One thing that Rita Dove refers to a lot, especially in Mother Love, is mythology. Two poems we read in class were Persephone Falling and Demeter, Waiting. I found the mythology aspect pretty cool and how it adds a whole separate perspective and detail to this short sonnet. During the first few lines it comes across as her questioning herself as a parent which is something everybody does. Another thing that I noticed comes from the last two lines. We talked about how the sonnet goes from sad anger to explosive anger to calm anger. Those last two lines embody it pretty well. It goes from a huge threat where she says " I will wail and thrash until the whole goddamned golden panoramas freezes over," where she suddenly calms down when she says "Then I will sit down to wait for her." Those two lines really juxtapose one another and that eery calm at the end gives me the imagery of a calm, yet angry parent waiting in a chair content and ready to lecture or release explosive anger at someone else. This poem had it all and was an interesting one to look deeper at.
I really wanted to talk about the poem Wiederkehr because it left me super confused. This poem made me think more than any other poem i've ever read, granted I haven't read a lot of poetry. If this poem is truly about mythology than Hades would have been represented as an evil man who abducted her for his own selfish reasons. He would be portrayed as a villain especially from the point of view of persephone. However, it seems that she defends his actions and actually debates if she wants to stay with him or not. Although he is seen as a bad guy persephone describes him almost as she loves him. It seems that she isnt entirely unhappy with him. I wonder if she truly did enjoy him and she purposely ate the seeds so she had to come back or if she felt pity for him.
Wiederlehr translates to English as recurrence, anniversary, repetition... This seems to allude to, in the mythology, the cycle of Persephone returning every year to the underworld, but also the statement at the end, where Persephone implies that she would "reach for" the chance to stay or, should she leave, return.
Throughout Mother Love, Rita Dove uses imagery,and syntax to convey the different forms of love and how it affects the minds and hearts of readers. Looking into the poem ¨Golden Oldie¨,the first thing we noticed was the organization as it contained fourteen sentences chunked into four lines per section until the end, where the last passage has two lines.The punctuation also seems to lack within the whole page and this establishes the mood of a slow(due to the number of commas),yet having a smooth flow. From there, my group tried to figure out the perspective of the individual in the poem and later concluded that they were a representation on a more modern entity that Rita Dove created. Imagery is predominate through the whole sonnet, especially visual imagery as Dove begins to paints the scene into the readers mind. A phrase such as: ¨I made it home early, only to get stalled in the driveway, swaying¨ Finally, When looking up the definition for ¨Goldie Oldie¨, I found this interesting. Dictionary.com interprets it as this: ¨something once popular or valued that has retained its appeal or for which interest has been reawakened¨. I felt that Rita Dove use of imagery and syntax to show the message that love is like a ¨Goldie Oldie¨ because it has existed, grown, and changed with us as our race continues to move forward.
A poem in Rita Dove’s Mother Love that resonated with me was Primer. This poem captures a significant turning point in Persephone's life when she embarks on her journey towards independence. The way I interpreted it was that she was never bothered by the words that she was called when she was in the sixth grade- “Brainiac” “Stringbean” What really bothered her was her mother always coming to her rescue. Persephone wants independence and shows her empowering attitude in this poem. There is repetition of the letter ‘s’, I am not sure what the significance of this is, but it is very clearly used. This poem also touches on the topic of self-image and how she never had a problem with her body which illustrates her strong personality.
I really like how you talked about the independence Persephone was wanting. It highlights the idea of a daughter growing up and finding her own. I also think that the poem illustrates Persephone's need to grow up and forge her own path without her mother getting in the way. She realizes that the only reason she survived the girls was because of her mother. She uses that realization as her motivation to grow up.
One of the poems that really sparked my curiosity was “Used.” It made me think about the ways that women’s bodies are used. One of the ways I interpreted this poem was that there is a huge difference of emotion when a woman is carrying a child versus when she has already given birth. “Used” gives a very interesting take on both of those stages. The line, “when the last child emptied us of their brief interior light” makes me think about the way a woman feels while she is pregnant. During a pregnancy the child gives off this “light” or this energy. There is nothing like carrying another life inside of you and this line really highlights that point. However, the poem also makes me think about what happens after a woman gives birth. In this case, it seems like after the child was born, the mother wasn’t feeling all that great. “Have you ever tried silk sheets? I did, persuaded by postnatal dread and Macy’s clerk to bargain for more zip.” This line makes me think about the mother trying something new just to try and feel good again. She was lured by the idea of these new sheets changing something inside of her but in the end she still felt “used.”
The line you mentioned "Have you ever tried silk sheets?" seems to me like its more of a sultry line. Almost referring to conception or sex after having a child and how that is a very different experience. Which is a very bold topic to discuss in a poem especially since pregnancy even today is seen as kind of a taboo topic. It's a big deal, difficult process, every part of it and women are not necessarily given the credibility, maternity leave, or respect they deserve for going through that process and making it out alive because it is a life threatening process. Women have zero light shed on that topic, once again it's easy to see why Rita Dove would use light as a symbol in her poem to be interpreted multiple ways. I enjoyed your analysis of this, its an important poem for women. The gender can definitely be used in more ways than one, as a vessel for life or more often than not ridicule.
The Narcissus Flower is so cool you guys! WOW! The poem is definitely from Persephone's perspective as she is describing her journey down to Hell with Hades and the fear that came along with it. Rita Dove's use of imagery and rhythm create a haunting tone that express the true meaning of the poem : traumatic experiences extinguish innocence and lead to a more realistic perspective of the world. Persephone describes hearing herself, "scream as the blossom incinerated."The image of a blossom incinerating symbolizes persephone's innocence fading as she is no longer living in a safe world where she is free. A flower is often used to symbolize naive innocence or romance, hence why Rita Dove utilizes this symbol. This line also ends with a period, slowing down the rhythm of the poem giving the effect that Persephone is no longer young and reckless, but has to take the time to think and consider or reflect on what has happened. She must ponder her life now lived in two worlds, one full of bitterness and cold and the other in Hell with a manipulative ruler.
I agree. I really like the use of imagery in this poem and pretty much all of Dove's poems as it really adds extra meanings to the words and helps the poetry be more in-depth. A form of imagery that took place in my group's poem, "Breakfast of Champion," was when Dove writes "I've crossed a hemisphere, worked my way through petals and sunlight to find a place fit for mourning." I think that the forms of imagery and the overall message of the sentence really juxtaposes one another. As a reader I get the feeling of happiness and calm by reading about the petals and sunlight, but the mood changes in the end when she says the person is looking for a place fit for mourning. I can envision this person finding a place to mourn and that is credit to the imagery that Dove uses.
Golden Oldie was a beautifully sad poem by Rita Dove that talked about a person longing for love as they listened to a song in a car. "I made it home early, only to get stalled in the driveway, swaying at the wheel like a blind pianist caught in a tune MEANT FOR MORE THAN TWO HANDS PLAYING." Dove uses this imagery to show that this person is lonely, they need a third hand, another person to be with them. Throughout the poem Dove Uses imagery and syntax to express lonely longing to for love at any cost. -Katie
Catherine of Siena was actually a saint who had the goal of surrendering herself to God. In the beginning of the poem, the woman was seeking out the company of another person. When comparing this to the historical figure, I think that this line was used as a way to show that all she needed was God and that He was enough. The line “you prayed until tears streaked the sky” is talking about the idea that she was looking for some savior to come and rescue her. However, as described in the last two lines of the poem, the savior never comes. I think that there was this expectation for someone to come and save her but no one ever did. The use of “no one unpried your fists as you slept” almost describes the impatience she was feeling while she laid there. I also interpreted the line “under the star-washed dome of heaven, warm and dark” as heaven being something she could give in to. It’s almost like it was waiting for her and welcoming her. The fact that her hands were in fists almost makes me thinks she was resisting the urge to just give in. This ties me back to the historical figure and how she wanted to surrender herself to God. Surrendering yourself means giving up things you may hold dear, that can’t be easy. The act of surrendering, I feel, is a journey. While the woman is staring up at the sky, I think that was her journey. She may have fought it off at first, but eventually she gave in. “No one unpried your fists as you slept.”
Although all of the poems in Mother Love are unique and striking in their own rights, "Heroes" is perhaps the most startling. At the surface, it is longer, and told as a story. It has a very consistent triplet structure, punctuated with a single line at the end. Upon first reading, it becomes apparent that this is nothing like the Greek epics. Instead, underneath the title "Heroes" sits a story of naivete and crime, an odd juxtaposition. Within this story, ideas of morality and consequence come into play. The ending stanzas, within their regretful tone, attempt to rationalize the previous actions of the narrator, but in the end it seems to fail. The middle section, where "you" offer the woman trinkets and place in history puts into individual importance into perspective. Only the flower matters to the woman, not trinkets, or permanence. It is of such importance that she only wakes in the morning for it, though it wilts. All in all, the poem mirrors wonderfully the lessons and ideas of the Old Greek tales, while taking a tone directly opposite to those same stories. All of the sentiments of the poem, from its morality to its regret, calls back to Greek epics, it makes one more major deviation. When considering the heroes of these ancient stories, a common air of something more than human separates the hero from more common folk. Rita Dove uses the rarely seen second-person point of view to counter this, and establish a personal feel that's just the right amount of unsettling. -Oan Johnson
By Llayne ngo Looking through the poems for tonight's blog post, ¨Tou Wan Speaks to Her Husband, Liu Sheng¨ caught my eye. Either if it was the culture or the beautiful imagery Rita Dove wrote within each verse, I felt a tender and intimate tone used for Tou Wan´s voice. She uses phrases of endearment, including ¨my only conqueror¨ and ¨my constant emperor¨. The style of this poem is looser and conversational which gives off the impression of how a wife speaks to her husband. When doing some background research on Chinese imperial burial practices, I found that big chambers are prepared for the royal, along with items made of gold, silver, bronze, and other precious jewels. Other items such as chariots statues and art also accompanied them, for it was believed they served a purpose in helping their masters journey through the afterlife. These items or a variation of them show up throughout Dove's poem. However, a different stanza(stanza seven) describes a burial suit made of ¨two thousand jade wafers(slice/substrate) with gold thread to a brilliant envelope...¨. The six lines are then followed by two final lines that wrap the poem with another reference to the promises of an afterlife, ¨...you are long light and clouds over the earth, just as the legends prophesy.¨ It is here that Tou Wan Speaks to Her Husband, Liu Sheng for the last time before he embarks on his journey to the heavens.
