The first time reading through the poem Exit, i saw more of how Rita Dove departed from Greek myths rather than connecting to them. The poem’s theme seemed to describe a woman passing into a new beginning. When she writes, “when hope withers”, it represents that the woman wishes to receive a change in life. The quote, “The door opens onto a street like in the movies”, represents a good change, but that the woman also feels very alone on the journey she is about to take. After taking this into further consideration, it is clear that this connects to Persephone as she was abducted by Demeter, because Persephone felt alone on the journey before her as well. Dove says, “It is your street you are leaving”, resembling Persephone when she was forced to leave her home to live in Demeters “hell”, and that she is afraid. The imagery in the poem describes the path that the women is taking, “The windows you have closed behind you are turning pink, doing what they do every dawn. Here it’s gray.” The windows can be seen as a symbol of Persephone looking back into her old life, seeing happiness, or “pink”. Pink represents a happy color in most cases, such as sunsets or a baby girl being born. The “gray” represents where the woman is at in her life at the time the poem is written. Gray typically paints the picture of a cloudy or rainy day, and often corresponds with feelings of dullness and loss. This represents the hell that Demeter has taken Persephone to. Dove uses color imagery to represent the happiness and sadness of the woman's changing life. The way this poem connects to mothers and daughters is found in the last stanza, “The sky begins to blush, as you did when your mother told you what it took to be a woman in this life.” Using a simile, Dove shows the woman focusing on the good of her situation, as she mentions that the sky began to blush. Persephone, being merely 16 years of age, is scared of leaving her mother behind for the first time. However, she feels very strongly that her mother has taught her to be strong and independent, and uses this power given to her by her mother to create a positive energy about this drastic change in her life.
This is an interesting analysis, but I also see that Rita Dove is following the myth, rather than deviating from it. The phrase "Just when hope withers" could refer the the winter and famine that Demeter caused when Persephone was abducted. As Demeter's hope withered, so did the crops. The word "provisionally" is very important in this poem. Dove writes, "Reprieve has been granted, "provisionally"--a fretful word." Hades has granted Persephone a reprieve--she can leave the underworld--but there are strings attached. Because Persephone ate the pomegranate seeds while in the underworld, she must return each winter. The use of the word "provisionally" shows that Persephone cannot permanently leave Hades. It is "a fretful word" to Demeter because it means that her daughter will have to leave her again.
In the poem, Breakfast of Champions, Dove uses the form of an Italian sonnet to structure the poem. The poet uses time and weather to express Persephone going back to the underworld after living with her mother for 6 months. For example in, ‘Finally, overcast skies. I’ve crossed a hemisphere, worked my way through petals and sunlight’. Overcast skies are usually associated with feelings of sadness, which Persephone felt after leaving Demeter. In the sestet, Persephone has started to adapt to her routine life in the underworld, ‘…a sonic hospital graph announcing recovery.’. The difference between the octave and sestet marks a new beginning and change in opinion which makes it easier for the reader to interpret the message. A relationship explored between mother and daughter is how the child is dependent on its mother for basic needs such as food. ‘I rummage the pantry’s stock for raisins and cereal..’, a mother would know exactly where the food is kept and will serve the food. A daughter is often lost without the guidance of her mother.
Another interpretation through which Dove departs from the greek myth is how people experience hardships and even after they get through it, certain aspects from those experiences remain with them. The ‘champion’ is one who is grateful for what they have and understand its worth. They have been through hardships and have recovered, read in ‘…a sonic hospital graph announcing recovery.’. Even though it is a ‘brand new morning’ they did rather live a simplistic life, ‘Though I pour myself the recommended bowlful, stones are what I sprinkle among the chaff.’. The person has enough wealth now to support oneself but it is not interested in a lavish, materialistic way of living.
This is a thought provoking analysis, but I also thought that this poem could be read through the perspective of Demeter. Shown through a passive tone, Demeter is trying to survive another day without her daughter. She has been searching for Persephone all day and she is trying to escape her devastation - illustrated through "overcast skies" - with a "grateful martini". In the second stanza, Rita Dove shows the cycle that Demeter goes through each day during Winter. The geese are supposed to signal a fresh, hopeful start to her morning, but instead her faith is diminishing and she eats stones, symbolizing the pain she feels.
