wrong: Nestor’s wife was the one to crouch under jug upon jug of fragrant water poured until the small room steamed.” Dove begins with “As usual, legend got it wrong: Nestor’s wife was the one” Dove uses this statement to represent how history tends to focus on the impacts and work of the men throughout history but in this legend it was truly his wife who should be recognized. She goes on the write “to crouch under jug upon jug of fragrant water poured until the small room steamed” in this passage Dove is explaining that Nestor’s wife would work to give him extravagant showers using jugs and jugs of fragrant water to bathe him until the room was steaming. Dove goes on to write, “But where was Nestor-- on his throne before the hearth, Counting the jars of oil In storeroom 34, or at the Trojan wars while his wife with her white hands scraped the dirt from a lover’s back with a bronze scalpel?” Dove begins with a rhetorical question, then answering that Nestor spends his time at home focusing on the material wealth that he has acquired, and majority of his time is actually spent off at war against the Trojans. She then goes on to describe his wife’s hands as being “white” to symbolize purity and cleanliness as she cleans “a lover’s”, Nestor’s, back with a bronze scalpel. The bronze scalpel is used to explain that she takes care of him and cleans him with precision and excellent care, it is bronze to represent that she puts their wealth to good use and makes sure to use it for him. Dove continues, “Legend, as usual, doesn’t say. But this heap of limestone blocks--look how they fell, blasted by the force of olive oil exploding in the pot, look at the pattern left in stucco from the wooden columns, sixty flutings, look at the shards scattered in the hall where jars spilled from the second floor oil spreading in flames to the lady’s throne” Rita Dove uses this visual imagery to explain how a their house caught on fire. The fire was started by oil and because the oil spilled, spread throughout the rest of the house, destroying it. This passage is taken from the perspective of Nestor’s wife examining the remains of “the lady’s throne”, her throne, the one place that she felt needed and wanted in order to please her husband. Dove begins this passage by mocking legend for thinking of this event as insignificant using “legend, as usual, doesn’t say”. Dove mocks this because she realizes that that house was the life's work of Nestor’s wife and when it was destroyed it was as if her purpose had been destroyed along with it. Dove’s final stanza is written, “For the sake of legend only the tub stands, tiny and voluptuous as a gravy dish. And the blackened remains of ivory combs and 2,853 tall stemmed drinking cups in the pantry-- these, too, survived when the clay pots screamed and stones sprang in their sockets and the olive trees grew into the hill”
Dove uses repetition to again begin talking about legend, but this time saying something in it’s favor. Dove is saying that the end of this story supports legend as the focus ends up remaining again on the male. When Dove says “for the sake of legend only the tub stands” she says ironically after everything the wife had as her own in the house is destroyed, the one thing left standing was the place she used to bring pleasure to him in the beginning. She then finds small remnants of insignificant parts of the home she once had and loved. The poem is then ended with “when the clay pots screamed and the stones sprang in their sockets and the olive trees grew into the hill” Dove reiterates what has just been explained through the second stanza about the house fire and saying that after all of that the olive trees grew into the hill. Olive trees in greek mythology are used to symbolize peace, prosperity, resurrection and hope. The olive trees “growing into the hill” explains that they have run out of room to grow and will die. This is used to symbolize Nestor’s wifes purpose being gone and dead along with her lost house. ( I had to use two to fit it)
The metaphors in canary for the life of a black woman in the early to mid 1900s was showing the desire to be free from her cage, and not trapped inside signing and being confined and used. Billie Holiday was a black woman who was strong influential to jazz music and this poem uses her life to depict the balance between life and death, freedom and right, and happiness and sadness. The line ¨had as many shadows as lights” uses shadows and lights to represent happiness and sadness as well as highs and lows. Although she was a successful woman she had a lot of darkness in her life. The candelabra and piano and the gardenia and her face is yet again a representation of how her music brings happiness but her life and self brings sadness and destruction ruining her. A Gardenia is a pretty, fragrant flower that is a metaphor for her innerself. As the poem moves to the parentheses it takes a turn. Dove uses parentheses to show this is the hidden part of holidays life. This poem talks about holidays heroine addiction and reliance on it. It is a representation of how women were looking for an escape, something to free them from life. The lines ¨Fact is, the invention of women under siege has been to sharpen love in the service of myth.¨ uses a period to show solidity and inescapability. Lastly dove says ¨Ã¯f you can't be free, be a mystery.” to signify that women use mystery to find the closest thing to freedom they can get. That if they cannot be freed of their cage then they will not allow those who watch to fully understand them.
In the collection of poems by Rita Dove called “Civil Rights” there is one poem that stood out to me based purely off of it’s title. “Climbing In” is an odd title for a poem based off of Civil Rights, so I read on. After reading it a number of times, I’ve come to the conclusion that the poem is about buses. Of course, at the time, African Americans trying to ride the bus found great difficulties, and they were often told to sit at the back of the bus and give up their seats when asked to by a white person. In this regard, black people most likely viewed buses as something they had limited privilege to, and might even hate, for further stressing their lack of rights to the fellow riders of the bus. Dove uses this poem to emphasise the dread one might feel getting on the bus as an African American at the time. The poem is a reference to Little Red Riding Hood, where the narrator is Little Red Riding Hood, and the bus and/or driver is the Big Bad Wolf. This is evident in the lines, “...these are big teeth, teeth of the wolf under Grandmother’s cap.” The whole first stanza, “Teeth. Metallic. Lie-gapped. Not a friendly-shine” is giving diction and personification to the poem, comparing the doors to the bus as the mouth of the Big Bad Wolf. Also, the “clinking gullet” at the end of the poem is in reference to the esophagus, and being swallowed by the Wolf. In terms of Civil Rights, the dime that the narrator clutches in her hand is (one of) the only things she has rights to currently, and by handing it over to the driver, someone who probably has more dimes than she does on any given day, is degrading and demeaning. The narrator must “pay him to keep smiling”, meaning either to keep the doors of the bus “smiling” and open, or to make the Wolf happy that he was able to trick and swallow his next meal for the day. As for the title, the phrase “Climbing In” is very permissive and voluntary, meaning these black men and women are willing to climb into the “Wolf’s” mouth, as opposed to the original story, where Red Riding Hood was swallowed whole against her will.
Without realizing, I chose the same poem as you, so I apologize. I must say that our analysis mostly line up, except I connected mine with “Rosa”. The one thing I didn’t have included in my post that I learned from you was the line about the dime and how it connects with paying the bus driver and keeping the wolf “happy”. I also see why you thought the title meant that, but a different point of view could be that the title “Climbing In” can refer just to climbing into darkness and harm voluntarily, which is what many black women and men did doing anything, not even just riding the bus. Great analysis!
In Dove’s Civil Rights movement, one page had the poems “Rosa” and “Climbing in” right next to each other. Having “Rosa” right after “Climbing in” is a great addition to Climbing In. Climbing In being first, I will discuss its importance. Climbing In is a juxtaposition between Red Riding Hood and what the African American community had to deal with, just to ride the public bus. The speaker uses short, abrupt sentences and excellent use of imagery to give readers the tone of seriousness and unsettlement. The first stanza of the poem demonstrates this with “Teeth. Metallic. Lie-gapped”. This, right off the bat, gives that feeling of hostility and discomfort, much like the African Americans would have felt in this particular moment. This is done so we can not only read it and feel it on the surface, but we can really attempt at empathising. Really let the poem transport us into that era, and what it really was like. Those lie-gapped and metallic teeth represent the stairs up to the bus while in the next stanza, “...like the dime cutting my palm as I clutch the silver pole to step up,up”. Represents that pole that one holds onto while climbing up the stairs. The imagery of the pole cutting the palm is demonstrating how this simple act of climbing into a bus is so dangerous and hurtful to the African American community at this time. The Red Riding hood reference comes in when “These are big teeth, teeth of the wolf under Grandmother’s cap” is said in the 3rd and 4th stanza. This is to represent the seemingly harmless nature of the bus--the grandma on the outside, is actually completely dangerous and hostile--the wolf/bus. The poem Rosa can be paired with this poem because in that poem, the speaker doesn’t quite speak about the hostility of the bus, or actually getting there. The speaker jumps right in with describing how it was time to make a change. It seemed wrong but it needed to happen. “How she sat there, the time right inside a place so wrong it was ready”. This gave readers that same feeling of urgency that Rosa Parks most likely felt when she was adamant about sitting down on the bus. I believe that “Climbing In” was used as kind of the back story to “Rosa”...what the reader didn’t get from “Climbing in” was demonstrated in “Rosa” and vise versa.
I agree with your connection of "Rosa" and "Climbing In", and how Climbing In is a nice intro poem to open it up for Rosa. I also agree with the last sentence of your analysis, "...what the reader didn't get from 'Climbing In' was demonstrated in 'Rosa' and vice versa". I also think taking the time to talk about the effect of the poem on the reader was effective, and well-placed. Great analysis.
I totally agree with your analysis of the connections between "Rosa" and "Climbing in". "Climbing In" is a great intro to "Rosa", because like you said, it really dives the reader into the era with its use of very descriptive imagery. I also agree with the idea you proposed about what readers didn't get from one of the poems, they got from the other. I would like to add that I think "Climbing In" set the background for the more specific poem, "Rosa".
When reading Rita Dove’s collection of poems about civil rights, the poem that most stood out to me was “The House Slave”. The speaker conveys the agony and brutality slaves faced at all hours of the day in this poem. The similes that are used most importantly get across the message of this poem in a deeper tone while exposing some of the slave’s true feelings that are almost hidden behind their pain. The first simile was used in line six and it reads, “While their mistress sleeps like an ivory toothpick.” The use of the word toothpick connects the slaves pain to who is in inflicting it on them. Toothpicks are thought to be sharp and stiff, and this portrays how the slaves viewed their “mistresses”. I think by adding “ivory”, it connects the mistresses to the idea of lacking color or life. Also, ivory can be seen as a luxury, which completely makes sense from the persona “The House Slave” uses. This simile perfectly describes the most sorrowful, and almost regretful envy that the slaves faced everyday. Another simile in line fourteen reads, “And they spill like bees among the fat flowers.” The comparison of the slaves to bees perfectly describes their lives. They all swarm towards the field in huge numbers. This added a very distinct tone to the poem. By it being the second to last line, it leaves readers with a sickening image of all of the people that slaved for their lives. This placement was crucial for conveying the message. Both of these similes were perfectly used in the poem “The House Slave”, to explain the reality of their lives and true emotions.
In the poem Rosa, Rita Dove highlights simplicity to further contrast and demonstrate the impact Rosa Parks had on the civil rights movement. This poem is very short, consisting of four stanzas, each three lines. Dove illustrates a humble, unsuspecting person, someone who you would not expect to have such a large impact on the civil rights movement. She also touches on the fact that no one should have to fight for something as simple as sitting on the bus, it is a basic simple right that everyone deserves. In the first stanza Dove writes “... the time right inside a place so wrong it was ready.”, Here she is referring to Montgomery, Alabama as the place ‘so wrong it was ready’ it is time to end the awful racism and discrimination that filled the south. In the second stanza Rosa is painted as someone simple.She is described as having a “trim name” , desiring only to sit, “... it’s dream of a bench to rest on.” , and a “sensible coat”. Dove is showing Rosa’s humanity, she, like many others just desires to rest at the end of the day. The sensible coat makes her seem practical, quiet, nothing special, Rosa is just like anyone else.