Connor McClean The poem that caught my eye was “Sonnet in Primary Colors” which is about Frida Kahlo who is a famous artist. She was a great student and was headed to medical school until she got in an accident at 18 and took up painting. She was a surrealist painter. Rita used Frida's personal life to create this poem that accurately pays tribute to Frida. The line “ Each night she lay down in pain” was connected to the fact that she had been in a terrible accident that left her lifelong pain. The line “This is for the woman with one black wing perched over her eyes” also seemed to reference Frida's unibrow. The line “Lenin and Marx and Stalin” was a connection to her decision to join the Mexican communist party. It is clear that Rita did her research about the life of Frida Kahlo. I personally like her artwork a lot and I enjoyed this poem. The part that caught my eye was where her husband Diego is introduced. He is introduced in the last few lines of the poem but he's such a big part of her life it makes me wonder why he isn't introduced earlier. I also wondered if he is introduced in the end because he was said to be the only thing stopping her from killing herself towards the end of her life. Maybe he is only mentioned at the end because he was most important at the end of her life.
I definitely see the purpose behind why you think Rita Dove put her husband at the end of the poem, and I agree. However, I want to understand the imagery his line in the poem is given. Is the thumbprint his stamp on her forehead or is it Frida putting it on herself? Could it be a metaphor for his stamp of approval or is it more she needed to be put in her place in order to have an, "immutable brow" meaning an unchanging structure to her face. Even through pain and ache she must remain the same type of women, when she clearly is not.
The poem that I found the most interesting from the "historical figures" category was "Nestor's Bathtub." What an interesting name for a poem and I believe the opening phrase really set up the tone of the poem. "As usual, legend got it all wrong." Like what is that symbolizing? How is that "as usual?" I thought that was a pretty interesting start and it definitely brought some intrigue. After some research I learned that Nestor was the King of Pylos and he went to fight in some of the Trojan Wars. The bathtub belongs to Nestor, but it seems as if his wife was the one to really enjoy it. The poem emphasizes the fact that the bathtub still remains after thousands of years despite everything around it turning to dust and the kingdom falling. How is it that this limestone bathtub remained? Overall the use of imagery and references back to earlier times made this a very intriguing poem.
I also found that every stanza starts by describing the "legend" it is interesting how much focus is put around the legend. It made me wonder what the significance of this was. Does she not believe the stories or did I just not do enough research around this topic? This poem left me with a lot of questions. -Connor
Catherine of Siena fascinated me. First of all, Catherine of Siena is a female Catholic Saint. She is considered a daughter of the Catholic Church. The mention of Italy in the poem is indicative that she is roman and Catholic. I think both Catherine poems are using biblical references about Christ's atonement to emphasize a greater meaning, not sure what the meaning is but I assume sacrifice of women in authorial or a historically significant viewpoint. But the boulder, cedar shelves, father's shop, "prayed until tears streaked the sky", "no one stumbled across your path". All of these refer to things of biblical Christ. A boulder was placed in front of his tomb,hence the reference to contemplating life, his earthly father was a carpenter, he prayed in the garden of Gethsemane and cried, and no one suffered like biblical Christ did. I can see underlying meanings of suicide as well as tones of anger, trial, aggression that are told from a female Saint's perspective which is an interesting juxtaposition. These are literary features I noticed and found the most intriguing or like Rita Dive was trying to say something more about this.
The fact that the title of the poem is in quotation marks, “The situation is intolerable” almost makes it seem sarcastic. It’s like this barrier that keeps us from moving forward. Being that this poem is about civil rights, it makes me think about how beyond the exterior, people are more of the same and differences need to be set aside. Towards the ending, I think Rita Dove really reflects that idea, “so what if we were born up a creek and knocked flat with the paddle, if we ain’t got a pot to piss in and nowhere to put it if we did? Our situation is intolerable, but what’s worse is to sit here and do nothing.” This quote really makes me think about working together to get out of a situation. It’s like saying so what if we don’t look or act the same? We need to work towards whatever our goal is and look past the things that don’t matter. “Shoes shined, each starched cuff unyielding, each dovegrey pleated trouser leg a righteous sword advancing onto the field of battle in the name of the Lord.” This portion of the poem also could represent the idea of there being no differences in mankind. In this quote, they are all “advancing onto the battlefield” together. Again, there’s that idea of working towards the common goal. In order to do this people need to set aside their differences. There’s that idea of civil rights, everyone deserves the same things. We are all living our lives and working through our own things. This poem, I think expresses that idea.
Written by Llayne ngo In ¨Rosa¨, Rita Dove's simplicity creates a short but powerful poem. First look at the organization of the verses. There are only three lines per stanza which add up to only twelve lines in total. Along with the short stanzas, the language that Dove uses is very vague and lacks imagery, yet what is even more bizarre is the syntax. ¨Her sensible coat¨ and ¨Doing nothing was the doing¨ are just a few examples, but I believe it is necessary to use such pairings because the poem is reflecting civil rights movements, specifically Rosa Parks Montgomery bus boycott in 1955(Thank you APUSH). With that in mind, I began using historical context for each verse, here is an example: ¨Doing nothing was the doing¨, going back to this verse which at first did seem to be an unusual word pair but later made sense because Dove did this to show that the action that Parks did to start her movement was by doing... nothing. When told to give up her seat on the bus, she made no effort to move until she was later forced off. Because of her action, it sparked something ¨right inside a place so wrong it was ready¨.
Also written by Llayne ngo Another thing I noticed was the first and tenth line, ¨How she sat there¨ ¨How she stood up¨ They both start with ¨how she¨ but then are opposites and the placement of them are in opposite directions(one in the beginning and one in the end)
I also like these short poems because they do tend to pack a punch and have more meaning ingrained in every word. The poem next to it, "Climbing in," is another short poem that has a lot of different sentence structures to add emphasis. It opens up with "Teeth. Metallic. Lie-gapped." While they might be a little more confusing because they are shorter, they are also more powerful and those types of poems are really impactful, especially when it comes to discussing the situation of human rights.
Claudette Colvin, was the woman who really started the civil rights movement in Montgomery. She refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white person long before Rosa Parks did. Claudette Colvin Goes to Work is about her. Still in her same old life, working a night shift as a nurse aid. This seems to be after the incident on the bus and yet there is mention of people saying that she cursed and spat (likely at the officers that came to remove her) which she hadn't. The poem tells us how even after the bus segregation laws were revoked not much had changed. She had to leave her home and move to New York because she had been labeled a "trouble maker" for exercising her right to sit on a freaking bus. Katie Newell
The poem “Freedom Ride” mentions huge civil rights activists such as Malcolm X and Robert Kennedy. Rita dove uses plenty of allusion and bus imagery. This is used to emphasize the harshness of the situations people were put in. Historically, freedom riders meant to challenge segregation and protest specifically against segregated bus terminals. These riders often faced horrific violence from white protesters. The line “Pull the cord a stop too soon, and you’ll find yourself walking a gauntlet of stares.” This sentence highlights the extent to which black people were watched and meant to stay on their toes, on edge at all times. They could never live without being indirectly judged or in fear of violence directed at them. The last eight lines use fire imagery leaving to reader with a haunting feeling to reminisce the lives of people that were taken due to violence.
Notice how the piano is a cocktail piano, almost as if that object is a symbol for freedom. Having access to music and drinking gives the opportunity for life to be lived recklessly and to experience things that make life worth living. Music is often described in literature as a breath of life for the characters that thrive or depend on it and that can hold true for those enduring the transatlantic journey. They want to live today because they don't know if life will grant them anything making mortality about more than just survival. Not to mention the weather emphasizes this same theme, of having things that make life worth living, through juxtaposition (as you mentioned). The slave sitting in, "a corner, hunched in bad weather" is indicative of the slave's perspective of this journey as dark, dreary almost life sucking as they are confined to a corner. The salve is restricted to a confined space, they are claustrophobic a clear symbol that a slave's life is limited to survival. The couple on the other hand has the opportunity to remark the weather of the seas as "calm" and at that point of fixation they were "enmeshed in their own delight" clearly free to enjoy existence even though both parties are experiencing travel to the same destination their journey's are significantly different.
I want to blog about the poem Climbing In because I was confused by what POV the poem is from. My thoughts are it is from multiple perspectives each divided by triplets and one quartet. The one quartet must have purpose. I think the quartet is from the point of view of a slave auctioneer : "like the dime cutting my palm as I clutch the silver pole to step up, up." I think it is also possible for the quartet to be from the perspective of a slave as they can sense their dollar worth to the point of physical pain, "cutting my palm", and the line that really makes me think this is "I clutch the silver pole to step up" step up where? Onto a stage? To be seen and judged by buyers? I was so confused as to what the person or people in this poem were attempting to convey through their experience. And the little red riding hood imagery is a symbol of childish fear and terror. Which makes sense because the life of a slave,especially the experience of being auctioned off, must be a nightmare. The childish fear adds a relatable message to the poem drawing not only sympathy, but some extent of empathy.
I thought this was an interesting poem because the point of view at first seems like its from an outside perspective but it also seems like its changing throughout the poem. I thought it was really interesting that you saw it as the point of view of a slave or a slave auctioneer. I interpreted it differently the first time I read through it but this idea makes a lot of sense to me now. I saw it more as a slave in modern times like she was a slave to society instead of a slave to someone. Like shes forced to stand and hold the silver pole. She doesnt have the choice to sit or stand and shes a slave to those rules.