I agree with both of your outlooks, but i also found a different way to interpret how Dove departs from Greek myth. This poem can also be seen in the idea of childbirth, where there is hardship with great reward in the end. When Dove writes, "Worked my way through petals and sunlight to find a place fit for mourning", she could be referencing the happy experience of thinking about raising a child, but now has to go through the pain of childbirth. When Dove mentions a martini, it may be a symbol of celebration about having a child.
All above are interesting analyzations. I see how all 3 could be seen. I agree with Cally where I took "Breakfast of Champions" relating more to Demeter and how she becomes to a point depressed. On line five and six, Rita Dove discusses how the protagonist will "dive into a grateful martini tonight, eye to eve with the olive". This to me came across as drinking away the pain threw the symbolism of the alcohol and the forcefulness of the alcohol consumption in attempts to rid themselves of the pain, as shown in the idea of being eye to eye with an olive which you can only do with the glass being tilted way up. As upset as persephone is that she must return to Haiti's, I believe Demeter is more upset with the loss of her daughter, exemplified when Demeter created winter.
Good points, guys! Cameron, I think you are definitely write about the drinking away the pain of the loss of her daughter and the way it all relates to Demeter!
In her poem “Mother Love,” Rita Dove describes the narrator’s experiences as a mother and connects these experiences to a part of the myth of Demeter and Persephone. In the second line of the poem, Dove writes, “Any woman knows the remedy for grief/is being needed…” This statement explains why Demeter chooses to take care of the baby mentioned in the second stanza. She is mourning the loss of Persephone and sees the kind woman’s offering of her child as an opportunity to be useful. This woman is the mother of four young women (“her bouquet of daughters”) who found Demeter disguised as an old women and resting at Eleusis while searching for Persephone. In the fourth line of the second stanza, Dove writes, “I put aside the lavish trousseau of the mourner…” A trousseau is the possessions, including clothes and household linens, that a woman collects before being married. In this poem, the use of “trousseau” suggests that Demeter’s mourning is an ordeal and has become as ritualized as a wedding. In the myth of Persephone and Demeter, Demeter wishes to make the woman’s child immortal to express her gratitude for the sisters’ hospitality. Rita Dove references her wishes in the line “I decided to save him.” The way to make a human immortal was to stick him in the fire each night, and this is what Demeter did. Dove uses cooking diction (“juices,” “cured,” “sizzling,” “spit”) to compare the act of making the baby immortal with the act of cooking a Virginia ham. This comparison heightens the absurdity of the situation and shows that Demeter was desperate for any opportunity to act as a mother. The use of the word “cured” can refer to the curing of a Virginia ham, but it can also refer to being freed from an affliction. In this poem, Demeter is curing the baby like a ham in order to cure him of his mortality. In the myth, the mother awakes one night, sees, what Demeter is doing, and screams. The last sentence of the poem is “Poor human—to scream like that, to make me remember.” The phrase “to make me remember” connects back to the first sentence of the poem, which is “Who can forget the attitude of mothering?” Dove suggests that Demeter believes no one can forget what it is like to be a mother, but Demeter has forgotten. She has neglected to consider the anguish the kind woman would feel if she saw her baby being roasted in a fire and thought that she was losing him. The woman’s scream makes Demeter remember how she felt when Persephone was taken away from her, and she realizes that the woman feels the same way.