Rita Dove uses simple punctuation, elegant diction, and metaphors to create the image and tone of dedication in her poem Rosa. The simple punctuation and elegant diction and using only basic points like periods and commas shows the simplicity of the action taken by rosa as well as the act of refining the defiance. Before Rosa Parks defied Jim Crow laws Claudette Colvin did the same defiance yet it wasn't made public because she was a teen mother and not a smart beautiful scholar like Rosa. Dove uses periods to create small sentences, only a few words long at times, to display that the act taken by Rosa was small and subtle yet largely impactful and significant. The metaphor of the clean flame in her gaze represents the anger Parks has towards the oppression but it's clean and controlled and she uses it as a catalyst for her courage. She uses her anger to burn a spot in our minds and in history. The camera flash signifies how it went down in history.
I agree with your statement about how Dove perfectly contracted this poem with diction and metaphors to convey Rosa's courage and the overall effect it had for empowering civil rights movements in the future. I didn't really notice how the punctuation effected the poem, but after reading your analysis, I totally agree. I think Rita Dove was really trying to highlight that this was such a small action but meant something way bigger back then. I think the was she uses sarcasm and paradoxical statements in this poem also added to that.
In Rita Dove’s poem “Lady Freedom Among Us” was written to commemorate the restoration of the statue crowning the U.S. capitol building known as “Lady Freedom”. Dove uses this poem to express the bias that America’s society today against the lower class. In her first stanza Dove uses a command of “don’t lower your eyes” to represent how many of us today lower our eyes to the reality of the underclass and avert our eyes from them. In her second stanza she talks about how many people will say things such as “get a job” to them, using other examples as well such as “fly a kite”, and finally “go bury a bone”. The first command implies that people simply want what would benefit the struggling peoples, the second implying that all people want them to do is something productive and the third implying that people often think of them as so primal, and so far removed from the human race as to command them to “bury a bone”. In the next two stanzas it describes how Lady Freedom is dressed and what she looks like. In these two stanzas Dove describes Lady Freedom in her traditional garments that would seem foreign and strange to many, similar to how people see the lower class, poor and homeless in our society today. She uses phrases such as “she has risen among us in blunt reproach” and “the rainbowed layers of charity and murmurs all of you even the least of you” to describe how Lady Freedom does not keep bias’ towards people but rather rises above those worldly beliefs and chooses to include and accept all despite their class. The next stanza is two phrases “don’t cross to the other side of the square don’t think another item to fit on a tourist’s agenda” speaking obviously to the tourists visiting the capitol building but also representing how people should not dismiss the reality of the bias’ that american have towards the lower class and how it reflects the true nature of society. The next two stanzas are striking commands “consider her drenched gaze her shining brow” give the audience the command to face her and along with that face the realization that everyone has discriminated against the less fortunate. The last stanzas express that we will never be able to fully forget the flaws of our society and that since the beginning of America our only hope for success is togetherness and unity. The last phrases are “for she is one of the many and she is each of us” saying that Lady Freedom will always represent the true nature of our society and should always remain something we strive to emulate.
In the first section, “1. The Cane Fields”, of Rita Dove’s poem Parsley the motif of death and morbidity fully display the darkness that is the Parsley massacre. Another present theme in the section is complete control and ownership of the Haitian people. In lines three and four we see how the Haitians are “haunted” by their work. It is in these cane fields that many of them will die, they will forever be stuck in this swampy place. In the third Stanza Dove writes “Like a parrot imitating spring, we lie down screaming, as the rain punches through…”. The harsh words, “screaming” and “punches” create a tone of pain and death. It is implied that the rain is causing this amongst the haitians. The rain symbolizes the Dominican Dictator, Trujillo, and his control over them. Rain is something unavoidable, unstoppable, we have no control over it , this represents the relationship between the cane field workers and the dictator that holds their lives in his hands. This painful relationship is relayed earlier in the second stanza, “ El General… he is all the world there is.” The cane field workers know nothing other than his rule, they are slaves to his law. The line ends with “Like a parrot imitating spring we lie down... and we come up green. We cannot speak R-.” In this poem the parrot is a symbol of many things, one being flowers or plant growth. This is true because it is described as being green and imitating spring, a time when flower are in bloom. In this particular stanza the workers are paired with the parrot, It is implied that they have been murdered by Trujillo (“we lie down…”) for their inability to say the spanish word perejil (parsley), their bodies have decomposed into dirt and eventually grown into plants again. In the next stanza, line eleven, the motif of death is present again, “The children gnaw their teeth to arrowheads.” Dove is alluding to the anxiety and nerves the people felt while waiting to be tested on their pronunciation skills. It is ironic that the children's teeth become “arrowheads,” a deadly weapon, because it is their voice, their mouth that leads them to death.
The poem “Parsley” illustrates the brutal killing of thousands of Haitian sugar field workers under the dictatorship of General Rafael Trujillo of the Dominican Republic. “The Cane Fields” begins with the line “There is a parrot imitating spring.” This motif is introduced at the very beginning to draw to it’s importance. By saying it imitates spring, this is contrasting it with the bright and beautiful season. As the poem continues, it comes to attention that it is the pet of the vicious dictator. This clearly illustrates the irony of beauty and how it can always be found in the darkest of places. Spring is known for its gorgeous and bright colors, so contrasting it to the parrot makes it clear that this bird was the only nice thing at this time. The parrot also represents a paradoxical idea of the the wealth versus the enslaved workers and their sense of feeling captured. The parrot is clearly a very well treated pet in this time but is also captured. This idea raises the point of how the workers can be related to the parrot being that both of them are trapped, although in different ways. In line seventeen and eighteen, the parrot is highly contrasted with the workers and the torment they face. It reads, “For every drop of blood there is a parrot imitating wealth.” This line brings together blood and the parrot, which was supposed to represent beauty. The parrot is now in relation to the connotations of blood, death and violence. This brings up the irony of beauty again. It reads for every violent act, there is beauty somewhere. The parrot is an oblivious sign of unmistakable, bright beauty.
I like your analysis a lot, I thought of the parrot as not only being a pet, but also just representing the general as a whole. I thought it was very interesting of you just to say it’s purpose was to show beauty in the darkness, because parrots are beautiful while the general was very dark in nature. All of your comparisons to the parrot and wealth were spot on-- something I did not think too heavily about as I just tried comparing the parrot to the General himself. Overall pretty cool analysis, that made me think, and reevaluate the poem for myself.
The poem “Parsley” delves deep into the loss of life both with the Haitian people and family members. The first section “the Cane Fields” alludes to the parsley massacre where thousands of people died. In the second stanza it says “El General searches for a word” and then in the fifth stanza it says “El Genera; has found his word”. This is talking about how president Leonidas Trujillo Molina decided to distinguish Haitians from the people of the Dominican Republic. Trujillo chose the word perejil, or parsley in english, because the people of Haiti often spoke french and so they were unable to roll their Rs. If they could not roll their Rs, then they were killed. That’s why in the fifth stanza the narrator says “who says it, lives.” because if they pronounce it with a Spanish accent, then they could live. A motif throughout “The Cane Fields” is “like a parrot imitating spring”. I feel as though the parrot represents the Haitian people. Also, the parrot is compared to the color of parsley. Parsley is grown in the spring and freezes over during the winter. During the parsley’s seconds spring, it grows seeds and then gives out. The parrot seems to be imitating spring because in the spring parsley dies. This is relevant because the Haitian people are also dying.
“Parsley”, the only poem in the Politics of History section, is generally about the Haitians working in the cane fields, their general, and his life before becoming the general, and his loss of innocence. This poem has two separate parts, one being what is happening to the Haitians, and the second part being almost an explanation for it through the general’s life background. The first part shows El General as being harsh while the second reveals a side of vulnerability, almost getting readers to sympathize for the antagonist of the poem. The first paragraph introduces/foreshadows to the second part titled “The Palace”. This demonstrates that this brutality from the general, begins in the palace and what happened there, which was his mother passing away. “We cannot speak an R-” is recalling the fact that to test if someone was Haitian or not, if they can’t pronounce the R sound, then they are. In the fifth stanza, the general picks a word with an R sound and showing his dark and almost psychotic side, “Who says it, lives. He laughs, teeth shining out of the swamp”. After mentioning something so deep and scary as death, the speaker describes him as laughing and happy to show that. In the second part of the poem, “The Palace”, readers are almost expected to feel sorry for the general and root for him in a way. “The general thinks of his mother, how she died in the fall”. Maybe this leads us to a conclusion of “well maybe the general isn’t so bad...after all, his mother did die”. The next line discusses how his mother’s walking cane was planted and bloomed every spring. Maybe this is why the first part mentions a parrot imitating spring. Parrots imitate things and the general represents the parrot, trying to imitate spring and see the flowers that are bloomed to remind him of his mother. This line being repeated in the first part can show that all of his brutal actions toward the Haitians was all because of his mother’s death and it being on his mind and how it took away his innocence. Another line that shows his innocent side is “The knot in his throat starts to twitch”. Right before crying, people feel a knot or lump in the back of their throats. The act of crying is to show a vulnerable side, much like the second part of the poem is trying to do.
When reading Dove’s American Smooth collection, the poem that stood out to me, was Fox Trot Fridays. This poem was not only high energy and fun to read, but also it was short and was made up of eight couplet stanzas, which made the poem seem less intimidating to really dive into. A foxtrot is a high energy and fun dance, and Fridays are known to be fun, and a way to escape the week. Dove is trying to tell us as readers that dancing really is just an escape from the real world and life’s stressors. She demonstrates this in the first stanza: “Thank the stars there’s a day each week to tuck in” and then completes the enjambment in the second stanza: “The grief...”. In addition to telling that dance is an escape and quick, fun, enjoyment, dancing in also graceful and smooth. In the fourth stanza, Dove uses alliteration with the S sound to give dancing that slow and smooth feel. “Nat King Cole’s slow, satin, smile”. It is demonstrated that dancing is quick and enjoyable with the quick, short, crisp sounds and words. She uses a lot of words with T sounds, and rather than dragging out each line and sound, they are straight forward and right to the point. Everyone can dance, everyone can find this is escape...”easy as taking one day at a time”, is a line that is used to mention that. Rather than her just telling us how great dancing is for her, she uses that line to make it more personal sounding...that really lets the reader in and allows them to get enveloped in the description. Rita Dove wrote this poem because dancing is very important in her life and she wanted to share it with everyone else. Personally, my grandma goes to ballroom dances all the time and she loves them and tells me about how much fun it is to have a carefree and fun night, so that supports what Rita dove is saying, making her works more relatable, because everyone likes something they can relate to. Even if people don’t dance while reading this, it is written in such a way that it can just be about life and taking time to have fun and relax, much like how we do on Fridays.
“American Smooth” is the poem that stood out to me the most in Rita Dove’s American Smooth collection. This literary work is describing the waves of emotion within dance through her use of caesura and other literary devices revolving around form. Rita Dove and her husband loved to dance and this poem, I believe, highlights why it was so special to their relationship. Poetry is a form of dance. It flows on paper as a person flows on the floor. Rita Dove describes this as, “(for two measures? four?)一achieved flight, that swift and serene magnificence, before the earth remembered who we were and brought us down.” The idea proposed in these lines is the thought of losing yourself in something you are passionate about. You are no longer with yourself, you’re somewhere special where only what your doing at that exact moment matters. Another highlighted part in this line is the detachment from earth that is felt. You leave your thoughts and worries behind and rise above it all. Another line that was very powerful reads, “two chests heaving above a seven-league stride一such perfect agony one learns to smile through.” I think this part really depicts the strength is takes and how it’s not just dance. “Perfect agony,” this oxymoron shows Dove’s true feelings towards dance, it is hard but the way it makes you feel is like no other. The use of the caesura in this part is perfectly placed. It binds together two contradicting parts to create a seamless line structure.
sorry! I totally didn't realize we had blogged on the same poem until I posted! I totally agree with you on all the parts you analyzed and i took a slightlhy different take on one of them. On the oxymoron of "perfect agony" i also believed it represented the physical agony of dance, adding to that it could also represent the agony that it takes for Rita Dove and other african americans to go out everyday into a world of opression having to put on a "pleasant" face as to not offend anyone. This pain that is brough on by oppression had been forced upon her and her community everyday and becuase she was so adjusted to this pain, the pain that dance brought her wasn't so bad becuase at least it was voluntary and at least it was working towards something that was her own and something that she loved.