This poem was an interesting one and I had to read it many times just to get a basic understanding of what was going on. While I’m sure there is much more for me to figure out about this poem, there were some things I picked up on. Every time something green is mentioned whether it be the parrot or just the word green, the cane appears. The thing I found interesting was that there was the same reference to the cane in both perspectives of the poem. “The cane appears in our dreams, lashed by wind and streaming,” and “now the general sees the fields of sugar cane, lashed by rain and streaming.” While I don’t understand why it appears in both perspectives, I do think that it represents something haunting for both. It’s not just the cane, it’s also the parrot, the arrowhead teeth, and the rolling of the letter R. I think that all of these aspects of the poem stem from the General’s mother in some way and it might explain the overlap of those different parts.
The poem really does take a turn for the worse. Which is fascinating to me because the poem itself is so repetitive, which in politics makes sense. The elections happen at the same time every two years, 4 years, etc. and the outcome is often the same. There's a winner and loser. It's a definitive answer. I think the spring imagery is used, because spring is often a symbol of rebirth and a new start, like the winner of an election or a politicians term being renewed they may feel reborn, but the politicians constituents may not always feel the same.
The poem "the cane fields" appears to be talking about the parsley massacre in which the dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo had tens of thousands of haitians killed. The poem seems to be from the point of view of a Haitian. The word that the general finds in the poem perejil is spanish for parsley. The parrot imitating spring line I believe is referring to Trujillo as he claimed to be fixing crimes by getting rid of the haitians. He is pretending to be trying to help the Dominican republic but is wiping out a large portion of its population. Katie Newell
At first, I did not know the specifics the poem could be referring too, but it did introduced sugar canes, swamps and marshes. This led me to believe the setting of the poem took place in the Dominican Republic, just as you thought of as well. I love the background research you did,it would never occur to me that it could be including the dictator Trujillo. -Llayne Ngo
In the first part of Parsley(The Cane fields), there is is quite a few things taking place. First, the poem stars off with ¨There is a parrot imitating spring¨ and continues to appear another three times. I decided to look into different green parrots that live within the Dominican Republic but when looking at the other instances it shows up, I noticed a slight difference that saved me from diving into the unnecessary research. In the 2nd stanza and 6th line, it start with ¨like a parrot imitating spring¨. Instead of ¨there is¨,it was replaced with ¨like a¨ and this told me that Rita Dove was comparing something or someone to the parrot which earlier on in the stanza talks about El General(aka Rafael Trujillo). With this in mind, I wondered ¨why would Rita Dove compare a dictator to a bright,¨parsley green¨feathered bird?¨ One possibity could be the fact that Trujillo during his time in power improved sanitation,constructed new roads, hospitals and schools, along with improved standard living for the Dominican people which seem like positive actions, yet the main focus he wanted were the secured kickbacks(money payments) on contracts and monopolizing different industries to keep their economic position secure, allowing him, his family and supporters to be given a higher gain then the people(hence the imitation of a beautiful bird). -Llayne ngo
I found that the "politics of history" poems were a little different than the more traditional poems that Dove wrote. They are longer, include a lot more detail, and honestly are a little easier to follow because less is needed to be interpreted. "The Farming of Bones" is a good example of this because as Katie reffered to it references the parsley massacre the killed multiple Haitians. The poem is very graphic and has imagery such as "Yves and I were shoved down onto our knees. Our jaws were pried open and parsley stuffed into our mouths." Another example is "Someone threw a fist-sized rock, which bruised my lip and left cheek. My face hit the ground." The fact that this is in the POV of a Haitian is also pretty significant and it allows me to see more of the viewpoint. Overall these longer politics of history poems are a little longer, but tell a lot more of the story and include more detail.
Connor McClean I read the poem Climbing In because I wasn't sure why they poem resembled the childhood story of little red riding hood. At first I felt like she chose to do that because she wanted to show how she was tricked but i thought it could also be representing the foolishness of a child. To me this poem was about the people who rode on buses. The line “like the dime cutting my palm as I clutch the silver pole to step up” sounded like the dime was her bus fare and she was climbing onto the bus clutching the pole because she wasn't allowed to sit down. The line “pay him to keep smiling” also gave me the sense that the only reason they were allowed on the bus is because they paid and without that bribe the wolf or bus driver wouldn't allow them on the bus.
The Palace fascinates me, mainly because it doesn't necessarily make a lot of sense to me, but I appreciate the literary features so I'm going to elaborate on those. Rita Doves often uses enjambment in this poem and I am not sure if this is why Rita Dove uses it, but I see validity in the rhythm of the narrator. As soon as "the general" changes his thought process or mind Rita Dove uses enjambment. Rita dove uses vass amounts of historical symbolism, my favorite was the four-star blossoms. Four stars takes military honor as well as luck and a sign of spring which gives the sign of rebirth in both poems under Parsley.
I really liked the poem “Fox Trot Fridays” because it sets aside the craziness of life and just focuses about being in the moment. It explains the smoothness and easiness of the foxtrot while also touching on the closeness Rita Dove feels while shes dancing with her partner. The first two lines talk about taking time out of the week to just for dancing. I love the line “tuck in your grief, lift your pearls, and stride brush stride.” It’s important to forget about all of the things that stress us out in life and take the time to enjoy yourself. Life can get overwhelming at times but stepping back necessary so we don’t lose our minds. The line “smooth as Nat King Cole’s slow satin smile, easy as taking one day at a time” helps the reader visualize the easiness of the dance. What I liked most about this poem was this line, “one man and one woman, rib to rib, with no heartbreak in sight - just the sweep of Paradise and the space of a song to count all the wonders in it.” It made me think about the relationship of two people dancing together and how special it is. It’s almost like you get this certain feeling when you’re dancing with someone. In this poem it made me think about the world disappearing around them as they danced and they were just in the moment. I like how simplistic this poem is and how much you can grab from just reading it. I like the message of stepping back and enjoying something, because it’s the simple things in life we take for granted.
I definitely agree with the point Dove makes when she is telling us to forget about life every once in a while. While it is important to stay in the present, sometimes taking a break to enjoy yourself is extremely important. The feeling of the poem was definitely calming and it makes the reader really feel at ease. Especially those phrases like "satin (soft) smile" or even the simple word: "smooth." This is a good poem and one that has a feeling that you can really take away.
A lot of the poems in the packet seemed to have no rhyme or reason and weren't the easiest to understand. However, one poem that stood out to me was "Quick." Dove structures this poem using couplets which I found interesting. The first four couplets ended with a punctuation while the last four did not end with punctuation's as they moved onto the next line. It uses a story to talk about the concept of not really having a care in the world and not having to be attached to anything. This mother fox has no connection to her child where Dove writes "No grief nor thought of love-pure purpose." The last line is a good ending to the poem as well which causes the reader to think. Everything the mother fox cared about "poured into flight." While this poem was still a little confusing and it's hard to find the true meaning or message, I thought it was one of the more intriguing poems in the packet.
I do agree that this poem is intriguing and causes you to think. It approximately took me 5 times of reading it over and over to generate some sort of idea of what it could mean, here are my thoughts: All of the other poems in the packet show something regarding feelings or/and struggles(I know,pretty general) and ¨Quick¨ is no exception. This poem tells the story of a person seeing a baby fox stuck in a trap(that is if ¨bait and switch¨ refers to hunting) with the mother standing in the distance and later running off. Dove´s imagery in describing the mother fox ¨On the hill..in moonshine the fabled silhouette...¨ and so on had me thinking why? why give this part so much attention? Then I thought, maybe Dove see´s this action as monumental in the eyes of humans, while animals view it simply as survival of the fittest. She could also be jealous of a foxes nature of ¨pure purpose¨ as the last 4 line give off the feeling that she looks up to such an action. -Llayne ngo
From the poems in the packet, I focused on Fox Trot Fridays. The overall smooth,good vibes by using lines like ¨Thank the stars¨and¨no heartbreak in sight¨ was what got me hooked. Even the title gives off a fun,lively feeling and give me an image a Friday night out. Right off the bat, I know that Rita Dove dances and her American Smooth is based on that but what got her into it? In 1998, her house caught on fire and many things were lost. Their neighbors decided to take them out with them to learn how to ballroom dance and the rest is history. She said in a interview that dancing is like writing poetry, there is so much that goes on in the background that is perceived by readers and observers as easy and effortless. I love how she incorporates the dances rhythm into line 4-6, ¨stride brush stride¨ and ¨quick quick with heel-ball-toe¨.Immediately following that is some pretty neat ¨s¨ alliteration, using words like ¨Smooth...slow satin smile¨. This next piece could be a large stretch but in the 6th, 7th and 8th stanza there is maybe a reference to the bible? When I read ¨One man and one woman¨ I thought of Adam and Eve, the ¨rib to rib¨ It reminded me of the creation of Eve being from Adams rib and the biggest being the line ¨just the sweep of Paradise¨. What caught my attention was the capitalization of the P in Paradise, which could be possibly referencing the Garden of Eden?? I not super confident but thought I would share that thought... -Llayne ngo
I really like the background you got for the poem. A cute thing Dive did writing the poem was each section has two lines and then the last section is one. Two people dancing together, moving in rhythm with one another to the point where they become one. -Katie Newell
I thought it was really interesting how is does seem like it could be referencing the bible. When I read through this that thought didn't come to my head at all but I can see how it might be connected to the bible and Adam and Eve. If it is then could the "s" alliteration represent the snake from the story? -Connor
"Quick" talks about a baby fox and it's mother. This poem fallows the same pattern as "Fox trot fridays". The mother is coming to save her child that was almost hit by a car the lines "O to be gone like that, no grief nor thought of live- pure purpose poured into flight." makes me think the poem is about someone pondering parental instincts. How a parent will immediately come to their child's aid without a second thought to consider if they are even actually hurt or in trouble. A person is seeing what has happened and marveling at the bond between the baby looking for it's mom and the mother coming to it's aid. How the poem is written seems to make what you'd think to happen in only a moment or so last longer. Showing how time will slow in a moment of panic or concern. -Katie
Connor McClean I read the poem Fox Trot Fridays. It had a very peaceful tone to it and made me feel more and more realized as I read it. I don't dance or think about dancing often but even this made me think about how beautiful dancing can be. I know that Rita dances with her husband and from that is where she was inspired to write American Smooth. I looked up Nat King Cole and listened to his music and it painted a clear picture in my head. I imagined Rita and her husband dancing to hi music with smiles on their face. It's a beautiful image. I also noticed that there were a lot of space references in this poem and also that Nat King Cole was in the music scene during the space age. It made me wonder if she chose this specific artist because he was popular during a time where the wonders of space were being explored.