In the poem, Wiederkehr, Rita Dove writes through the perspective of Persephone to address her relationship with Hades. The poem begins with “he only wanted me for happiness” (line1), which immediately shows the reader that Hades was selfish, and therefore only wanted Persephone for his own needs. This relates to the Greek myth where Hades tricks Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, to stay with him forever in the underworld. The next two lines, “to walk in air and not think so much” (2-3) refer to “walking in air” as being in love, for being in love engenders an ethereal experience where nothing else matters but your significant other. He doesn’t want her to think because thinking about her unfortunate situation makes her sad. Hades’ physical reaction to Persephone’s beauty is shown through, “to watch the smile begun in his eyes end on his lips his eyes caressed” (4-7). He longs for Persephone. There is an unsettling tone to this line. His eyes caress her because he loves her, but it is disturbing because Persephone doesn’t want to be with him in Hell. In the next line, “he merely hoped, in darkness, to smell rain” (line 8-9) he wanted her as he wanted rain, for he was lonely in the underground of hell. He craves a break from the eternal, scorching hot, pit he lives in. In the following line, “and though he saw how still I sat to hold the rain untouched inside me” (9-11) Dove refers to Persephone not giving into him and his desires. Rain is a metaphor for love. Hades wants her love, but she holds it within her and doesn’t reciprocate his affection. She does not want to give him a remedy for the fiery darkness he endures. Towards the end of the poem, Dove writes, “he never asked if I would stay” (11-2) illustrating how Hades deceived her into coming to Hell. The final lines, “which is why when the choice appeared, I reached for it” (line 13-4) refer to when she can go above land during the months of spring. In this poem, she’s eager for her opportunity to leave and be with her mother above hell. Wiederkehr shows how Hades desires Persephone so much that she feels trapped. The title of the poem translated means “repetition” or “happens again” which displays that this theme of a young girl being seduced into a restricting relationship is seen often.
I agree completely (in terms of just analyzing “Wiederkehr”) in the perspective that Persephone despised Hades and love was not mutual. I also noticed that Rita Dove titled the poem in German, where “Wiederkehr” in English means recurrence, or repetition. Why do you think Dove named the poem in German instead of English? The title does fit the context of the poem; Persephone is never free from Hades and there will always be a recurrence where she has to return to the Underworld. While I was reading and color marking, I made a connection to the Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont’s fairy tale, “Beauty and the Beast.” Although the endings starkly differ, the scenario of holding Beauty against her will is similar to the perspective of Persephone in, “Wiederkehr.” The Beast desired after Beauty, much like Hades “eyes caressed” (Dove 7) after Persephone. And much like how Persephone, “sat to hold the rain untouched / inside me” (10-11) and kept love from Hades, in the beginning Beauty refused Beast’s proposals.
Rita Dove’s poem, “Exit,” relates to the Greek myth of Persephone, Demeter, and Hades. Titled “Exit,” it represents Persephone’s departure of the Underworld from Hades and return to Demeter. In Greek mythology, Persephone’s feelings towards Hades is never fully known, but “Exit,” reveals what she may have felt. The sonnet is organized into three stanzas. In the first stanza, Dove begins with the imagery of hope withering, which relates to the kidnapped Persephone losing hope of freedom at the beginning of her imprisonment. The word, “withers,” (Dove 1) is associated with vegetation, connecting it to Demeter, the goddess of harvest where plant life suffers from her anger of losing her daughter to Hades. The speaker continues that, “a reprieve is granted”, meaning a temporary relief from evil, or Persephone’s release from the Underworld, is temporary and her return is inevitable (1). Dove emphasizes ephemerality of Persephone’s reprieve by repetition of, “Reprieve has been granted, / “provisionally”ーa fretful word.” (4-5). Quotation marks around, “‘provisionally,’” further limelights the impermanence of Persephone’s freedom from the Underworld, and Demeter’s distress of their separation. Despite that Persephone was kidnapped, a simile implies that Persephone has some reluctance of leaving Hades’s realm: “The door opens onto a street like in the movies, / clean of people, of cats; except it is your street / you are leaving.” (2-4). In the context of Greek mythology, the “door” represents the gate of the Hall of Hades, and Persephone’s slight reluctance to leave is revealed through the description of the emptiness of the, “street.” (3). Dove italicized, “your”, (3) which creates a tone that Persephone realizes that her departure is indeed happening, and the curt, “you are leaving,” (4) creates a factual tone, not one of jubilance.