When reading through Rita Dove’s poems in the section of American Smooth, her poem titled ‘American Smooth’ stood out to me. The title ‘American Smooth’ refers to the jazzier american version of fox trots tangos and waltzes. Dove uses this poem to represent everything that is quintessentially African American, taking everything they are given and making it their own. Unlike many of Dove’s other poems this one is written from her own perspective. After her house had burned down destroying much of her and her husbands work along with it, her neighbors approached her and her husband offering a “dinner dance” and telling them to dress their best. Rita and her husband went to that dance and found that it allowed them to escape and forget their troubles for a little while, and they have been dancing ever since. Dove begins the poem with a 14 line phrase to represent how, in dance, your movements are often fluid with small transitions from one section to another. Dove represents this through phrases such as “rise and fall” to represent that there is no true end only lower and higher levels of energy, and “precise execution as we moved into the next song without stopping,” meaning that the transition between dances were immediate making each style of dance flow into the other. Dove also explains how although dancing for long periods of time with no breaks can be awfully taxing the joy that it brings teaches you to smile through it. Dove demonstrates this through phrases such as “something romantic but requiring restraint”, explaining that this dance was romantic and something that she was enjoying with her partner but also required a lot of control and effort of her body. Dove also uses the phrase,“such perfect agony that one learns to smile through” Dove uses the oxymoron “perfect agony” the express that the effort put into dance in order to make it appear perfect is absolutely agonizing but at the same time it is so satisfying and joyful to achieve that it becomes entirely worth it. The last three lines of the first phrase of American smooth are written “ecstatic mimicry being the sine qua non of American Smooth.”. Dove uses another oxymoron, “ecstatic mimicry” to explain that although the dances they dance are exciting and fun and unique to the people dancing it they have been passed down through generations as a style unique to America. Dove then uses the phrase “sine qua non” translating to “without which nothing”. Dove uses this phrase to express how recognizing the history behind American Smooth and the fact that african american people took these dances, traditionally danced by caucasian people, and made them their own transforming them into a beautiful ebb and flow of movement, emotion, and technique, is absolutely essential to performing these dances. The phrase “without which nothing” is used to express that it would be absolutely impossible to perform these dances without understanding what makes them as beautiful as they are. The next phrase is 17 lines, completing the free verse poem. This portion of the poem explains how Dove’s focus while dancing had become so extreme that she had not realized that they had begun their lift. This represents how often dance was used to escape the persecution that African Americans in America faced everyday. In her last phrase “we had done it...achieved flight, that swift and serene magnificence, before the earth remembered who we were and brought us down.” Dove uses this phrase to represent how the African American community could use this art form that they had altered and made their own to escape from a community who abhorred everything that made them different. Although they could escape for awhile they would always have to go back to reality.
Dove uses oxymoron, imagery, and metaphors to express the beautiful strength that all African Americans gained through oppression. Dove acknowledged that although achieving that level of perceived perfection was agonizing it was that feeling of freedom that made it worthwhile; and everyday as they endured the many difficulties placed in front of them they could always have a way and a place to escape.
American Smooth is a variation of ballroom dancing. Much like dancing, Rita Dove’s “American Smooth” makes one feel the twists and turns of a waltz. This can be seen with the caesuras throughout the poem. Within the first 14 lines of the only stanza, caesuras are placed somewhat evenly apart, much like slowly gliding around the room. Starting in the 18th line, caesuras are much more present giving the sensation of going at a faster pace and twisting and twirling. “And because I was distracted by the effort of keeping my frame ( the leftward lean, head turned just enough to gaze out past your ear and always smiling, smiling), I didn’t notice..” There is a pattern here that also occurs in another part of the poem, too. After three lines of enjambment there is a caesura after only three words and then awhile before another break in the line. This gives the reader a sense of slow and fast pace movement, reading it out loud one can even feel the turns happening. Another example of this is in the 22nd line of the stanza. “ I didn’t notice how still you’d become until we had done it (for two measures? four?) - achieved flight, that swift and serene magnificence..” Again after the caesuras there are few words. Dove does this to make the reader feel the movement of the characters who are dancing.
In the poem “Fox”, from the American smooth collection, Dove uses repetition and a very statement orientated form to establish a sense of female independence and confidence. ‘she’ and ‘her’ are repeated multiple times. When Dove writes ‘she’, she is referring to herself. This repetition, unnecessary in some parts, is to continually remind the reader about its subject matter, Rita Dove, a woman. The repetition really doesn't allow the reader to think about anything else, it creates a focus. The word imagine is also repeated three times. The first “She knew what she was and so was capable of anything anyone could imagine.” is saying that she not limited because of her gender, she can do anything anyone else can. The second time imagine is used it has a more materialistic literal meaning rather than fanciful possibility, “... she was, there for the taking, imagine” Rita is referring to the poetry and art she creates, she does this so that anyone can gain enjoyment from her. The third time it has a similar connotation, “she imagined nothing.” Dove is saying that she is content with what she has she places no value on material items, she is empowered by this.The repetition of she/her and imagine along with the last three lines, “... which was more than any man could handle.” , create a tone of female empowerment and strength. The statement based form also aids in creating tone. Each sentence in this poem is very declarative and to the point. Unlike some of Dove’s other works this poem is fairly simple and to the point, lacking any excessive literary ideas. This is a very purposeful choice, again Dove is trying to highlight the focus, of strong women, by stripping the poem to a solid foundation.
In Rita Dove’s “The House Slave”, the reader is presented with five triplet stanzas. The short stanzas make the poem seem easy to follow and not so intimidating, yet the messages inside are not as promising. “The first horn lifts its arm over the dew-lit grass” is the very first line of the poem. The “first horn” alludes to the slaves being called over in the morning. One slave would blow the horn to gather other slaves hence why in the next line the narrator says “in the slave quarters there is rustling”, because now they’re all getting ready for the day. In the next stanza there are pronouns meaning that the poem is in first person. Yet, the lines “I watch them driven into the vague before-dawn while their mistress sleeps like an ivory toothpick” suggest that this person may not also be a slave. The narrator says that he or she is watching “their” mistress and not his or her own. Another example is in the fourth stanza when the narrator says “I lie on my cot..” (12) this is after the second horn has gone off and by that time the slaves who were not up or ready were met with a whip across their backs (9). In spite of still being in his or her cot, the narrator isn’t being sought after by the people rushing the slaves out. But, one line did catch me by surprise, “sometimes my sister’s voice, unmistaken, among them” (10). I found this interesting because if his or her sister’s voice is among the other slaves, that would mean the narrator is also black. But, why is he or she not with the other slaves? That’s when I realised the title made sense, the narrator is a house slave, and the sister is a field slave. House slaves were treated much better and lived in the house. The grief felt throughout this poem is the narrator having to live as a bystander to how the other slaves are being treated.
I totally did not see that the narrator is a house slave, and a bystander to her sister, which was a slave in the fields. It went over my head, and I honestly don’t have much prior knowledge on slaves so I didn’t even recall that there was more than one type, and one (the house slaves) get treated much better. That makes the title, and the line “I watch them driven into a...”. I just thought that Dove was getting to a point of that the narrator has lost connection with themselves because of being treated so badly and they now refer to themselves as “they”. Interesting, Kayla. Thank you.
The poem that stood out to me in Rita Dove’s Civil Rights collection was “Rosa.” This poem was based off of the historical figure, Rosa Parks, who stood up for her rights as a human being and decided not to be belittled based off of the color of her skin. Rosa sparked future empowerment in all African American spirits. Rita Dove uses a very powerful paradoxical statement in this poem to show that this small act was something bigger in the oppressed world African Americans were living in at the time. It reads, “Doing nothing was the doing.” This conveys how the act of stepping up and demanding equal treatment was “doing nothing” basically, it shouldn’t be an act of rebellion to receive this treatment. But for African Americans at this time, this set fire in Rosa Parks was considered one of the most empowered steps for their rights, and it still is today. I think Rita Dove is trying to highlight the irony in this situation. In today’s time, sitting wherever you want on the bus is a given, no thought to it, but back then it wasn’t a free for all for African Americans. Rita Dove also uses sarcasm to emphasize how unjust and completely irrational the oppression they were facing back then was. “How she stood up when they bent down to retrieve her purse. That courtesy.” This tone is edgy and and you can feel the distaste in the words. By putting this at the end of the poem, I think it really adds to the overall mood.
Rosa was such a influential poem to me as well. I think in this poem Dove was attempting to make us think about a time that is often forgotten today, she doesn't want us to forget about those important historical figures and an extremely important time in the United States history. She may also be urging us to fight against injustices in our everyday world. Dove always ends her poems with a line that is left to make us ponder the words for a long time after we read it. Do you think that the poem is a call for us to fight against injustice or just talking about Rosa Park's life? I personally think that Dove wanted us to portray both of those, especially through her use of tone.
When reading through Rita Dove’s poems titled ‘Slavery’ a poem named “Belinda’s Petition” caught my eye. This poem tells the story of a young African girl from the country Ghana, who was kidnapped at the age of 12 and forced into slavery. After which Belinda worked until the age of 63. Belinda’s work ceased when Isaac Royall left for Nova Scotia and left behind his slaves. Belinda then petitioned for her right to compensation for the many years of work she had dedicated to slavery. Rita Dove inspired this poem after Belinda’s petition, explaining the title of the poem. The first stanza sets up Belinda’s letter, dedicating it to the “honorable Senate and House of Representatives of this Country”. The next phrase of the stanza uses a metaphor saying “new born: I am Belinda an African,” Dove uses the metaphor of Belinda being “new born”. This is a metaphor because when Belinda was freed from slavery she was 63 years old which makes her clearly not a new born. Dove uses this metaphor to convey to the audience that Belinda being freed from slavery began a new chapter in her life as a free african american woman in america allowing her all the freedoms and opportunities that a new born also has the potential to accomplish. Dove goes on to write “I will not take too much of your Time, but to plead my pitiable Life unto the Fathers of this Nation” establishing that Belinda was not protesting this for no reason except to plead for the wealth she deserved from her 51 years of forced labor. In the second stanza Dove emphasizes the humility in which Belinda was willing to approach the subject of asking for compensation. Dove writes, “Lately your Countrymen have severed the Binds of Tyranny. I would hope you would consider the Same for me, pure Air being the sole Advantage of which I can boast in my present Condition.” Dove uses a pleading tone in this stanza to support the humility in which Belinda approaches the situation. Phrases such as “lately your Countrymen have severed the Binds of Tyranny” and “pure Air being the sole Advantage of which I can boast...” Dove emphasizes that Belinda was not trying to place blame on those who had forced her into slavery but simply pleading for the compensation she deserved, crediting her ability to boast not even to her years of hard work but simply to the fact that she was still alive and breathing after all of them. In Dove’s final stanza she makes sure to emphasize the apparent innocence of Belinda in the horrible situation she was forced into. Dove begins, “As to the Accusation that I am Ignorant: I recieved Existence on the Banks of the Rio de Valta, All my childhood I expected nothing, if that be Ignorance.” emphasizing that in Belinda’s home country of Ghana she grew up knowing only the banks of the “Rio de Valta” and her small village and expecting little to nothing to come of her simple life.