I think she is referring to space because with her husband dancing she has unlimited space and time with him. In space there is no time and unlimited room to move. It's the perfect metaphor for American Smooth, not to mention the lack of time and space is often how one can feel when in love. Since Dove is dancing with her husband she is obviously experiencing a specific moment where she feel weightless. Which only adds to the metaphor as there is no gravity in space. She is able to be free. It definitely is a beautiful image.
I read the poem Quick. The line "he's been through this bait and switch all night." reminds me of terms choreographers use to describe the push and pull between ballroom dance partners and due to crazy choreographers it makes complete sense to describe dancing all night long. Memorizing choreography is incredibly difficult to master. There is a lot of night time imagery which is what confuses me this particular poem being incorporated into her American smooth collection. However, the last couplet describing no thought of "love" but "pure purpose, poured into flight" connects to the beginning of the poem of dancing with a purpose and having a passion for an art for, not necessarily a person. Julia Perfili
“The House Slave” is the story of a morning in the life of a slave. “The first horn lifts over the dew-lit grass and in the slave quarters there is a rustling.” The horn signals a new day or the start of a new day and the slaves need to be up in time. The second horn signals the punishment for those who have not already awakened. Followed by the second horn “the whip curls across the backs of the laggards.” Some of the lines I found interesting were “their mistress sleeps like an ivory toothpick,” “shivering in the early heat,” and “as the fields unfold to whiteness and they spill like bees among the fat flowers, I weep. It is not yet daylight.” The line “their mistress sleeps like an ivory toothpick” just highlights the overall privilege that the mistress of the house has, especially when contrasted with the line “those days I lie on my cot.” It shows the drastic difference in the lives of the slaves and the women of the house. Slaves didn’t have any of the same privileges or possessions that their masters did. They had so little while their masters and mistresses had so much. “Shivering in the early heat” was an interesting line because normally one doesn’t shiver in heat. I interpreted this as fear or anxiety. The line before was describing the slave’s sister getting whipped and the feelings of anxiety and fear followed. “As the fields unfold into whiteness and they spill like bees among the fat flowers, I weep. It is not yet daylight.” This reminded me of a dream or nightmare unraveling just before one wakes. The slave is coming out of a dream and wakes but realizes that it isn’t morning yet. However, while I may have interpreted that line as coming out of a dream, the so called “dream” is actually a reality that slaves are living in every day. This poem, while short and somewhat seemingly simple, portrays an important and impactful message. It shows the horrible treatment of slaves and the complete contrast of environment and privilege the masters and mistresses had compared to the slaves.
I believe that a lot of these slavery poems have a lot of strong, hard-hitting lines due to the topic. It is also written mostly in free-verse which allows more freedom for Dove to tell her readers what is happening and she is not restricted to certain patterns. There are a lot of interesting lines like you mentioned and I believe that it is due to her free verse structure.
There is a lot going on in the poem "The Abduction." It is told from the perspective of Solomon Northrup who was a part of the underground railroad and got kidnapped in Washington DC where he was sold into slavery for the next 12 years (thus the title.) The poem is actually a dream that Northrup has and starts off with a good tone and ends with negativity and a lack of freedom. The first line uses a lot of imagery which gives the reader a lot of positive vibes. It ends with Northrup waking up to "find myself alone, in darkness and in chains." It sounds like he is in a jail, however I believe that the jail is a symbol of slavery and the cycle that he is in. The most interesting part of the poem in my opinion has to do with the structure it is written in. It starts with a quintain and goes down by one line every stanza until it ends in a monotet. I believe that this symbolizes the feeling of freedom that is slowly being decreased and squeezed until the end of the poem. Overall I believe that the poem has a lot of interesting literary elements and is simple to understand.
The story of Solomon Northrup is long and disheartening, as he was born a free man but was kidnapped and sold into slavery. The dramatic change in imagery creates a reminiscent mood, going from lively and full of excitement to dark and dramatic.I love that comparison with the structure to the loss of freedom!
¨Belinda´s Petition¨ really stood out to me because of its inspirational mood it invoked. Belinda was enslaved by the Royall family and which later fled and left their slaves. While this granted their freedom, Belinda believed she deserved financial compensation for her work as a slave. In 1783, she petitioned the Massachusetts General Court, they later granted her an annual pension of fifteen pounds and twelve shillings.Looking into the first stanza, there are signs of alliteration found in line 6 using words starting with P(¨plead and place my pitiable Life¨) and irony when she says, ¨I will not take too much time of your Time¨. This is ironic because she wasted part of her life to slavery and had no choice and her line also gives off a sense of mockery towards the state of Massachusetts. In the second stanza line 4, the words Air and Advantage are capitalized, signifying its importance of freedom to Rita Dove(in the perspective of Belinda). Finally, in reading the last stanza, I felt a sense of inspiration from the overall tone as Belinda continues to sarcastically say how she is being accused of Ignorant, yet she didn't choose to become a slave. She proves that to me that you do not need to be educated and high class to be intelligent and witty. -Llayne ngo
Written by Mariam A poem that intrigued me by it’s historical introduction was “The Transport of Slaves From Maryland to Mississippi” This poem captures the inner thoughts and feeling a slave woman who was just faced with a dilemma of finding help after slaves escape their wagon and kill two white men. What I found interesting was the monologue she has with herself throughout the poem more concentrated towards the beginning. Just the dialogue itself brings up a theme of treating everyone as family even if they are not your blood or complete strangers. Rita Dove brings light to empathy slaves had towards people who were monsters, keeping them chained in wagons. The last line of this poem is haunting “Wait. You ain’t supposed to act this way.” This line emphasizes the box slaves were put in and how controlled they were, as they had no agency at all over themselves.
I thought that the point of view of the slave woman really shed light on the situation that was happening at the time. It seemed that she had her chance at freedom and she was more worried about whats going to happen to her if she gets caught than how to escape. It shows how big of a grip slave owners had. Freedom didn't seem to cross her mind because she had been trapped for so long. -Connor
Connor McClean In “The House Slave” it starts out with the sound of the horn which signals the start of a long workday for the slaves. They wake up early and work hard for ruthless owners who sleep peacefully. It goes on to a second horn that is followed by punishment for the slaves that are underperforming. Then she says “I lie on my cot, shivering in the early heat,” which I think is from anger. After hearing the sister pray he gets so angry that even though its cold his blood is boiling from the frustration. I think this frustration and anger is also shown through the lines “she cries” and “I weep” which shows how emotional this time is. Overall I think this poem is trying to portray the harsh conditions that slaves went through while their owners reaped the benefits. It really highlighted the vast difference between the mistress sleeping like an ivory toothpick and the slave laying on his cot. One wakes up to a good breakfast and a relaxing day and the other gets a rude awakening and the end of a whip.
I disagree. I don't think that line, "I lie on my cot, shivering in the early heat," is an expression of anger. I think they are trying to express how they have become so cold hearted and closed off from a free life they desire to live. It definitely is an emotional time for this family, but the are no longer in a state of shock, or anger, they are in a place of mourning and pleading to be given a miracle from God to be no longer in a position where they still feel cold even when there is a presence of heat in their hardest part of day, the morning.
Walking into a court room in 1782 is only intimidating when your the one person wearing the heart of a slave on your sleeve. In Belinda's Petition, Dove illustrates the plight of African American slaves through imagery and juxtaposition. When the narrator describes, "lately your countrymen have severed the Blinds of Tyranny..." the image of severing is not used as an exaggeration in this situation, but as an understatement to emphasis how mistreated the narrator is. My favorite line of imagery is the second to last line. "How might I have known of Men with Faces like the Moon who would ride toward me steadily for twelve years?" These people with fair skin, resembling the brightness of the moon may have light skin but lack the actual radiance the moon brings. In this imagery is juxtaposing what these men have actually done which is bring darkness and cold to the narrators life for 12 years. Julia Perfili
Written by Kyle
ReplyDeleteOne thing that Rita Dove refers to a lot, especially in Mother Love, is mythology. Two poems we read in class were Persephone Falling and Demeter, Waiting. I found the mythology aspect pretty cool and how it adds a whole separate perspective and detail to this short sonnet. During the first few lines it comes across as her questioning herself as a parent which is something everybody does. Another thing that I noticed comes from the last two lines. We talked about how the sonnet goes from sad anger to explosive anger to calm anger. Those last two lines embody it pretty well. It goes from a huge threat where she says " I will wail and thrash until the whole goddamned golden panoramas freezes over," where she suddenly calms down when she says "Then I will sit down to wait for her." Those two lines really juxtapose one another and that eery calm at the end gives me the imagery of a calm, yet angry parent waiting in a chair content and ready to lecture or release explosive anger at someone else. This poem had it all and was an interesting one to look deeper at.