In stanza two, there is a color motif. Again Persephone’s slight reluctance to return to Demeter is revealed with the windows behind described as, “pink, doing what they do / every dawn.” (7-8) which contrasts, “Here it’s gray; the door to the taxicab waits.” (8-9). The taxicab symbolizes Persephone’s passage out of the Underworld and, “gray”, connotates gloominess. There’s almost a bittersweet mood at this point in the poem, as Persephone’s leaves the “pink”, and “dawn”, (which have positive connotations) for the “gray” (8). Persephone’s reluctance is also revealed in the personification of the suitcase as the, “saddest object in the world.” (9-10). The suitcase as sad invokes that Persephone herself may be upset to leave the Underworld. Stanza three continues the tone of reluctance with, “Well, the world’s open.” (11). If Persephone was without hesitation of leaving the Underworld, the tone would be one of rejoice. However, the, “Well,” (11) constructs a mood of passiveness. In the last lines of the poem, “as you did when your mother told you / what it took to be a woman in this life.” (13-14). Demeter disapproved of many gods (Apollo, Hermes, Ares etc.) who sought to wed Persephone, and it is reinforced in the last lines that Persephone did what her mother told herーshe left Hades and followed through on her reprieve. “Exit” by Rita Dove, implies that Persephone may have resented Hades for kidnapping, and may never loved him, but perhaps did grow to feel attachment and loyalty.
In the poem, “Heroes” by Rita Dove, the narrator goes through a series of changes. The narrator first tried to save the flower but ended up making a mistake. The narrator then tried to make the women feel better as an attempt of showing love. But the narrator was rejected and, under desperate measures, the narrator killed the women. The narrator had good intentions to save the flower but ended up harming someone. This is an example of situational irony. The poem is an allegory of how heroes are not always the most popular and welcomed one. Sometime doing the right thing doesn't mean you will get accepted. The title “Heroes” also hinted the idea of an allegory of Greek heroes’ fate. Many Greek heroes spend their whole life trying to do the right thing or forced to do things for the sake of others. Heroes like Oedipus, the king of Thebes who unwittingly killed his father and married his mother. Oedipus always tried to do the right thing but he had a tragic ending and damages his own eyes.
Another perspective of this poem is when the poppy flower gets picked; it is a metaphor of Hades kidnapping Persephone. The woman in the poem represents Demeter, and when the poppy was picked she screamed; because the poppy, Persephone, "gave her the strength every morning to rise". The narrator, Hades, strikes the woman and the woman hit her head on the white boulder. This symbolized the great damage that the kidnap had done to Demeter. The boulder was white, symbolizing the snowy, winter months, which is also the pain that Demeter goes through without her daughter. By telling the story in first person the readers understand Hades point of view. He might not have done it for an evil purpose; what he did was out of blind love. Hades tried to apologies by returning Persephone to Demeter, just like how the narrator tried to explain his/her actions but "it's too late for apologies though you go through the motions, offering trinkets and a juicy spot in the written history...".
I like your idea of how heroes are not always the most popular and welcomed people. I would elaborate on that by saying that this is because they make mistakes, as demonstrated in the poem. The narrator had the intention of helping the woman; helping is something that all heroes do. What the narrator didn't know, however, is that by picking the flower, they were actually harming the woman. The fact that the narrator took a course of action that involved helping proves they are a "hero", but the results they got from helping weren't the normal results a hero would expect. Therefore, this poem demonstrates how heroes make mistakes even when they think they are helping.
I agree. This process is common in human nature as guilt makes humans try to fix the problems that they made. Most of the time, the effort is in vain. This reaction towards guilt is an attempt to show love to those whom love was taken away but the situation worsened and love became crime, regret, and murder. The narrator’s intention started as love, however, Rita Dove places a tone of the narrator's thoughts that implies that the narrator is trying to make the woman feel better so that the guilt will leave. This is supported by the fact that the narrator kills the woman because the existence of the woman is making the guilt persist as well. In human nature, is this reaction, when good intentions turn into problems that cause guilt, done out of love, or out of selfishness and reprieve.