The name of this river adds irony to this phrase as instead of using the name that a person from Ghana would call it “the Volta River”, Dove uses the name that the “white men” dubbed the river. This is ironic because although Belinda is trying to emphasize her connection with her home and the existence it gave her, she instead called the river the name that the people who traded her and her people into slavery’s name for it instead of the name that she had grown up calling it, proving how intensely the slave trade had impacted her life. Belinda makes a sarcastic statement in this passage at first stating the only reason that she could be refused a compensation then proving that that reason is unjust through the statement “if that be ignorance.”. This statement is sarcastic because Belinda is basically asking the rhetorical question of “is the meaning of ignorance not suspecting something?” when the answer is clearly no. Dove then goes on to say “The only Travelers were the Dead who returned from the Ridge each Evening. How might I have known of Men with Faces like the Moon who would ride toward me steadily for twelve Years?” Dove writes this to show that Belinda is aware of what has happened to her but she does not harbor anger in herself for the things that came upon her. Belinda simply asks for what she is due. She uses the term “The only Travelers” and “the Dead” to name the “white men” that would come into her town everyday searching for innocent Africans to force into the slave trade. These names are placed upon the “white men” to show how the Africans viewed the white men as foreigners with no true knowledge of their land and “Dead” meaning that they had no consciousness or heart, or anything else that makes up a living human. Later in the phrase Dove compares these men to having “Faces like the Moon”. Often times, the moon is often associated with having “power and influence” just as the physical moon has over the tides of the ocean. Dove uses this association to emphasize that just as the moon pulls the tides to and fro on earth, the Africans, just like the tides, had absolutely no control over when and where they were “pulled” or moved because of the “white men”’s heavy influence over them.
Dove’s poem collection switches between light and dark tones very swiftly and that shows how versatile her writing style is. In the Slavery section, the poem “The House Slave” is demonstrating her ability to write about something dreary. I chose this poem because it reminded me of 12 Years a Slave, a movie I recently watched. This poem is made up of five triplet stanzas, and it tells the story of a slave’s day to day life. In the first stanza, them being woken for their hard day is described. “The first horn lifts its arm over the dew-lit grass” explains how they are woken up. A horn is thought to be quite loud and commanding of a space, which is symbolism for how their lives are. Even at their calmest moments-sleeping (before dawn), there is something loud and that is taking over them. There is no escape. In this stanza, children are used to show how children are at the beginning of their lives, and so are these slaves. In a way, this poem is also hopeful. Children begin their lives and might have the hardships of growing up and puberty and all that, but it ends when they get to a certain age. Slaves as well, as we know, can sometimes be set free or escape, so instead of keeping the dreary tone, the speaker adds a glimmer of hope. In the last stanza the last line has “It is not yet daylight”. This brings the reader back to the hopeful tone and closes it. Daylight is symbolic for freedom. The slaves have not YET reached freedom, but this, along with the mentioning children, shows that freedom is able to come in the future. In the fourth stanza, biblical allusions “sister” and “pray” also contribute toward the feeling that good things are coming. When one prays, their hopes are usually supported by God and he helps them out. Maybe by including the praying demonstrates how their hopes and wishes will be answered. In this poem, Dove also uses first person narration to give it a haunting and personal feeling. This also transforms the author and reader to another place. We, as readers, know that Dove was not a slave, and neither are we but by using first person narration it feels as if we both were. Or we are being told a story by our great uncle.
I totally agree with your analysis of "The House Slave". I as well thought the horn was perfect description of what they are against in their captivity. I agree with your analysis of the line "it is not yet daylight", but there was also another way I took it. I thought it also conveyed how unfair the conditions were. It is saying that the sun hasn't even risen yet, meaning they are up very early ready to start a long day. I didn't really think about it the way you took it till I read your analysis but now I totally see it. Great point!
In Dove’s poem The Transport of Slaves From Maryland to Mississippi, Dove uses various types of writing styles to tell a story from different perspectives and create conflicting tones. The first stanza Dove wrote has a perspective of a slave who was running free, this is evident through quotes like,” I thought he was our salvation” “I am no btute. I got feelings”. Also the ironic statement, “shimmering in the hushed light”, where shimmering, a word with a positive connotation is used in a dark, somber, hopeless toned poem to show that this man was a glimmer of hope in darkness. The second and third standa both are written in an un-biased and third person perspective creating a sense of indifference. The fourth stanza are both written through the perspective of a slave’s encounter with a white man. The use of the “n” word in the fourth stanza and the slave “dropp[ing] under a crown of clubs” depicts the hate and oppression yet the last, open ended line, “You ain't supposed to act this way” leaves the reader with a saddening and questioning mood towards society.
In the poem "Used" by Rita Dove, the premise of this poem is the unfiltered repugnance and high expectations placed upon women in modern society. Lines in the poem including "size threes are all the rage" and "every man-child's preadolescent dream" help to support this. When I read the line about the Tabula rasa, the Latin words for 'blank slate', I was confused. What did this have to do with the skinny-girl image? Is Dove applying this to the man-children? Or is she trying to reference how no one is a blank slate anymore, even if they are young and immature? In the second stanza of the poem, the women’s navels, or belly buttons, are "sunk in grief when the last child emptied us of their brief interior light". I believe what Dove is referring to is the loss of innocence of young girls after entering the real world and being exposed to the harsh realities of life. These grown women have experienced being young and immature and ignorant, so their perspective on the world changed as they grew older. They sympathize with the young girls, whose "interior light" is slowly fading. Interior light is, of course, a symbol for innocence and pureness. The older women thrive off of these girls, and live vicariously through them until the light slowly begins to fade, and then the girl is one of them. She is no longer a girl; she is a woman. Then, this newly born ‘women’ is thrown into the roller coaster of life, and is told she must purchase silk sheets from a Macy’s clerk. The silk sheets are in reference to living lavishly and luxuriously, and when these women “couldn’t hang on, slipped to the floor and by morning the quilts had slid off, too”, they struggle to control the aspects in their lives dictated by society. Women aren’t granted silk sheets for bearing children, as in reference to their postnatal dread, they earn silk sheets for wearing “skirts ballooning above twinkling ankles”.
ReplyDeleteThe poem “Wiederkehr” by Rita Dove in her motherly love collection jumped out at me first, purely because of the interesting name. Upon looking the name up I have found that this word is German for Return or Recurrence. This poem could be titled that because the last line “When the choice appeared, I reached for it” is about Persephone leaving the Underworld and returning to her mother Demeanor. Other than the interesting name, Dove’s use of imagery in lines eight-ten about the rain show just how Hades viewed Persephone. Rain can mean sadness and cleansing. Rain is used because it represents Persephone’s sadness about being trapped with Hades and Hades true purpose of her which is just as a cleanser. Persephone then realizes that Hades doesn’t actually love her. “He never asked if I would stay” despite the seemingly impossible task she attempted for him “He merely hoped, in darkness, to smell rain and though he saw how still I sat to hold the rain untouched inside me, he never asked if I would stay”. Obviously, no one was trying to smell rain but Dove uses this to show that even when Persephone tried her hardest to please him by sitting still for the rain, he never even showed he loved her. Just that he wanted to use her for his own good.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with your analysis of "Wierderkehr" and how it relates to the myth of Persephone and Demter. I thought the rain symbolism was very crucial for the meaning of this poem as well. Something to adds on to your part about how it means sadness is when the speaker uses untouched to describe the rain. I think that shows how Persephone hasn't emotionally reached her true feelings due to Hades manipulation.
DeleteThe poem The Narcissus Flower written by Rita Dove tells the Greek Myth of Persephone and Hades. In this myth, Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, is walking along and bends over to pick a flower. This flower just so happens to be Narcissus who was turned into a flower after staring at his own reflection for so long that he starved to death. As Persephone bends to p0ick this beautiful flower, the depths of hell are opened underneath her and she is dragged down to hell by Hades. Hades then makes her his queen and she is trapped in the underworld for six months of each year. Dove begins the poem with the stanza “I remember my foot in its frivolous slipper, a frightened bird... not the earth unzipped”. The first phrase of this stanza “I remember my foot in a frivolous slipper” is used to explain the portion of the myth in which Persephone is looking back on her past life as a mortal walking upon the earth. The second phrase of the stanza “a frightened bird . . . not the earth unzipped” explains that Persephone became “frightened like a bird” when the depths of hell opened up underneath her feet. This is because Hades intended to find a wife among the mortal world and chose Persephone as the one to be dragged into the underworld. In the second stanza Dove writes “but the way I could see my own fingers and hear myself scream as the blossom incinerated.” This is written in the context of Persephone walking and then bending down to pick a flower, this flower being Narcissus. In this stanza Dove explains that Persephone can see her fingers and underneath them the fiery depths of hell open up causing her to scream and incinerating the flower that she had bent down to pick. The third stanza is written, “And though nothing could chasten the plunge, this man adamant as a knife easing into” this phrase was not complete to express the unconsented decision of Hades as he pulls her into the underworld. This stanza explains that nothing could stop Hades from dragging Persephone into the underworld because he was adamant in his decision. The next stanza reads “the humblest crevice , I found myself at the center of a calm so pure, it was hate.” The phrase “a calm so pure it was hate” is an example of juxtaposition. Dove uses Juxtaposition to show that although Hades intentions were only to find himself a wife and have her as his queen allowing her a calm and plentiful life, this only brought Persephone hatred as this was not the life she had chosen. The next stanza reads “The mystery is, you can eat fear before fear eats you,” Dove uses the word mystery to explain that although it took Persephone a while to understand this idea, you can choose to not be afraid rather than to let fear consume your life. Persephone learns this lesson because at first she is afraid of Hades and slowly learns that she will be his queen for six months of every year and being scared of him will not change that. The last stanza of the poem reads “you can live beyond dying--- and become a queen whom nothing surprises.” This final stanza signifies the loss of Persephone’s ability to be amused. Dove uses this stanza to express that although Persephone lived beyond the afterlife, lived in the underworld, that she is now a queen whom will never be satisfied with her life because it was not the life she had chosen.
ReplyDeleteThe poem “Breakfast of Champions” alludes back to the Greek mythology of Persephone and Demeter. “A little dust on the laurel branch” is what the poem says in line 4. Laurel branches were used for crowns of the gods in Greek mythology which ties back to Demeter. In the poem, Demeter is trying to accept her daughter’s fate by “diving into a grateful martini” (5) in a place “fit for mourning” (3). Losing a daughter would be like the world splitting in two and one can only imagine how Demeter must feel. Demeter is in a desperate state, trying to hide in drinks where she can escape her terrible reality. This poem greatly gives the reader a sense of how Demeter is feeling going through this. Reading the poem, one almost feels woozy. The thought of being small enough to dive into your own martini glass greeting you with open arms, peering at the floating olive with eyes fixed on you gives a feeling of stupefied or being tipsy, like Demeter as she drinks. The tone of the passage is woe which can be seen with the imagery. The cloudy skies finally fit Demeter’s mood after searching through sunlight and flowers. The sunlight and flower petals represent happiness and liveliness which Demeter worked her way to get out of to find overcast weather. Demeter isn’t happy so she doesn’t want to be in the sun, she’s grieving and the cloud filled skies match her mood.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with your analysis of Rita Dove's "Breakfast of Champions." I loved how you used the word woozy when describing how readers feel when they read it, I totally relate to that. The line, "Diving into a grateful martini," I think was a very thoughtful choice for your analysis. I totally see how it can relate to Demeter's motherly mourning and her desire to escape those thoughts.