Connor McClean
ReplyDeleteI really wanted to talk about the poem Wiederkehr because it left me super confused. This poem made me think more than any other poem i've ever read, granted I haven't read a lot of poetry. If this poem is truly about mythology than Hades would have been represented as an evil man who abducted her for his own selfish reasons. He would be portrayed as a villain especially from the point of view of persephone. However, it seems that she defends his actions and actually debates if she wants to stay with him or not. Although he is seen as a bad guy persephone describes him almost as she loves him. It seems that she isnt entirely unhappy with him. I wonder if she truly did enjoy him and she purposely ate the seeds so she had to come back or if she felt pity for him.
Wiederlehr translates to English as recurrence, anniversary, repetition... This seems to allude to, in the mythology, the cycle of Persephone returning every year to the underworld, but also the statement at the end, where Persephone implies that she would "reach for" the chance to stay or, should she leave, return.
Delete- Oan Johnson
By Llayne
ReplyDeleteThroughout Mother Love, Rita Dove uses imagery,and syntax to convey the different forms of love and how it affects the minds and hearts of readers. Looking into the poem ¨Golden Oldie¨,the first thing we noticed was the organization as it contained fourteen sentences chunked into four lines per section until the end, where the last passage has two lines.The punctuation also seems to lack within the whole page and this establishes the mood of a slow(due to the number of commas),yet having a smooth flow. From there, my group tried to figure out the perspective of the individual in the poem and later concluded that they were a representation on a more modern entity that Rita Dove created. Imagery is predominate through the whole sonnet, especially visual imagery as Dove begins to paints the scene into the readers mind. A phrase such as:
¨I made it home early, only to get
stalled in the driveway, swaying¨
Finally, When looking up the definition for ¨Goldie Oldie¨, I found this interesting. Dictionary.com interprets it as this: ¨something once popular or valued that has retained its appeal or for which interest has been reawakened¨. I felt that Rita Dove use of imagery and syntax to show the message that love is like a ¨Goldie Oldie¨ because it has existed, grown, and changed with us as our race continues to move forward.
I like the definition of "Goldie Oldie" and how you connected it to the overall theme of love being a timeless human value in rita Dove's work.
Delete-Mariam Joel
DeleteWritten by Mariam Joel
ReplyDeleteA poem in Rita Dove’s Mother Love that resonated with me was Primer. This poem captures a significant turning point in Persephone's life when she embarks on her journey towards independence. The way I interpreted it was that she was never bothered by the words that she was called when she was in the sixth grade- “Brainiac” “Stringbean” What really bothered her was her mother always coming to her rescue. Persephone wants independence and shows her empowering attitude in this poem. There is repetition of the letter ‘s’, I am not sure what the significance of this is, but it is very clearly used. This poem also touches on the topic of self-image and how she never had a problem with her body which illustrates her strong personality.
I really like how you talked about the independence Persephone was wanting. It highlights the idea of a daughter growing up and finding her own. I also think that the poem illustrates Persephone's need to grow up and forge her own path without her mother getting in the way. She realizes that the only reason she survived the girls was because of her mother. She uses that realization as her motivation to grow up.
DeleteWritten by Sarah M.
One of the poems that really sparked my curiosity was “Used.” It made me think about the ways that women’s bodies are used. One of the ways I interpreted this poem was that there is a huge difference of emotion when a woman is carrying a child versus when she has already given birth. “Used” gives a very interesting take on both of those stages. The line, “when the last child emptied us of their brief interior light” makes me think about the way a woman feels while she is pregnant. During a pregnancy the child gives off this “light” or this energy. There is nothing like carrying another life inside of you and this line really highlights that point. However, the poem also makes me think about what happens after a woman gives birth. In this case, it seems like after the child was born, the mother wasn’t feeling all that great. “Have you ever tried silk sheets? I did, persuaded by postnatal dread and Macy’s clerk to bargain for more zip.” This line makes me think about the mother trying something new just to try and feel good again. She was lured by the idea of these new sheets changing something inside of her but in the end she still felt “used.”
ReplyDeleteWritten by Sarah M.
The line you mentioned "Have you ever tried silk sheets?" seems to me like its more of a sultry line. Almost referring to conception or sex after having a child and how that is a very different experience. Which is a very bold topic to discuss in a poem especially since pregnancy even today is seen as kind of a taboo topic. It's a big deal, difficult process, every part of it and women are not necessarily given the credibility, maternity leave, or respect they deserve for going through that process and making it out alive because it is a life threatening process. Women have zero light shed on that topic, once again it's easy to see why Rita Dove would use light as a symbol in her poem to be interpreted multiple ways. I enjoyed your analysis of this, its an important poem for women. The gender can definitely be used in more ways than one, as a vessel for life or more often than not ridicule.
DeleteJulia Perfili
The Narcissus Flower is so cool you guys! WOW! The poem is definitely from Persephone's perspective as she is describing her journey down to Hell with Hades and the fear that came along with it. Rita Dove's use of imagery and rhythm create a haunting tone that express the true meaning of the poem : traumatic experiences extinguish innocence and lead to a more realistic perspective of the world. Persephone describes hearing herself, "scream as the blossom incinerated."The image of a blossom incinerating symbolizes persephone's innocence fading as she is no longer living in a safe world where she is free. A flower is often used to symbolize naive innocence or romance, hence why Rita Dove utilizes this symbol. This line also ends with a period, slowing down the rhythm of the poem giving the effect that Persephone is no longer young and reckless, but has to take the time to think and consider or reflect on what has happened. She must ponder her life now lived in two worlds, one full of bitterness and cold and the other in Hell with a manipulative ruler.
ReplyDeleteJulia Perfili
Written by Kyle
DeleteI agree. I really like the use of imagery in this poem and pretty much all of Dove's poems as it really adds extra meanings to the words and helps the poetry be more in-depth. A form of imagery that took place in my group's poem, "Breakfast of Champion," was when Dove writes "I've crossed a hemisphere, worked my way through petals and sunlight to find a place fit for mourning." I think that the forms of imagery and the overall message of the sentence really juxtaposes one another. As a reader I get the feeling of happiness and calm by reading about the petals and sunlight, but the mood changes in the end when she says the person is looking for a place fit for mourning. I can envision this person finding a place to mourn and that is credit to the imagery that Dove uses.
Golden Oldie was a beautifully sad poem by Rita Dove that talked about a person longing for love as they listened to a song in a car. "I made it home early, only to get stalled in the driveway, swaying at the wheel like a blind pianist caught in a tune MEANT FOR MORE THAN TWO HANDS PLAYING." Dove uses this imagery to show that this person is lonely, they need a third hand, another person to be with them. Throughout the poem Dove Uses imagery and syntax to express lonely longing to for love at any cost.
ReplyDelete-Katie
Catherine of Siena was actually a saint who had the goal of surrendering herself to God. In the beginning of the poem, the woman was seeking out the company of another person. When comparing this to the historical figure, I think that this line was used as a way to show that all she needed was God and that He was enough. The line “you prayed until tears streaked the sky” is talking about the idea that she was looking for some savior to come and rescue her. However, as described in the last two lines of the poem, the savior never comes. I think that there was this expectation for someone to come and save her but no one ever did. The use of “no one unpried your fists as you slept” almost describes the impatience she was feeling while she laid there. I also interpreted the line “under the star-washed dome of heaven, warm and dark” as heaven being something she could give in to. It’s almost like it was waiting for her and welcoming her. The fact that her hands were in fists almost makes me thinks she was resisting the urge to just give in. This ties me back to the historical figure and how she wanted to surrender herself to God. Surrendering yourself means giving up things you may hold dear, that can’t be easy. The act of surrendering, I feel, is a journey. While the woman is staring up at the sky, I think that was her journey. She may have fought it off at first, but eventually she gave in. “No one unpried your fists as you slept.”
ReplyDeleteWritten by Sarah M.
Although all of the poems in Mother Love are unique and striking in their own rights, "Heroes" is perhaps the most startling. At the surface, it is longer, and told as a story. It has a very consistent triplet structure, punctuated with a single line at the end. Upon first reading, it becomes apparent that this is nothing like the Greek epics. Instead, underneath the title "Heroes" sits a story of naivete and crime, an odd juxtaposition. Within this story, ideas of morality and consequence come into play. The ending stanzas, within their regretful tone, attempt to rationalize the previous actions of the narrator, but in the end it seems to fail. The middle section, where "you" offer the woman trinkets and place in history puts into individual importance into perspective. Only the flower matters to the woman, not trinkets, or permanence. It is of such importance that she only wakes in the morning for it, though it wilts. All in all, the poem mirrors wonderfully the lessons and ideas of the Old Greek tales, while taking a tone directly opposite to those same stories. All of the sentiments of the poem, from its morality to its regret, calls back to Greek epics, it makes one more major deviation. When considering the heroes of these ancient stories, a common air of something more than human separates the hero from more common folk. Rita Dove uses the rarely seen second-person point of view to counter this, and establish a personal feel that's just the right amount of unsettling.
ReplyDelete-Oan Johnson
I like that you tackled "Heroes!" It's an interesting one, isn't it? :)
ReplyDeleteBy Llayne ngo
ReplyDeleteLooking through the poems for tonight's blog post, ¨Tou Wan Speaks to Her Husband, Liu Sheng¨ caught my eye. Either if it was the culture or the beautiful imagery Rita Dove wrote within each verse, I felt a tender and intimate tone used for Tou Wan´s voice. She uses phrases of endearment, including ¨my only conqueror¨ and ¨my constant emperor¨. The style of this poem is looser and conversational which gives off the impression of how a wife speaks to her husband. When doing some background research on Chinese imperial burial practices, I found that big chambers are prepared for the royal, along with items made of gold, silver, bronze, and other precious jewels. Other items such as chariots statues and art also accompanied them, for it was believed they served a purpose in helping their masters journey through the afterlife. These items or a variation of them show up throughout Dove's poem. However, a different stanza(stanza seven) describes a burial suit made of ¨two thousand jade wafers(slice/substrate) with gold thread to a brilliant envelope...¨. The six lines are then followed by two final lines that wrap the poem with another reference to the promises of an afterlife, ¨...you are long light and clouds over the earth, just as the legends prophesy.¨ It is here that Tou Wan Speaks to Her Husband, Liu Sheng for the last time before he embarks on his journey to the heavens.
Connor McClean
ReplyDeleteThe poem that caught my eye was “Sonnet in Primary Colors” which is about Frida Kahlo who is a famous artist. She was a great student and was headed to medical school until she got in an accident at 18 and took up painting. She was a surrealist painter. Rita used Frida's personal life to create this poem that accurately pays tribute to Frida. The line “ Each night she lay down in pain” was connected to the fact that she had been in a terrible accident that left her lifelong pain. The line “This is for the woman with one black wing perched over her eyes” also seemed to reference Frida's unibrow. The line “Lenin and Marx and Stalin” was a connection to her decision to join the Mexican communist party. It is clear that Rita did her research about the life of Frida Kahlo. I personally like her artwork a lot and I enjoyed this poem. The part that caught my eye was where her husband Diego is introduced. He is introduced in the last few lines of the poem but he's such a big part of her life it makes me wonder why he isn't introduced earlier. I also wondered if he is introduced in the end because he was said to be the only thing stopping her from killing herself towards the end of her life. Maybe he is only mentioned at the end because he was most important at the end of her life.
I definitely see the purpose behind why you think Rita Dove put her husband at the end of the poem, and I agree. However, I want to understand the imagery his line in the poem is given. Is the thumbprint his stamp on her forehead or is it Frida putting it on herself? Could it be a metaphor for his stamp of approval or is it more she needed to be put in her place in order to have an, "immutable brow" meaning an unchanging structure to her face. Even through pain and ache she must remain the same type of women, when she clearly is not.
DeleteWritten by Julia
Written by Kyle
ReplyDeleteThe poem that I found the most interesting from the "historical figures" category was "Nestor's Bathtub." What an interesting name for a poem and I believe the opening phrase really set up the tone of the poem. "As usual, legend got it all wrong." Like what is that symbolizing? How is that "as usual?" I thought that was a pretty interesting start and it definitely brought some intrigue. After some research I learned that Nestor was the King of Pylos and he went to fight in some of the Trojan Wars. The bathtub belongs to Nestor, but it seems as if his wife was the one to really enjoy it. The poem emphasizes the fact that the bathtub still remains after thousands of years despite everything around it turning to dust and the kingdom falling. How is it that this limestone bathtub remained? Overall the use of imagery and references back to earlier times made this a very intriguing poem.
I also found that every stanza starts by describing the "legend" it is interesting how much focus is put around the legend. It made me wonder what the significance of this was. Does she not believe the stories or did I just not do enough research around this topic? This poem left me with a lot of questions.
Delete-Connor
Catherine of Siena fascinated me. First of all, Catherine of Siena is a female Catholic Saint. She is considered a daughter of the Catholic Church. The mention of Italy in the poem is indicative that she is roman and Catholic. I think both Catherine poems are using biblical references about Christ's atonement to emphasize a greater meaning, not sure what the meaning is but I assume sacrifice of women in authorial or a historically significant viewpoint. But the boulder, cedar shelves, father's shop, "prayed until tears streaked the sky", "no one stumbled across your path". All of these refer to things of biblical Christ. A boulder was placed in front of his tomb,hence the reference to contemplating life, his earthly father was a carpenter, he prayed in the garden of Gethsemane and cried, and no one suffered like biblical Christ did. I can see underlying meanings of suicide as well as tones of anger, trial, aggression that are told from a female Saint's perspective which is an interesting juxtaposition. These are literary features I noticed and found the most intriguing or like Rita Dive was trying to say something more about this.
ReplyDeleteJulia Perfili
The fact that the title of the poem is in quotation marks, “The situation is intolerable” almost makes it seem sarcastic. It’s like this barrier that keeps us from moving forward. Being that this poem is about civil rights, it makes me think about how beyond the exterior, people are more of the same and differences need to be set aside. Towards the ending, I think Rita Dove really reflects that idea, “so what if we were born up a creek and knocked flat with the paddle, if we ain’t got a pot to piss in and nowhere to put it if we did? Our situation is intolerable, but what’s worse is to sit here and do nothing.” This quote really makes me think about working together to get out of a situation. It’s like saying so what if we don’t look or act the same? We need to work towards whatever our goal is and look past the things that don’t matter. “Shoes shined, each starched cuff unyielding, each dovegrey pleated trouser leg a righteous sword advancing onto the field of battle in the name of the Lord.” This portion of the poem also could represent the idea of there being no differences in mankind. In this quote, they are all “advancing onto the battlefield” together. Again, there’s that idea of working towards the common goal. In order to do this people need to set aside their differences. There’s that idea of civil rights, everyone deserves the same things. We are all living our lives and working through our own things. This poem, I think expresses that idea.
ReplyDeleteWritten by Sarah M.
Written by Llayne ngo
ReplyDeleteIn ¨Rosa¨, Rita Dove's simplicity creates a short but powerful poem. First look at the organization of the verses. There are only three lines per stanza which add up to only twelve lines in total. Along with the short stanzas, the language that Dove uses is very vague and lacks imagery, yet what is even more bizarre is the syntax. ¨Her sensible coat¨ and ¨Doing nothing was the doing¨ are just a few examples, but I believe it is necessary to use such pairings because the poem is reflecting civil rights movements, specifically Rosa Parks Montgomery bus boycott in 1955(Thank you APUSH). With that in mind, I began using historical context for each verse, here is an example:
¨Doing nothing was the doing¨, going back to this verse which at first did seem to be an unusual word pair but later made sense because Dove did this to show that the action that Parks did to start her movement was by doing... nothing. When told to give up her seat on the bus, she made no effort to move until she was later forced off. Because of her action, it sparked something ¨right inside a place so wrong it was ready¨.
Also written by Llayne ngo
DeleteAnother thing I noticed was the first and tenth line,
¨How she sat there¨
¨How she stood up¨
They both start with ¨how she¨ but then are opposites and the placement of them are in opposite directions(one in the beginning and one in the end)
Written by Kyle
DeleteI also like these short poems because they do tend to pack a punch and have more meaning ingrained in every word. The poem next to it, "Climbing in," is another short poem that has a lot of different sentence structures to add emphasis. It opens up with "Teeth. Metallic. Lie-gapped." While they might be a little more confusing because they are shorter, they are also more powerful and those types of poems are really impactful, especially when it comes to discussing the situation of human rights.
Claudette Colvin, was the woman who really started the civil rights movement in Montgomery. She refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white person long before Rosa Parks did.
ReplyDeleteClaudette Colvin Goes to Work is about her. Still in her same old life, working a night shift as a nurse aid. This seems to be after the incident on the bus and yet there is mention of people saying that she cursed and spat (likely at the officers that came to remove her) which she hadn't. The poem tells us how even after the bus segregation laws were revoked not much had changed. She had to leave her home and move to New York because she had been labeled a "trouble maker" for exercising her right to sit on a freaking bus.
Katie Newell
Written by Mariam Joel
ReplyDeleteThe poem “Freedom Ride” mentions huge civil rights activists such as Malcolm X and Robert Kennedy. Rita dove uses plenty of allusion and bus imagery. This is used to emphasize the harshness of the situations people were put in. Historically, freedom riders meant to challenge segregation and protest specifically against segregated bus terminals. These riders often faced horrific violence from white protesters. The line “Pull the cord a stop too soon, and you’ll find yourself walking a gauntlet of stares.” This sentence highlights the extent to which black people were watched and meant to stay on their toes, on edge at all times. They could never live without being indirectly judged or in fear of violence directed at them. The last eight lines use fire imagery leaving to reader with a haunting feeling to reminisce the lives of people that were taken due to violence.
Notice how the piano is a cocktail piano, almost as if that object is a symbol for freedom. Having access to music and drinking gives the opportunity for life to be lived recklessly and to experience things that make life worth living. Music is often described in literature as a breath of life for the characters that thrive or depend on it and that can hold true for those enduring the transatlantic journey. They want to live today because they don't know if life will grant them anything making mortality about more than just survival. Not to mention the weather emphasizes this same theme, of having things that make life worth living, through juxtaposition (as you mentioned). The slave sitting in, "a corner, hunched in bad weather" is indicative of the slave's perspective of this journey as dark, dreary almost life sucking as they are confined to a corner. The salve is restricted to a confined space, they are claustrophobic a clear symbol that a slave's life is limited to survival. The couple on the other hand has the opportunity to remark the weather of the seas as "calm" and at that point of fixation they were "enmeshed in their own delight" clearly free to enjoy existence even though both parties are experiencing travel to the same destination their journey's are significantly different.
ReplyDeleteJulia Perfili
I want to blog about the poem Climbing In because I was confused by what POV the poem is from. My thoughts are it is from multiple perspectives each divided by triplets and one quartet. The one quartet must have purpose. I think the quartet is from the point of view of a slave auctioneer : "like the dime cutting my palm as I clutch the silver pole to step up, up." I think it is also possible for the quartet to be from the perspective of a slave as they can sense their dollar worth to the point of physical pain, "cutting my palm", and the line that really makes me think this is "I clutch the silver pole to step up" step up where? Onto a stage? To be seen and judged by buyers? I was so confused as to what the person or people in this poem were attempting to convey through their experience. And the little red riding hood imagery is a symbol of childish fear and terror. Which makes sense because the life of a slave,especially the experience of being auctioned off, must be a nightmare. The childish fear adds a relatable message to the poem drawing not only sympathy, but some extent of empathy.