DeleteAs I started reading these collections of sonnets, i realized that they were all about Greek mythology; more specifically, the story of Persephone and Demeter, so I started to research their story a bit. Initially however, Heros meant a very different thing to me. Instead of seeing the poppy in the weedy field as an allusion to Persephone being trapped in hell, I simply saw it as misunderstood hope that was being ‘taken away‘ to save it’s glory and to make it true again, and the woman as society and not as Demetre being distraught over her lost child. The “juicy spot” only made sense to me after researching their story as a reference to the pomegranate seeds persephone ate. The white bolder made me think of how a mother is hit with grief of something pure, my mind went to how a mother becomes grief-stricken as her son goes to war, yet instead is likely refers to how Demeter’s head becomes overruled by destroying the world with winter.I believe this poem is told in the eyes of a mortal hades because he questions himself, and hates himself for picking that flower. Hades is the god of the underworld and has no remorse so it's relating his actions to the action of regular people.
ReplyDeleteAre there only five people in your group?!
ReplyDeleteWhen reading “Sonnet in Primary Colors,” by Rita Dove, something that stood out to me was the use of alliteration and how it relates to the overall theme. “Sonnet in Primary Colors” is based off of the famous mexican painter by the name of Kahlo. The speaker uses deep imagery and alliteration to describe how unique Frida was. The first prominent alliteration that stood out to me was in line three and four and it reads, “Erect among parrots, in the stern petticoats of the peasant, who painted herself a flower.” The repetition of the “p” sounds adds a flowing tone to the the lines of pure admiration of Frida. The line “erect among parrots,” sets the tone for the “p” sound as the alliteration continues. The speaker is highlighting how uniquely Frida stood out. The “p” sound is used to describe the culture she set herself apart in, like in the words peasant, petticoats, and painted. Another example of alliteration that the speaker uses is in the lines seven and eight. It reads, “Each night she lay down in pain and rose to her celluloid butterflies of her Beloved Dead.” This is explaining the pain Frida experienced due to her interesting relationship with Diego. The use of the ‘l” sound creates a soft tone to describe Frida. This highlights how special she was from the persona’s point of view. The use of alliteration was very crucial for this poem to explain how the persona views Frida and her traits.
ReplyDeleteThe poem, “Catherine of Alexandria” by Rita Dove is a 2nd person point of view poem giving the reader a small glimpse into the beliefs of a Christian virgin, and later a martyr, living in the early 4th century. Despite the religious background surrounding Catherine, Dove’s poem is anything but holy. The tone of the poem leaves the reader feeling somewhat uncomfortable in the second stanza of the poem, which reads, “...and what went on each night was fit for nobody’s ears…”. This obviously implies sexual relations in some way, but the first line of the next stanza reads, “...but Jesus’”. Catherine of Alexandria was born a princess in the 4th century, and is well known for being born a Christian and converting hundreds of people to Christianity. She is even revered as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers in the Catholic Church. This woman was so devoted to her religion that she remained a virgin until she was 18, at which age she was martyred by a Pagan Emperor, Maxentius. Catherine was so trapped in her life as a princess, as evident in the first stanza “Deprived of learning and the chance to travel, no wonder sainthood came as a voice in your bed-”, that the only escape she had was Christianity. She found that the one man she could give herself to was Jesus, and whether or not she was making love to a man whom she pretended to be Jesus, or she was having sexual relations with a man of the church is not clear in this poem. In the line, “Each morning the nightshirt bunched above your waist- a kept promise, a ring of milk”, suggests that Catherine may have offered herself to Jesus every night, and “a ring of milk” may refer to breast milk. This poem is an unsettling combination of religion and sex that is not often made in everyday life, let alone poetry, and though Catherine consecrated her virginity to Jesus, her devotion was not enough to prevent her from being beheaded.
ReplyDeleteI wrote half of my blog on the same poem as you: Catherine of Alexandria. I agree with how it discusses the sexual themes of religion, but I saw it more as it showing how sex is taboo and not accepted, and it was almost this Catherine’s way of rebelling. I saw it as being connected to the poem directly before it “Catherine of Siena” because in that poem it is discussing someone that is enveloped in religion. I did not know that Catherine of Alexandria was based off of a real person, so that was quite interesting and made me reconsider a few of the things I blogged about already.
DeleteIn Dove’s poem “Catherine of Siena”, the speaker explores themes of religion and determination toward it. Siena is a city in Italy, and the first line of the poem is “You walked the length of Italy to find someone to talk to”. This is an excellent use of metaphor to show the determination, of course because walking a whole country is an exaggeration. Someone’s faith is extremely important to them and this poem demonstrates it with the use of imagery throughout its entirety. “You prayed until tears streaked the sky” is interpreted as someone giving their whole being to the religion and spending all the time possible with it. Not only is it a powerful statement about someone’s faith, but it is written in second-person narrative to give a chilling tone. When reading this, I feel as if it were written to me, rather than just something I am reading for fun. I see this poem as a connection to “Catherine of Alexandria”. In Catherine of Alexandria, it caused me to feel like Catherine of Sienna wasn’t meant to be full of hope and wonder, when in fact it was meant to feel like this “Catherine” character is being deprived of knowledge. She is so stuck on her faith that she doesn’t know how to actually live without Jesus or whoever else this is referring. “Deprived of learning and a chance to travel” could be referring to how sheltered Catherine really is. Sure, she may have “walked the length of Italy” but she was so fixed on one thing--faith that is, to even learn and see the world. Catherine of Alexandria seems to explore sexuality and how taboo it is in some religions. “In your bed and what went on each night was fit for nobody’s ears but Jesus’”. I see this as speaking of sex, and how no one should know of it, but Jesus is always watching. The first line of the poem being about deprivation of knowledge, no wonder this “Catherine” character wants to rebel, wants to do something other than religion.
ReplyDeleteI think that it was written in second person to give a chilling tone as well. But i think more importantly it was written in second person to demonstrate the subjectivity of religion and the emptiness it can bring. When first exploring religion the ideas of your life already having a set course, or the possible lack of an almighty power, or that said almighty power allows so much pain to happen can make one feel insignificant and empty and oi think this is a big reason behind the use of second person as well. Especially giving the tone of the poem.
Delete“Nestor’s Bathtub” is a poem by Rita Dove being used to explain history’s heavy focus upon the males involved in the story rather than the females. The title of this poem “Nestor’s Bathtub” gives the impression that this bathtub is solely Nestor’s and not belonging to or cared for by his wife either Eurydice or Anaxibia. Nestor was the King of Pylos, having become king after all his brothers were slain by Hercules. In Dove’s first stanza it reads
ReplyDelete“As Usual, legend got it wrong: Nestor’s wife was the one
to crouch under
jug upon jug of fragrant water poured
until the small room steamed.”
Dove begins with “As usual, legend got it wrong: Nestor’s wife was the one” Dove uses this statement to represent how history tends to focus on the impacts and work of the men throughout history but in this legend it was truly his wife who should be recognized. She goes on the write “to crouch under jug upon jug of fragrant water poured until the small room steamed” in this passage Dove is explaining that Nestor’s wife would work to give him extravagant showers using jugs and jugs of fragrant water to bathe him until the room was steaming. Dove goes on to write,
“But where was Nestor--
on his throne before the hearth,
Counting the jars of oil
In storeroom 34, or
at the Trojan wars
while his wife with her white hands
scraped the dirt from a lover’s back
with a bronze scalpel?”
Dove begins with a rhetorical question, then answering that Nestor spends his time at home focusing on the material wealth that he has acquired, and majority of his time is actually spent off at war against the Trojans. She then goes on to describe his wife’s hands as being “white” to symbolize purity and cleanliness as she cleans “a lover’s”, Nestor’s, back with a bronze scalpel. The bronze scalpel is used to explain that she takes care of him and cleans him with precision and excellent care, it is bronze to represent that she puts their wealth to good use and makes sure to use it for him. Dove continues,
“Legend, as usual, doesn’t
say. But this heap of limestone
blocks--look how they fell, blasted by the force of olive oil
exploding in the pot, look
at the pattern left in stucco from the wooden columns, sixty
flutings, look at the shards
scattered in the hall where
jars spilled from the second floor
oil spreading in flames
to the lady’s throne”
Rita Dove uses this visual imagery to explain how a their house caught on fire. The fire was started by oil and because the oil spilled, spread throughout the rest of the house, destroying it. This passage is taken from the perspective of Nestor’s wife examining the remains of “the lady’s throne”, her throne, the one place that she felt needed and wanted in order to please her husband. Dove begins this passage by mocking legend for thinking of this event as insignificant using “legend, as usual, doesn’t say”. Dove mocks this because she realizes that that house was the life's work of Nestor’s wife and when it was destroyed it was as if her purpose had been destroyed along with it. Dove’s final stanza is written,
“For the sake of legend only the tub
stands, tiny and voluptuous
as a gravy dish.
And the blackened remains of ivory
combs and 2,853 tall stemmed
drinking cups in the pantry--
these, too, survived
when the clay pots screamed
and stones sprang in their sockets
and the olive trees grew into the hill”
Dove uses repetition to again begin talking about legend, but this time saying something in it’s favor. Dove is saying that the end of this story supports legend as the focus ends up remaining again on the male. When Dove says “for the sake of legend only the tub stands” she says ironically after everything the wife had as her own in the house is destroyed, the one thing left standing was the place she used to bring pleasure to him in the beginning. She then finds small remnants of insignificant parts of the home she once had and loved. The poem is then ended with “when the clay pots screamed and the stones sprang in their sockets and the olive trees grew into the hill” Dove reiterates what has just been explained through the second stanza about the house fire and saying that after all of that the olive trees grew into the hill. Olive trees in greek mythology are used to symbolize peace, prosperity, resurrection and hope. The olive trees “growing into the hill” explains that they have run out of room to grow and will die. This is used to symbolize Nestor’s wifes purpose being gone and dead along with her lost house.
ReplyDelete( I had to use two to fit it)
The metaphors in canary for the life of a black woman in the early to mid 1900s was showing the desire to be free from her cage, and not trapped inside signing and being confined and used. Billie Holiday was a black woman who was strong influential to jazz music and this poem uses her life to depict the balance between life and death, freedom and right, and happiness and sadness. The line ¨had as many shadows as lights” uses shadows and lights to represent happiness and sadness as well as highs and lows. Although she was a successful woman she had a lot of darkness in her life. The candelabra and piano and the gardenia and her face is yet again a representation of how her music brings happiness but her life and self brings sadness and destruction ruining her. A Gardenia is a pretty, fragrant flower that is a metaphor for her innerself. As the poem moves to the parentheses it takes a turn. Dove uses parentheses to show this is the hidden part of holidays life. This poem talks about holidays heroine addiction and reliance on it. It is a representation of how women were looking for an escape, something to free them from life. The lines ¨Fact is, the invention of women under siege has been to sharpen love in the service of myth.¨ uses a period to show solidity and inescapability. Lastly dove says ¨Ã¯f you can't be free, be a mystery.” to signify that women use mystery to find the closest thing to freedom they can get. That if they cannot be freed of their cage then they will not allow those who watch to fully understand them.