ReplyDeleteJulia Perfili
I thought this was an interesting poem because the point of view at first seems like its from an outside perspective but it also seems like its changing throughout the poem. I thought it was really interesting that you saw it as the point of view of a slave or a slave auctioneer. I interpreted it differently the first time I read through it but this idea makes a lot of sense to me now. I saw it more as a slave in modern times like she was a slave to society instead of a slave to someone. Like shes forced to stand and hold the silver pole. She doesnt have the choice to sit or stand and shes a slave to those rules.
DeleteThis poem was an interesting one and I had to read it many times just to get a basic understanding of what was going on. While I’m sure there is much more for me to figure out about this poem, there were some things I picked up on. Every time something green is mentioned whether it be the parrot or just the word green, the cane appears. The thing I found interesting was that there was the same reference to the cane in both perspectives of the poem. “The cane appears in our dreams, lashed by wind and streaming,” and “now the general sees the fields of sugar cane, lashed by rain and streaming.” While I don’t understand why it appears in both perspectives, I do think that it represents something haunting for both. It’s not just the cane, it’s also the parrot, the arrowhead teeth, and the rolling of the letter R. I think that all of these aspects of the poem stem from the General’s mother in some way and it might explain the overlap of those different parts.
ReplyDeleteWritten by Sarah
Julia Perfili
DeleteThe poem really does take a turn for the worse. Which is fascinating to me because the poem itself is so repetitive, which in politics makes sense. The elections happen at the same time every two years, 4 years, etc. and the outcome is often the same. There's a winner and loser. It's a definitive answer. I think the spring imagery is used, because spring is often a symbol of rebirth and a new start, like the winner of an election or a politicians term being renewed they may feel reborn, but the politicians constituents may not always feel the same.
The poem "the cane fields" appears to be talking about the parsley massacre in which the dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo had tens of thousands of haitians killed. The poem seems to be from the point of view of a Haitian. The word that the general finds in the poem perejil is spanish for parsley. The parrot imitating spring line I believe is referring to Trujillo as he claimed to be fixing crimes by getting rid of the haitians. He is pretending to be trying to help the Dominican republic but is wiping out a large portion of its population.
ReplyDeleteKatie Newell
At first, I did not know the specifics the poem could be referring too, but it did introduced sugar canes, swamps and marshes. This led me to believe the setting of the poem took place in the Dominican Republic, just as you thought of as well. I love the background research you did,it would never occur to me that it could be including the dictator Trujillo.
Delete-Llayne Ngo
In the first part of Parsley(The Cane fields), there is is quite a few things taking place. First, the poem stars off with ¨There is a parrot imitating spring¨ and continues to appear another three times. I decided to look into different green parrots that live within the Dominican Republic but when looking at the other instances it shows up, I noticed a slight difference that saved me from diving into the unnecessary research. In the 2nd stanza and 6th line, it start with ¨like a parrot imitating spring¨. Instead of ¨there is¨,it was replaced with ¨like a¨ and this told me that Rita Dove was comparing something or someone to the parrot which earlier on in the stanza talks about El General(aka Rafael Trujillo). With this in mind, I wondered ¨why would Rita Dove compare a dictator to a bright,¨parsley green¨feathered bird?¨ One possibity could be the fact that Trujillo during his time in power improved sanitation,constructed new roads, hospitals and schools, along with improved standard living for the Dominican people which seem like positive actions, yet the main focus he wanted were the secured kickbacks(money payments) on contracts and monopolizing different industries to keep their economic position secure, allowing him, his family and supporters to be given a higher gain then the people(hence the imitation of a beautiful bird).
ReplyDelete-Llayne ngo
Written By Kyle
ReplyDeleteI found that the "politics of history" poems were a little different than the more traditional poems that Dove wrote. They are longer, include a lot more detail, and honestly are a little easier to follow because less is needed to be interpreted. "The Farming of Bones" is a good example of this because as Katie reffered to it references the parsley massacre the killed multiple Haitians. The poem is very graphic and has imagery such as "Yves and I were shoved down onto our knees. Our jaws were pried open and parsley stuffed into our mouths." Another example is "Someone threw a fist-sized rock, which bruised my lip and left cheek. My face hit the ground." The fact that this is in the POV of a Haitian is also pretty significant and it allows me to see more of the viewpoint. Overall these longer politics of history poems are a little longer, but tell a lot more of the story and include more detail.
Connor McClean
ReplyDeleteI read the poem Climbing In because I wasn't sure why they poem resembled the childhood story of little red riding hood. At first I felt like she chose to do that because she wanted to show how she was tricked but i thought it could also be representing the foolishness of a child. To me this poem was about the people who rode on buses. The line “like the dime cutting my palm as I clutch the silver pole to step up” sounded like the dime was her bus fare and she was climbing onto the bus clutching the pole because she wasn't allowed to sit down. The line “pay him to keep smiling” also gave me the sense that the only reason they were allowed on the bus is because they paid and without that bribe the wolf or bus driver wouldn't allow them on the bus.
Julia Perfili
ReplyDeleteThe Palace fascinates me, mainly because it doesn't necessarily make a lot of sense to me, but I appreciate the literary features so I'm going to elaborate on those. Rita Doves often uses enjambment in this poem and I am not sure if this is why Rita Dove uses it, but I see validity in the rhythm of the narrator. As soon as "the general" changes his thought process or mind Rita Dove uses enjambment. Rita dove uses vass amounts of historical symbolism, my favorite was the four-star blossoms. Four stars takes military honor as well as luck and a sign of spring which gives the sign of rebirth in both poems under Parsley.
I really liked the poem “Fox Trot Fridays” because it sets aside the craziness of life and just focuses about being in the moment. It explains the smoothness and easiness of the foxtrot while also touching on the closeness Rita Dove feels while shes dancing with her partner. The first two lines talk about taking time out of the week to just for dancing. I love the line “tuck in your grief, lift your pearls, and stride brush stride.” It’s important to forget about all of the things that stress us out in life and take the time to enjoy yourself. Life can get overwhelming at times but stepping back necessary so we don’t lose our minds. The line “smooth as Nat King Cole’s slow satin smile, easy as taking one day at a time” helps the reader visualize the easiness of the dance. What I liked most about this poem was this line, “one man and one woman, rib to rib, with no heartbreak in sight - just the sweep of Paradise and the space of a song to count all the wonders in it.” It made me think about the relationship of two people dancing together and how special it is. It’s almost like you get this certain feeling when you’re dancing with someone. In this poem it made me think about the world disappearing around them as they danced and they were just in the moment. I like how simplistic this poem is and how much you can grab from just reading it. I like the message of stepping back and enjoying something, because it’s the simple things in life we take for granted.
ReplyDeleteWritten by Sarah M
Written by Kyle
DeleteI definitely agree with the point Dove makes when she is telling us to forget about life every once in a while. While it is important to stay in the present, sometimes taking a break to enjoy yourself is extremely important. The feeling of the poem was definitely calming and it makes the reader really feel at ease. Especially those phrases like "satin (soft) smile" or even the simple word: "smooth." This is a good poem and one that has a feeling that you can really take away.
A lot of the poems in the packet seemed to have no rhyme or reason and weren't the easiest to understand. However, one poem that stood out to me was "Quick." Dove structures this poem using couplets which I found interesting. The first four couplets ended with a punctuation while the last four did not end with punctuation's as they moved onto the next line. It uses a story to talk about the concept of not really having a care in the world and not having to be attached to anything. This mother fox has no connection to her child where Dove writes "No grief nor thought of love-pure purpose." The last line is a good ending to the poem as well which causes the reader to think. Everything the mother fox cared about "poured into flight." While this poem was still a little confusing and it's hard to find the true meaning or message, I thought it was one of the more intriguing poems in the packet.
ReplyDeleteWritten By Kyle
DeleteI do agree that this poem is intriguing and causes you to think. It approximately took me 5 times of reading it over and over to generate some sort of idea of what it could mean, here are my thoughts:
DeleteAll of the other poems in the packet show something regarding feelings or/and struggles(I know,pretty general) and ¨Quick¨ is no exception. This poem tells the story of a person seeing a baby fox stuck in a trap(that is if ¨bait and switch¨ refers to hunting) with the mother standing in the distance and later running off. Dove´s imagery in describing the mother fox ¨On the hill..in moonshine the fabled silhouette...¨ and so on had me thinking why? why give this part so much attention? Then I thought, maybe Dove see´s this action as monumental in the eyes of humans, while animals view it simply as survival of the fittest. She could also be jealous of a foxes nature of ¨pure purpose¨ as the last 4 line give off the feeling that she looks up to such an action.
-Llayne ngo
From the poems in the packet, I focused on Fox Trot Fridays. The overall smooth,good vibes by using lines like ¨Thank the stars¨and¨no heartbreak in sight¨ was what got me hooked. Even the title gives off a fun,lively feeling and give me an image a Friday night out. Right off the bat, I know that Rita Dove dances and her American Smooth is based on that but what got her into it? In 1998, her house caught on fire and many things were lost. Their neighbors decided to take them out with them to learn how to ballroom dance and the rest is history. She said in a interview that dancing is like writing poetry, there is so much that goes on in the background that is perceived by readers and observers as easy and effortless. I love how she incorporates the dances rhythm into line 4-6, ¨stride brush stride¨ and ¨quick quick with heel-ball-toe¨.Immediately following that is some pretty neat ¨s¨ alliteration, using words like ¨Smooth...slow satin smile¨. This next piece could be a large stretch but in the 6th, 7th and 8th stanza there is maybe a reference to the bible? When I read ¨One man and one woman¨ I thought of Adam and Eve, the ¨rib to rib¨ It reminded me of the creation of Eve being from Adams rib and the biggest being the line ¨just the sweep of Paradise¨. What caught my attention was the capitalization of the P in Paradise, which could be possibly referencing the Garden of Eden?? I not super confident but thought I would share that thought...
ReplyDelete-Llayne ngo
I really like the background you got for the poem. A cute thing Dive did writing the poem was each section has two lines and then the last section is one. Two people dancing together, moving in rhythm with one another to the point where they become one.
Delete-Katie Newell
I thought it was really interesting how is does seem like it could be referencing the bible. When I read through this that thought didn't come to my head at all but I can see how it might be connected to the bible and Adam and Eve. If it is then could the "s" alliteration represent the snake from the story?
Delete-Connor
"Quick" talks about a baby fox and it's mother. This poem fallows the same pattern as "Fox trot fridays". The mother is coming to save her child that was almost hit by a car the lines "O to be gone like that, no grief nor thought of live- pure purpose poured into flight." makes me think the poem is about someone pondering parental instincts. How a parent will immediately come to their child's aid without a second thought to consider if they are even actually hurt or in trouble. A person is seeing what has happened and marveling at the bond between the baby looking for it's mom and the mother coming to it's aid. How the poem is written seems to make what you'd think to happen in only a moment or so last longer. Showing how time will slow in a moment of panic or concern.
ReplyDelete-Katie
Connor McClean
ReplyDeleteI read the poem Fox Trot Fridays. It had a very peaceful tone to it and made me feel more and more realized as I read it. I don't dance or think about dancing often but even this made me think about how beautiful dancing can be. I know that Rita dances with her husband and from that is where she was inspired to write American Smooth. I looked up Nat King Cole and listened to his music and it painted a clear picture in my head. I imagined Rita and her husband dancing to hi music with smiles on their face. It's a beautiful image. I also noticed that there were a lot of space references in this poem and also that Nat King Cole was in the music scene during the space age. It made me wonder if she chose this specific artist because he was popular during a time where the wonders of space were being explored.
I think she is referring to space because with her husband dancing she has unlimited space and time with him. In space there is no time and unlimited room to move. It's the perfect metaphor for American Smooth, not to mention the lack of time and space is often how one can feel when in love. Since Dove is dancing with her husband she is obviously experiencing a specific moment where she feel weightless. Which only adds to the metaphor as there is no gravity in space. She is able to be free. It definitely is a beautiful image.
DeleteJulia Perfili
I read the poem Quick. The line "he's been through this bait and switch all night." reminds me of terms choreographers use to describe the push and pull between ballroom dance partners and due to crazy choreographers it makes complete sense to describe dancing all night long. Memorizing choreography is incredibly difficult to master. There is a lot of night time imagery which is what confuses me this particular poem being incorporated into her American smooth collection. However, the last couplet describing no thought of "love" but "pure purpose, poured into flight" connects to the beginning of the poem of dancing with a purpose and having a passion for an art for, not necessarily a person.
ReplyDeleteJulia Perfili
“The House Slave” is the story of a morning in the life of a slave. “The first horn lifts over the dew-lit grass and in the slave quarters there is a rustling.” The horn signals a new day or the start of a new day and the slaves need to be up in time. The second horn signals the punishment for those who have not already awakened. Followed by the second horn “the whip curls across the backs of the laggards.”
ReplyDeleteSome of the lines I found interesting were “their mistress sleeps like an ivory toothpick,” “shivering in the early heat,” and “as the fields unfold to whiteness and they spill like bees among the fat flowers, I weep. It is not yet daylight.”
The line “their mistress sleeps like an ivory toothpick” just highlights the overall privilege that the mistress of the house has, especially when contrasted with the line “those days I lie on my cot.” It shows the drastic difference in the lives of the slaves and the women of the house. Slaves didn’t have any of the same privileges or possessions that their masters did. They had so little while their masters and mistresses had so much. “Shivering in the early heat” was an interesting line because normally one doesn’t shiver in heat. I interpreted this as fear or anxiety. The line before was describing the slave’s sister getting whipped and the feelings of anxiety and fear followed.
“As the fields unfold into whiteness and they spill like bees among the fat flowers, I weep. It is not yet daylight.” This reminded me of a dream or nightmare unraveling just before one wakes. The slave is coming out of a dream and wakes but realizes that it isn’t morning yet. However, while I may have interpreted that line as coming out of a dream, the so called “dream” is actually a reality that slaves are living in every day.
This poem, while short and somewhat seemingly simple, portrays an important and impactful message. It shows the horrible treatment of slaves and the complete contrast of environment and privilege the masters and mistresses had compared to the slaves.
Written by Kyle
DeleteI believe that a lot of these slavery poems have a lot of strong, hard-hitting lines due to the topic. It is also written mostly in free-verse which allows more freedom for Dove to tell her readers what is happening and she is not restricted to certain patterns. There are a lot of interesting lines like you mentioned and I believe that it is due to her free verse structure.
Written by Kyle
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot going on in the poem "The Abduction." It is told from the perspective of Solomon Northrup who was a part of the underground railroad and got kidnapped in Washington DC where he was sold into slavery for the next 12 years (thus the title.) The poem is actually a dream that Northrup has and starts off with a good tone and ends with negativity and a lack of freedom. The first line uses a lot of imagery which gives the reader a lot of positive vibes. It ends with Northrup waking up to "find myself alone, in darkness and in chains." It sounds like he is in a jail, however I believe that the jail is a symbol of slavery and the cycle that he is in. The most interesting part of the poem in my opinion has to do with the structure it is written in. It starts with a quintain and goes down by one line every stanza until it ends in a monotet. I believe that this symbolizes the feeling of freedom that is slowly being decreased and squeezed until the end of the poem. Overall I believe that the poem has a lot of interesting literary elements and is simple to understand.
The story of Solomon Northrup is long and disheartening, as he was born a free man but was kidnapped and sold into slavery. The dramatic change in imagery creates a reminiscent mood, going from lively and full of excitement to dark and dramatic.I love that comparison with the structure to the loss of freedom!
Delete-Llayne ngo
Delete¨Belinda´s Petition¨ really stood out to me because of its inspirational mood it invoked. Belinda was enslaved by the Royall family and which later fled and left their slaves. While this granted their freedom, Belinda believed she deserved financial compensation for her work as a slave. In 1783, she petitioned the Massachusetts General Court, they later granted her an annual pension of fifteen pounds and twelve shillings.Looking into the first stanza, there are signs of alliteration found in line 6 using words starting with P(¨plead and place my pitiable Life¨) and irony when she says, ¨I will not take too much time of your Time¨. This is ironic because she wasted part of her life to slavery and had no choice and her line also gives off a sense of mockery towards the state of Massachusetts. In the second stanza line 4, the words Air and Advantage are capitalized, signifying its importance of freedom to Rita Dove(in the perspective of Belinda). Finally, in reading the last stanza, I felt a sense of inspiration from the overall tone as Belinda continues to sarcastically say how she is being accused of Ignorant, yet she didn't choose to become a slave. She proves that to me that you do not need to be educated and high class to be intelligent and witty.
ReplyDelete-Llayne ngo
Written by Mariam
ReplyDeleteA poem that intrigued me by it’s historical introduction was “The Transport of Slaves From Maryland to Mississippi” This poem captures the inner thoughts and feeling a slave woman who was just faced with a dilemma of finding help after slaves escape their wagon and kill two white men. What I found interesting was the monologue she has with herself throughout the poem more concentrated towards the beginning. Just the dialogue itself brings up a theme of treating everyone as family even if they are not your blood or complete strangers. Rita Dove brings light to empathy slaves had towards people who were monsters, keeping them chained in wagons. The last line of this poem is haunting “Wait. You ain’t supposed to act this way.” This line emphasizes the box slaves were put in and how controlled they were, as they had no agency at all over themselves.
I thought that the point of view of the slave woman really shed light on the situation that was happening at the time. It seemed that she had her chance at freedom and she was more worried about whats going to happen to her if she gets caught than how to escape. It shows how big of a grip slave owners had. Freedom didn't seem to cross her mind because she had been trapped for so long.
Delete-Connor
Connor McClean
ReplyDeleteIn “The House Slave” it starts out with the sound of the horn which signals the start of a long workday for the slaves. They wake up early and work hard for ruthless owners who sleep peacefully. It goes on to a second horn that is followed by punishment for the slaves that are underperforming. Then she says “I lie on my cot, shivering in the early heat,” which I think is from anger. After hearing the sister pray he gets so angry that even though its cold his blood is boiling from the frustration. I think this frustration and anger is also shown through the lines “she cries” and “I weep” which shows how emotional this time is. Overall I think this poem is trying to portray the harsh conditions that slaves went through while their owners reaped the benefits. It really highlighted the vast difference between the mistress sleeping like an ivory toothpick and the slave laying on his cot. One wakes up to a good breakfast and a relaxing day and the other gets a rude awakening and the end of a whip.
I disagree. I don't think that line, "I lie on my cot, shivering in the early heat," is an expression of anger. I think they are trying to express how they have become so cold hearted and closed off from a free life they desire to live. It definitely is an emotional time for this family, but the are no longer in a state of shock, or anger, they are in a place of mourning and pleading to be given a miracle from God to be no longer in a position where they still feel cold even when there is a presence of heat in their hardest part of day, the morning.
DeleteJulia Perfili
Walking into a court room in 1782 is only intimidating when your the one person wearing the heart of a slave on your sleeve. In Belinda's Petition, Dove illustrates the plight of African American slaves through imagery and juxtaposition. When the narrator describes, "lately your countrymen have severed the Blinds of Tyranny..." the image of severing is not used as an exaggeration in this situation, but as an understatement to emphasis how mistreated the narrator is. My favorite line of imagery is the second to last line. "How might I have known of Men with Faces like the Moon who would ride toward me steadily for twelve years?" These people with fair skin, resembling the brightness of the moon may have light skin but lack the actual radiance the moon brings. In this imagery is juxtaposing what these men have actually done which is bring darkness and cold to the narrators life for 12 years.
ReplyDeleteJulia Perfili
coool
ReplyDeletehello