ReplyDeleteIn the collection of poems by Rita Dove called “Civil Rights” there is one poem that stood out to me based purely off of it’s title. “Climbing In” is an odd title for a poem based off of Civil Rights, so I read on. After reading it a number of times, I’ve come to the conclusion that the poem is about buses. Of course, at the time, African Americans trying to ride the bus found great difficulties, and they were often told to sit at the back of the bus and give up their seats when asked to by a white person. In this regard, black people most likely viewed buses as something they had limited privilege to, and might even hate, for further stressing their lack of rights to the fellow riders of the bus. Dove uses this poem to emphasise the dread one might feel getting on the bus as an African American at the time. The poem is a reference to Little Red Riding Hood, where the narrator is Little Red Riding Hood, and the bus and/or driver is the Big Bad Wolf. This is evident in the lines, “...these are big teeth, teeth of the wolf under Grandmother’s cap.” The whole first stanza, “Teeth. Metallic. Lie-gapped. Not a friendly-shine” is giving diction and personification to the poem, comparing the doors to the bus as the mouth of the Big Bad Wolf. Also, the “clinking gullet” at the end of the poem is in reference to the esophagus, and being swallowed by the Wolf. In terms of Civil Rights, the dime that the narrator clutches in her hand is (one of) the only things she has rights to currently, and by handing it over to the driver, someone who probably has more dimes than she does on any given day, is degrading and demeaning. The narrator must “pay him to keep smiling”, meaning either to keep the doors of the bus “smiling” and open, or to make the Wolf happy that he was able to trick and swallow his next meal for the day. As for the title, the phrase “Climbing In” is very permissive and voluntary, meaning these black men and women are willing to climb into the “Wolf’s” mouth, as opposed to the original story, where Red Riding Hood was swallowed whole against her will.
ReplyDelete
DeleteWithout realizing, I chose the same poem as you, so I apologize. I must say that our analysis mostly line up, except I connected mine with “Rosa”. The one thing I didn’t have included in my post that I learned from you was the line about the dime and how it connects with paying the bus driver and keeping the wolf “happy”. I also see why you thought the title meant that, but a different point of view could be that the title “Climbing In” can refer just to climbing into darkness and harm voluntarily, which is what many black women and men did doing anything, not even just riding the bus. Great analysis!
In Dove’s Civil Rights movement, one page had the poems “Rosa” and “Climbing in” right next to each other. Having “Rosa” right after “Climbing in” is a great addition to Climbing In. Climbing In being first, I will discuss its importance. Climbing In is a juxtaposition between Red Riding Hood and what the African American community had to deal with, just to ride the public bus. The speaker uses short, abrupt sentences and excellent use of imagery to give readers the tone of seriousness and unsettlement. The first stanza of the poem demonstrates this with “Teeth. Metallic. Lie-gapped”. This, right off the bat, gives that feeling of hostility and discomfort, much like the African Americans would have felt in this particular moment. This is done so we can not only read it and feel it on the surface, but we can really attempt at empathising. Really let the poem transport us into that era, and what it really was like. Those lie-gapped and metallic teeth represent the stairs up to the bus while in the next stanza, “...like the dime cutting my palm as I clutch the silver pole to step up,up”. Represents that pole that one holds onto while climbing up the stairs. The imagery of the pole cutting the palm is demonstrating how this simple act of climbing into a bus is so dangerous and hurtful to the African American community at this time. The Red Riding hood reference comes in when “These are big teeth, teeth of the wolf under Grandmother’s cap” is said in the 3rd and 4th stanza. This is to represent the seemingly harmless nature of the bus--the grandma on the outside, is actually completely dangerous and hostile--the wolf/bus. The poem Rosa can be paired with this poem because in that poem, the speaker doesn’t quite speak about the hostility of the bus, or actually getting there. The speaker jumps right in with describing how it was time to make a change. It seemed wrong but it needed to happen. “How she sat there, the time right inside a place so wrong it was ready”. This gave readers that same feeling of urgency that Rosa Parks most likely felt when she was adamant about sitting down on the bus. I believe that “Climbing In” was used as kind of the back story to “Rosa”...what the reader didn’t get from “Climbing in” was demonstrated in “Rosa” and vise versa.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your connection of "Rosa" and "Climbing In", and how Climbing In is a nice intro poem to open it up for Rosa. I also agree with the last sentence of your analysis, "...what the reader didn't get from 'Climbing In' was demonstrated in 'Rosa' and vice versa". I also think taking the time to talk about the effect of the poem on the reader was effective, and well-placed. Great analysis.
DeleteI totally agree with your analysis of the connections between "Rosa" and "Climbing in". "Climbing In" is a great intro to "Rosa", because like you said, it really dives the reader into the era with its use of very descriptive imagery. I also agree with the idea you proposed about what readers didn't get from one of the poems, they got from the other. I would like to add that I think "Climbing In" set the background for the more specific poem, "Rosa".
DeleteWhen reading Rita Dove’s collection of poems about civil rights, the poem that most stood out to me was “The House Slave”. The speaker conveys the agony and brutality slaves faced at all hours of the day in this poem. The similes that are used most importantly get across the message of this poem in a deeper tone while exposing some of the slave’s true feelings that are almost hidden behind their pain. The first simile was used in line six and it reads, “While their mistress sleeps like an ivory toothpick.” The use of the word toothpick connects the slaves pain to who is in inflicting it on them. Toothpicks are thought to be sharp and stiff, and this portrays how the slaves viewed their “mistresses”. I think by adding “ivory”, it connects the mistresses to the idea of lacking color or life. Also, ivory can be seen as a luxury, which completely makes sense from the persona “The House Slave” uses. This simile perfectly describes the most sorrowful, and almost regretful envy that the slaves faced everyday. Another simile in line fourteen reads, “And they spill like bees among the fat flowers.” The comparison of the slaves to bees perfectly describes their lives. They all swarm towards the field in huge numbers. This added a very distinct tone to the poem. By it being the second to last line, it leaves readers with a sickening image of all of the people that slaved for their lives. This placement was crucial for conveying the message. Both of these similes were perfectly used in the poem “The House Slave”, to explain the reality of their lives and true emotions.
ReplyDeleteIn the poem Rosa, Rita Dove highlights simplicity to further contrast and demonstrate the impact Rosa Parks had on the civil rights movement. This poem is very short, consisting of four stanzas, each three lines. Dove illustrates a humble, unsuspecting person, someone who you would not expect to have such a large impact on the civil rights movement. She also touches on the fact that no one should have to fight for something as simple as sitting on the bus, it is a basic simple right that everyone deserves. In the first stanza Dove writes “... the time right inside a place so wrong it was ready.”, Here she is referring to Montgomery, Alabama as the place ‘so wrong it was ready’ it is time to end the awful racism and discrimination that filled the south. In the second stanza Rosa is painted as someone simple.She is described as having a “trim name” , desiring only to sit, “... it’s dream of a bench to rest on.” , and a “sensible coat”. Dove is showing Rosa’s humanity, she, like many others just desires to rest at the end of the day. The sensible coat makes her seem practical, quiet, nothing special, Rosa is just like anyone else.
ReplyDeleteRita Dove uses simple punctuation, elegant diction, and metaphors to create the image and tone of dedication in her poem Rosa. The simple punctuation and elegant diction and using only basic points like periods and commas shows the simplicity of the action taken by rosa as well as the act of refining the defiance. Before Rosa Parks defied Jim Crow laws Claudette Colvin did the same defiance yet it wasn't made public because she was a teen mother and not a smart beautiful scholar like Rosa. Dove uses periods to create small sentences, only a few words long at times, to display that the act taken by Rosa was small and subtle yet largely impactful and significant. The metaphor of the clean flame in her gaze represents the anger Parks has towards the oppression but it's clean and controlled and she uses it as a catalyst for her courage. She uses her anger to burn a spot in our minds and in history. The camera flash signifies how it went down in history.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your statement about how Dove perfectly contracted this poem with diction and metaphors to convey Rosa's courage and the overall effect it had for empowering civil rights movements in the future. I didn't really notice how the punctuation effected the poem, but after reading your analysis, I totally agree. I think Rita Dove was really trying to highlight that this was such a small action but meant something way bigger back then. I think the was she uses sarcasm and paradoxical statements in this poem also added to that.
DeleteIn Rita Dove’s poem “Lady Freedom Among Us” was written to commemorate the restoration of the statue crowning the U.S. capitol building known as “Lady Freedom”. Dove uses this poem to express the bias that America’s society today against the lower class. In her first stanza Dove uses a command of “don’t lower your eyes” to represent how many of us today lower our eyes to the reality of the underclass and avert our eyes from them. In her second stanza she talks about how many people will say things such as “get a job” to them, using other examples as well such as “fly a kite”, and finally “go bury a bone”. The first command implies that people simply want what would benefit the struggling peoples, the second implying that all people want them to do is something productive and the third implying that people often think of them as so primal, and so far removed from the human race as to command them to “bury a bone”. In the next two stanzas it describes how Lady Freedom is dressed and what she looks like. In these two stanzas Dove describes Lady Freedom in her traditional garments that would seem foreign and strange to many, similar to how people see the lower class, poor and homeless in our society today. She uses phrases such as “she has risen among us in blunt reproach” and “the rainbowed layers of charity and murmurs all of you even the least of you” to describe how Lady Freedom does not keep bias’ towards people but rather rises above those worldly beliefs and chooses to include and accept all despite their class. The next stanza is two phrases “don’t cross to the other side of the square don’t think another item to fit on a tourist’s agenda” speaking obviously to the tourists visiting the capitol building but also representing how people should not dismiss the reality of the bias’ that american have towards the lower class and how it reflects the true nature of society. The next two stanzas are striking commands “consider her drenched gaze her shining brow” give the audience the command to face her and along with that face the realization that everyone has discriminated against the less fortunate. The last stanzas express that we will never be able to fully forget the flaws of our society and that since the beginning of America our only hope for success is togetherness and unity. The last phrases are “for she is one of the many and she is each of us” saying that Lady Freedom will always represent the true nature of our society and should always remain something we strive to emulate.
ReplyDeleteIn the first section, “1. The Cane Fields”, of Rita Dove’s poem Parsley the motif of death and morbidity fully display the darkness that is the Parsley massacre. Another present theme in the section is complete control and ownership of the Haitian people. In lines three and four we see how the Haitians are “haunted” by their work. It is in these cane fields that many of them will die, they will forever be stuck in this swampy place. In the third Stanza Dove writes “Like a parrot imitating spring, we lie down screaming, as the rain punches through…”. The harsh words, “screaming” and “punches” create a tone of pain and death. It is implied that the rain is causing this amongst the haitians. The rain symbolizes the Dominican Dictator, Trujillo, and his control over them. Rain is something unavoidable, unstoppable, we have no control over it , this represents the relationship between the cane field workers and the dictator that holds their lives in his hands. This painful relationship is relayed earlier in the second stanza, “ El General… he is all the world there is.” The cane field workers know nothing other than his rule, they are slaves to his law. The line ends with “Like a parrot imitating spring we lie down... and we come up green. We cannot speak R-.” In this poem the parrot is a symbol of many things, one being flowers or plant growth. This is true because it is described as being green and imitating spring, a time when flower are in bloom. In this particular stanza the workers are paired with the parrot, It is implied that they have been murdered by Trujillo (“we lie down…”) for their inability to say the spanish word perejil (parsley), their bodies have decomposed into dirt and eventually grown into plants again. In the next stanza, line eleven, the motif of death is present again, “The children gnaw their teeth to arrowheads.” Dove is alluding to the anxiety and nerves the people felt while waiting to be tested on their pronunciation skills. It is ironic that the children's teeth become “arrowheads,” a deadly weapon, because it is their voice, their mouth that leads them to death.
ReplyDeleteThe poem “Parsley” illustrates the brutal killing of thousands of Haitian sugar field workers under the dictatorship of General Rafael Trujillo of the Dominican Republic. “The Cane Fields” begins with the line “There is a parrot imitating spring.” This motif is introduced at the very beginning to draw to it’s importance. By saying it imitates spring, this is contrasting it with the bright and beautiful season. As the poem continues, it comes to attention that it is the pet of the vicious dictator. This clearly illustrates the irony of beauty and how it can always be found in the darkest of places. Spring is known for its gorgeous and bright colors, so contrasting it to the parrot makes it clear that this bird was the only nice thing at this time. The parrot also represents a paradoxical idea of the the wealth versus the enslaved workers and their sense of feeling captured. The parrot is clearly a very well treated pet in this time but is also captured. This idea raises the point of how the workers can be related to the parrot being that both of them are trapped, although in different ways. In line seventeen and eighteen, the parrot is highly contrasted with the workers and the torment they face. It reads, “For every drop of blood there is a parrot imitating wealth.” This line brings together blood and the parrot, which was supposed to represent beauty. The parrot is now in relation to the connotations of blood, death and violence. This brings up the irony of beauty again. It reads for every violent act, there is beauty somewhere. The parrot is an oblivious sign of unmistakable, bright beauty.
ReplyDeleteI like your analysis a lot, I thought of the parrot as not only being a pet, but also just representing the general as a whole. I thought it was very interesting of you just to say it’s purpose was to show beauty in the darkness, because parrots are beautiful while the general was very dark in nature. All of your comparisons to the parrot and wealth were spot on-- something I did not think too heavily about as I just tried comparing the parrot to the General himself. Overall pretty cool analysis, that made me think, and reevaluate the poem for myself.
DeleteThe poem “Parsley” delves deep into the loss of life both with the Haitian people and family members. The first section “the Cane Fields” alludes to the parsley massacre where thousands of people died. In the second stanza it says “El General searches for a word” and then in the fifth stanza it says “El Genera; has found his word”. This is talking about how president Leonidas Trujillo Molina decided to distinguish Haitians from the people of the Dominican Republic. Trujillo chose the word perejil, or parsley in english, because the people of Haiti often spoke french and so they were unable to roll their Rs. If they could not roll their Rs, then they were killed. That’s why in the fifth stanza the narrator says “who says it, lives.” because if they pronounce it with a Spanish accent, then they could live. A motif throughout “The Cane Fields” is “like a parrot imitating spring”. I feel as though the parrot represents the Haitian people. Also, the parrot is compared to the color of parsley. Parsley is grown in the spring and freezes over during the winter. During the parsley’s seconds spring, it grows seeds and then gives out. The parrot seems to be imitating spring because in the spring parsley dies. This is relevant because the Haitian people are also dying.
ReplyDeleteHi I'm Kayla Joe anonymous is the only one it would let me post on
Delete“Parsley”, the only poem in the Politics of History section, is generally about the Haitians working in the cane fields, their general, and his life before becoming the general, and his loss of innocence. This poem has two separate parts, one being what is happening to the Haitians, and the second part being almost an explanation for it through the general’s life background. The first part shows El General as being harsh while the second reveals a side of vulnerability, almost getting readers to sympathize for the antagonist of the poem. The first paragraph introduces/foreshadows to the second part titled “The Palace”. This demonstrates that this brutality from the general, begins in the palace and what happened there, which was his mother passing away. “We cannot speak an R-” is recalling the fact that to test if someone was Haitian or not, if they can’t pronounce the R sound, then they are. In the fifth stanza, the general picks a word with an R sound and showing his dark and almost psychotic side, “Who says it, lives. He laughs, teeth shining out of the swamp”. After mentioning something so deep and scary as death, the speaker describes him as laughing and happy to show that. In the second part of the poem, “The Palace”, readers are almost expected to feel sorry for the general and root for him in a way. “The general thinks of his mother, how she died in the fall”. Maybe this leads us to a conclusion of “well maybe the general isn’t so bad...after all, his mother did die”. The next line discusses how his mother’s walking cane was planted and bloomed every spring. Maybe this is why the first part mentions a parrot imitating spring. Parrots imitate things and the general represents the parrot, trying to imitate spring and see the flowers that are bloomed to remind him of his mother. This line being repeated in the first part can show that all of his brutal actions toward the Haitians was all because of his mother’s death and it being on his mind and how it took away his innocence. Another line that shows his innocent side is “The knot in his throat starts to twitch”. Right before crying, people feel a knot or lump in the back of their throats. The act of crying is to show a vulnerable side, much like the second part of the poem is trying to do.
ReplyDeleteWhen reading Dove’s American Smooth collection, the poem that stood out to me, was Fox Trot Fridays. This poem was not only high energy and fun to read, but also it was short and was made up of eight couplet stanzas, which made the poem seem less intimidating to really dive into. A foxtrot is a high energy and fun dance, and Fridays are known to be fun, and a way to escape the week. Dove is trying to tell us as readers that dancing really is just an escape from the real world and life’s stressors. She demonstrates this in the first stanza: “Thank the stars there’s a day each week to tuck in” and then completes the enjambment in the second stanza: “The grief...”. In addition to telling that dance is an escape and quick, fun, enjoyment, dancing in also graceful and smooth. In the fourth stanza, Dove uses alliteration with the S sound to give dancing that slow and smooth feel. “Nat King Cole’s slow, satin, smile”. It is demonstrated that dancing is quick and enjoyable with the quick, short, crisp sounds and words. She uses a lot of words with T sounds, and rather than dragging out each line and sound, they are straight forward and right to the point. Everyone can dance, everyone can find this is escape...”easy as taking one day at a time”, is a line that is used to mention that. Rather than her just telling us how great dancing is for her, she uses that line to make it more personal sounding...that really lets the reader in and allows them to get enveloped in the description. Rita Dove wrote this poem because dancing is very important in her life and she wanted to share it with everyone else. Personally, my grandma goes to ballroom dances all the time and she loves them and tells me about how much fun it is to have a carefree and fun night, so that supports what Rita dove is saying, making her works more relatable, because everyone likes something they can relate to. Even if people don’t dance while reading this, it is written in such a way that it can just be about life and taking time to have fun and relax, much like how we do on Fridays.
ReplyDelete“American Smooth” is the poem that stood out to me the most in Rita Dove’s American Smooth collection. This literary work is describing the waves of emotion within dance through her use of caesura and other literary devices revolving around form. Rita Dove and her husband loved to dance and this poem, I believe, highlights why it was so special to their relationship. Poetry is a form of dance. It flows on paper as a person flows on the floor. Rita Dove describes this as, “(for two measures? four?)一achieved flight, that swift and serene magnificence, before the earth remembered who we were and brought us down.” The idea proposed in these lines is the thought of losing yourself in something you are passionate about. You are no longer with yourself, you’re somewhere special where only what your doing at that exact moment matters. Another highlighted part in this line is the detachment from earth that is felt. You leave your thoughts and worries behind and rise above it all. Another line that was very powerful reads, “two chests heaving above a seven-league stride一such perfect agony one learns to smile through.” I think this part really depicts the strength is takes and how it’s not just dance. “Perfect agony,” this oxymoron shows Dove’s true feelings towards dance, it is hard but the way it makes you feel is like no other. The use of the caesura in this part is perfectly placed. It binds together two contradicting parts to create a seamless line structure.
ReplyDeletesorry! I totally didn't realize we had blogged on the same poem until I posted! I totally agree with you on all the parts you analyzed and i took a slightlhy different take on one of them. On the oxymoron of "perfect agony" i also believed it represented the physical agony of dance, adding to that it could also represent the agony that it takes for Rita Dove and other african americans to go out everyday into a world of opression having to put on a "pleasant" face as to not offend anyone. This pain that is brough on by oppression had been forced upon her and her community everyday and becuase she was so adjusted to this pain, the pain that dance brought her wasn't so bad becuase at least it was voluntary and at least it was working towards something that was her own and something that she loved.
DeleteWhen reading through Rita Dove’s poems in the section of American Smooth, her poem titled ‘American Smooth’ stood out to me. The title ‘American Smooth’ refers to the jazzier american version of fox trots tangos and waltzes. Dove uses this poem to represent everything that is quintessentially African American, taking everything they are given and making it their own. Unlike many of Dove’s other poems this one is written from her own perspective. After her house had burned down destroying much of her and her husbands work along with it, her neighbors approached her and her husband offering a “dinner dance” and telling them to dress their best. Rita and her husband went to that dance and found that it allowed them to escape and forget their troubles for a little while, and they have been dancing ever since. Dove begins the poem with a 14 line phrase to represent how, in dance, your movements are often fluid with small transitions from one section to another. Dove represents this through phrases such as “rise and fall” to represent that there is no true end only lower and higher levels of energy, and “precise execution as we moved into the next song without stopping,” meaning that the transition between dances were immediate making each style of dance flow into the other. Dove also explains how although dancing for long periods of time with no breaks can be awfully taxing the joy that it brings teaches you to smile through it. Dove demonstrates this through phrases such as “something romantic but requiring restraint”, explaining that this dance was romantic and something that she was enjoying with her partner but also required a lot of control and effort of her body. Dove also uses the phrase,“such perfect agony that one learns to smile through” Dove uses the oxymoron “perfect agony” the express that the effort put into dance in order to make it appear perfect is absolutely agonizing but at the same time it is so satisfying and joyful to achieve that it becomes entirely worth it. The last three lines of the first phrase of American smooth are written “ecstatic mimicry being the sine qua non of American Smooth.”. Dove uses another oxymoron, “ecstatic mimicry” to explain that although the dances they dance are exciting and fun and unique to the people dancing it they have been passed down through generations as a style unique to America. Dove then uses the phrase “sine qua non” translating to “without which nothing”. Dove uses this phrase to express how recognizing the history behind American Smooth and the fact that african american people took these dances, traditionally danced by caucasian people, and made them their own transforming them into a beautiful ebb and flow of movement, emotion, and technique, is absolutely essential to performing these dances. The phrase “without which nothing” is used to express that it would be absolutely impossible to perform these dances without understanding what makes them as beautiful as they are. The next phrase is 17 lines, completing the free verse poem. This portion of the poem explains how Dove’s focus while dancing had become so extreme that she had not realized that they had begun their lift. This represents how often dance was used to escape the persecution that African Americans in America faced everyday. In her last phrase “we had done it...achieved flight, that swift and serene magnificence, before the earth remembered who we were and brought us down.” Dove uses this phrase to represent how the African American community could use this art form that they had altered and made their own to escape from a community who abhorred everything that made them different. Although they could escape for awhile they would always have to go back to reality.
ReplyDeleteDove uses oxymoron, imagery, and metaphors to express the beautiful strength that all African Americans gained through oppression. Dove acknowledged that although achieving that level of perceived perfection was agonizing it was that feeling of freedom that made it worthwhile; and everyday as they endured the many difficulties placed in front of them they could always have a way and a place to escape.
DeleteI had a little too much this is the end :-)
American Smooth is a variation of ballroom dancing. Much like dancing, Rita Dove’s “American Smooth” makes one feel the twists and turns of a waltz. This can be seen with the caesuras throughout the poem. Within the first 14 lines of the only stanza, caesuras are placed somewhat evenly apart, much like slowly gliding around the room. Starting in the 18th line, caesuras are much more present giving the sensation of going at a faster pace and twisting and twirling. “And because I was distracted by the effort of keeping my frame ( the leftward lean, head turned just enough to gaze out past your ear and always smiling, smiling), I didn’t notice..” There is a pattern here that also occurs in another part of the poem, too. After three lines of enjambment there is a caesura after only three words and then awhile before another break in the line. This gives the reader a sense of slow and fast pace movement, reading it out loud one can even feel the turns happening. Another example of this is in the 22nd line of the stanza. “ I didn’t notice how still you’d become until we had done it (for two measures? four?) - achieved flight, that swift and serene magnificence..” Again after the caesuras there are few words. Dove does this to make the reader feel the movement of the characters who are dancing.
ReplyDeleteIn the poem “Fox”, from the American smooth collection, Dove uses repetition and a very statement orientated form to establish a sense of female independence and confidence. ‘she’ and ‘her’ are repeated multiple times. When Dove writes ‘she’, she is referring to herself. This repetition, unnecessary in some parts, is to continually remind the reader about its subject matter, Rita Dove, a woman. The repetition really doesn't allow the reader to think about anything else, it creates a focus. The word imagine is also repeated three times. The first “She knew what she was and so was capable of anything anyone could imagine.” is saying that she not limited because of her gender, she can do anything anyone else can. The second time imagine is used it has a more materialistic literal meaning rather than fanciful possibility, “... she was, there for the taking, imagine” Rita is referring to the poetry and art she creates, she does this so that anyone can gain enjoyment from her. The third time it has a similar connotation, “she imagined nothing.” Dove is saying that she is content with what she has she places no value on material items, she is empowered by this.The repetition of she/her and imagine along with the last three lines, “... which was more than any man could handle.” , create a tone of female empowerment and strength. The statement based form also aids in creating tone. Each sentence in this poem is very declarative and to the point. Unlike some of Dove’s other works this poem is fairly simple and to the point, lacking any excessive literary ideas. This is a very purposeful choice, again Dove is trying to highlight the focus, of strong women, by stripping the poem to a solid foundation.
ReplyDeleteIn Rita Dove’s “The House Slave”, the reader is presented with five triplet stanzas. The short stanzas make the poem seem easy to follow and not so intimidating, yet the messages inside are not as promising. “The first horn lifts its arm over the dew-lit grass” is the very first line of the poem. The “first horn” alludes to the slaves being called over in the morning. One slave would blow the horn to gather other slaves hence why in the next line the narrator says “in the slave quarters there is rustling”, because now they’re all getting ready for the day. In the next stanza there are pronouns meaning that the poem is in first person. Yet, the lines “I watch them driven into the vague before-dawn while their mistress sleeps like an ivory toothpick” suggest that this person may not also be a slave. The narrator says that he or she is watching “their” mistress and not his or her own. Another example is in the fourth stanza when the narrator says “I lie on my cot..” (12) this is after the second horn has gone off and by that time the slaves who were not up or ready were met with a whip across their backs (9). In spite of still being in his or her cot, the narrator isn’t being sought after by the people rushing the slaves out. But, one line did catch me by surprise, “sometimes my sister’s voice, unmistaken, among them” (10). I found this interesting because if his or her sister’s voice is among the other slaves, that would mean the narrator is also black. But, why is he or she not with the other slaves? That’s when I realised the title made sense, the narrator is a house slave, and the sister is a field slave. House slaves were treated much better and lived in the house. The grief felt throughout this poem is the narrator having to live as a bystander to how the other slaves are being treated.
ReplyDeleteHi I'm Kayla
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DeleteI totally did not see that the narrator is a house slave, and a bystander to her sister, which was a slave in the fields. It went over my head, and I honestly don’t have much prior knowledge on slaves so I didn’t even recall that there was more than one type, and one (the house slaves) get treated much better. That makes the title, and the line “I watch them driven into a...”. I just thought that Dove was getting to a point of that the narrator has lost connection with themselves because of being treated so badly and they now refer to themselves as “they”. Interesting, Kayla. Thank you.
The poem that stood out to me in Rita Dove’s Civil Rights collection was “Rosa.” This poem was based off of the historical figure, Rosa Parks, who stood up for her rights as a human being and decided not to be belittled based off of the color of her skin. Rosa sparked future empowerment in all African American spirits. Rita Dove uses a very powerful paradoxical statement in this poem to show that this small act was something bigger in the oppressed world African Americans were living in at the time. It reads, “Doing nothing was the doing.” This conveys how the act of stepping up and demanding equal treatment was “doing nothing” basically, it shouldn’t be an act of rebellion to receive this treatment. But for African Americans at this time, this set fire in Rosa Parks was considered one of the most empowered steps for their rights, and it still is today. I think Rita Dove is trying to highlight the irony in this situation. In today’s time, sitting wherever you want on the bus is a given, no thought to it, but back then it wasn’t a free for all for African Americans. Rita Dove also uses sarcasm to emphasize how unjust and completely irrational the oppression they were facing back then was. “How she stood up when they bent down to retrieve her purse. That courtesy.” This tone is edgy and and you can feel the distaste in the words. By putting this at the end of the poem, I think it really adds to the overall mood.
ReplyDeleteRosa was such a influential poem to me as well. I think in this poem Dove was attempting to make us think about a time that is often forgotten today, she doesn't want us to forget about those important historical figures and an extremely important time in the United States history. She may also be urging us to fight against injustices in our everyday world. Dove always ends her poems with a line that is left to make us ponder the words for a long time after we read it. Do you think that the poem is a call for us to fight against injustice or just talking about Rosa Park's life? I personally think that Dove wanted us to portray both of those, especially through her use of tone.
DeleteWhen reading through Rita Dove’s poems titled ‘Slavery’ a poem named “Belinda’s Petition” caught my eye. This poem tells the story of a young African girl from the country Ghana, who was kidnapped at the age of 12 and forced into slavery. After which Belinda worked until the age of 63. Belinda’s work ceased when Isaac Royall left for Nova Scotia and left behind his slaves. Belinda then petitioned for her right to compensation for the many years of work she had dedicated to slavery. Rita Dove inspired this poem after Belinda’s petition, explaining the title of the poem. The first stanza sets up Belinda’s letter, dedicating it to the “honorable Senate and House of Representatives of this Country”. The next phrase of the stanza uses a metaphor saying “new born: I am Belinda an African,” Dove uses the metaphor of Belinda being “new born”. This is a metaphor because when Belinda was freed from slavery she was 63 years old which makes her clearly not a new born. Dove uses this metaphor to convey to the audience that Belinda being freed from slavery began a new chapter in her life as a free african american woman in america allowing her all the freedoms and opportunities that a new born also has the potential to accomplish. Dove goes on to write “I will not take too much of your Time, but to plead my pitiable Life unto the Fathers of this Nation” establishing that Belinda was not protesting this for no reason except to plead for the wealth she deserved from her 51 years of forced labor. In the second stanza Dove emphasizes the humility in which Belinda was willing to approach the subject of asking for compensation. Dove writes, “Lately your Countrymen have severed the Binds of Tyranny. I would hope you would consider the Same for me, pure Air being the sole Advantage of which I can boast in my present Condition.” Dove uses a pleading tone in this stanza to support the humility in which Belinda approaches the situation. Phrases such as “lately your Countrymen have severed the Binds of Tyranny” and “pure Air being the sole Advantage of which I can boast...” Dove emphasizes that Belinda was not trying to place blame on those who had forced her into slavery but simply pleading for the compensation she deserved, crediting her ability to boast not even to her years of hard work but simply to the fact that she was still alive and breathing after all of them. In Dove’s final stanza she makes sure to emphasize the apparent innocence of Belinda in the horrible situation she was forced into. Dove begins, “As to the Accusation that I am Ignorant: I recieved Existence on the Banks of the Rio de Valta, All my childhood I expected nothing, if that be Ignorance.” emphasizing that in Belinda’s home country of Ghana she grew up knowing only the banks of the “Rio de Valta” and her small village and expecting little to nothing to come of her simple life.
ReplyDeleteThe name of this river adds irony to this phrase as instead of using the name that a person from Ghana would call it “the Volta River”, Dove uses the name that the “white men” dubbed the river. This is ironic because although Belinda is trying to emphasize her connection with her home and the existence it gave her, she instead called the river the name that the people who traded her and her people into slavery’s name for it instead of the name that she had grown up calling it, proving how intensely the slave trade had impacted her life. Belinda makes a sarcastic statement in this passage at first stating the only reason that she could be refused a compensation then proving that that reason is unjust through the statement “if that be ignorance.”. This statement is sarcastic because Belinda is basically asking the rhetorical question of “is the meaning of ignorance not suspecting something?” when the answer is clearly no. Dove then goes on to say “The only Travelers were the Dead who returned from the Ridge each Evening. How might I have known of Men with Faces like the Moon who would ride toward me steadily for twelve Years?” Dove writes this to show that Belinda is aware of what has happened to her but she does not harbor anger in herself for the things that came upon her. Belinda simply asks for what she is due. She uses the term “The only Travelers” and “the Dead” to name the “white men” that would come into her town everyday searching for innocent Africans to force into the slave trade. These names are placed upon the “white men” to show how the Africans viewed the white men as foreigners with no true knowledge of their land and “Dead” meaning that they had no consciousness or heart, or anything else that makes up a living human. Later in the phrase Dove compares these men to having “Faces like the Moon”. Often times, the moon is often associated with having “power and influence” just as the physical moon has over the tides of the ocean. Dove uses this association to emphasize that just as the moon pulls the tides to and fro on earth, the Africans, just like the tides, had absolutely no control over when and where they were “pulled” or moved because of the “white men”’s heavy influence over them.
DeleteDove’s poem collection switches between light and dark tones very swiftly and that shows how versatile her writing style is. In the Slavery section, the poem “The House Slave” is demonstrating her ability to write about something dreary. I chose this poem because it reminded me of 12 Years a Slave, a movie I recently watched. This poem is made up of five triplet stanzas, and it tells the story of a slave’s day to day life. In the first stanza, them being woken for their hard day is described. “The first horn lifts its arm over the dew-lit grass” explains how they are woken up. A horn is thought to be quite loud and commanding of a space, which is symbolism for how their lives are. Even at their calmest moments-sleeping (before dawn), there is something loud and that is taking over them. There is no escape. In this stanza, children are used to show how children are at the beginning of their lives, and so are these slaves. In a way, this poem is also hopeful. Children begin their lives and might have the hardships of growing up and puberty and all that, but it ends when they get to a certain age. Slaves as well, as we know, can sometimes be set free or escape, so instead of keeping the dreary tone, the speaker adds a glimmer of hope. In the last stanza the last line has “It is not yet daylight”. This brings the reader back to the hopeful tone and closes it. Daylight is symbolic for freedom. The slaves have not YET reached freedom, but this, along with the mentioning children, shows that freedom is able to come in the future. In the fourth stanza, biblical allusions “sister” and “pray” also contribute toward the feeling that good things are coming. When one prays, their hopes are usually supported by God and he helps them out. Maybe by including the praying demonstrates how their hopes and wishes will be answered. In this poem, Dove also uses first person narration to give it a haunting and personal feeling. This also transforms the author and reader to another place. We, as readers, know that Dove was not a slave, and neither are we but by using first person narration it feels as if we both were. Or we are being told a story by our great uncle.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with your analysis of "The House Slave". I as well thought the horn was perfect description of what they are against in their captivity. I agree with your analysis of the line "it is not yet daylight", but there was also another way I took it. I thought it also conveyed how unfair the conditions were. It is saying that the sun hasn't even risen yet, meaning they are up very early ready to start a long day. I didn't really think about it the way you took it till I read your analysis but now I totally see it. Great point!
DeleteIn Dove’s poem The Transport of Slaves From Maryland to Mississippi, Dove uses various types of writing styles to tell a story from different perspectives and create conflicting tones. The first stanza Dove wrote has a perspective of a slave who was running free, this is evident through quotes like,” I thought he was our salvation” “I am no btute. I got feelings”. Also the ironic statement, “shimmering in the hushed light”, where shimmering, a word with a positive connotation is used in a dark, somber, hopeless toned poem to show that this man was a glimmer of hope in darkness. The second and third standa both are written in an un-biased and third person perspective creating a sense of indifference. The fourth stanza are both written through the perspective of a slave’s encounter with a white man. The use of the “n” word in the fourth stanza and the slave “dropp[ing] under a crown of clubs” depicts the hate and oppression yet the last, open ended line, “You ain't supposed to act this way” leaves the reader with a saddening and questioning mood towards society.
ReplyDeletemy na-me haz ben speled wong all awong..... thaks fo tewling meh....
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