In the poem “Golden Oldie”, Rita Dove illustrates the captivating power of music on the human mind. The poem tells a short anecdote of a person who was driving home and would have been ahead of her schedule, but a certain song came on, so she stayed in the car to listen. Dove first illustrates the captivating effect of the music when she writes, “stalled in the driveway, swaying at the wheel like a blind pianist caught in a tune meant for more than two hands playing.” (lines 2-4). Normally, without the influence of music, the person in the poem would have easily been able to leave her car. But, because of the music’s effect, she is “swaying” at the wheel. Dove’s use of the word “swaying” comes with connotations of indecisiveness and being hesitant to make a decision. The next phrase, “a blind pianist caught in a tune meant for more than two hands playing” reinforces the overwhelming feeling of the music that has been illustrated with the previous phrase. Pianists already use very complex rhythms and movements with their two hands, so comparing the overwhelming feeling of the music to a blind pianist who needs to use more than two hands is quite fitting. In the next stanza, Dove uses oxymorons when talking about the song's lyrics to demonstrate the complex yet simple power of the song. She talks about a “young girl dying to feel alive” (line 6). The oxymoron in this phrase lies in “dying” and “alive”. By putting two words that have opposite meanings together yet still constructing a phrase that makes sense, Dove shows how music’s poetic quality can have a substantial emotional impact. Dove also uses an oxymoron in the phrase “a pain majestic enough to live by” (line 7). Pain brings up many different connotations, but majestic is not one of them. But by pairing them together, Dove creates a poetic effect that carries emotional weight.
Rita Dove, in her poem Used, uses, imagery, metaphors, exaggeration, and symbolism to show the reader how society has “used” woman. Rita Dove says that “we have been used” (Rita Dove, line 6), to cast a feeling of sorrow for women. Being “used” is never associated with positive condentations. Being used by another person often refers to being taken advantage of. Rita Dove first discusses how society sets a standard for women and takes advantage of them threw unrealistic ideals of beauty, “and the skirts ballooning above twinkling knees are every man-child’s preadolescent dream” (line 2-3). Rita Dove uses the metaphor of the skirts ballooning and imagery of the twinkling knees to paint a picture in the reader’s head of skinny legs under a too large skirt, along with legs that sparkle because they are shaved and cleaned. This is an example of how society convinces women that to be admired and desired by men you must be skinny and well groomed. On line 10-16, Rita Dove talks about how a Macy’s sales clerk is trying to convince a woman to buy “silk sheets”. The woman knows she does not need the silk sheets but, “couldn’t hang on, slipped” (line 14). Slipping is a symbol for the woman giving into society’s the idea of mass consumption to achieve happiness. Rita Dove then goes on to discuss the guilt for buying the expensive silk sheets in the lines 14- 15 where she says, “by morning the quilts had slid off too. Enough of guilt-” (14-15). Rita dove in this section uses imagery of the quilts falling off the bed to exaggerate how guilty the woman had felt for buying the society glamorized sheets that were infact useless and couldn’t even hold up her quilts. Rita Dove emphasises that you should try to stay away from being used by refraining from giving up child- like dreams and aspirations, “the nevels sunk in grief when the last child emptied us of their brief interior light,” (line 6-7), as well with leaving the reader knowing that staying away from the being used by society is hard work and will not come easy, “it’s hard work staying cool” ( line 14).
Another example from the text that would also support your analysis is the rhyme scheme. Throughout the poem, the last word in every two lines rhyme with each other. However, due to the odd number of lines in stanzas two and three, the words “used” and “cool” appear to stand out. I think Rita Dove did this purposefully to provide emphasis on these words, showing that society compares being used and being cool in an unhealthy way. Society seems to promote that materialism is the best way to become “cool” and accepted by others. Yet, the second stanza states, “Our muscles say We have been used”. An individual’s personal thoughts should be what controls their life, however, society interferes and changes the individual’s perspective. The muscles crying out that they have been “used” emphasize your point on how keeping up with society is as hard as it gets.
In the poem, “Breakfast of Champions”, by Rita Dove, the author uses first person narration and word play to display the grief of Demeter after her daughter is abducted by Hades. In the mythological legend, Demeter, the goddess of the harvest and grains, suffers through depression as her daughter, Persephone is taken each year by Hades, the god of the underworld. Rita Dove displays this depression through the use of first person narration by Demeter throughout the poem. When Demeter discovers “overcast skies” she describes the clouds: “here’s weather to match my condition: the first pair of Canada geese have arrived on the lake”. Demeter’s condition, as referenced in this quote, is one of depression and lonesome, so she decides to reflect her feelings though the weather. Through symbolism, the author shows the approach of winter, represented by the first geese on the lake. In winter, Canadian geese, as well as many other birds, tend to fly south when the temperature decreases. Soon after the birds arrive Demeter states, “they pull honking out of the mist, a sonic hospital graph announcing recovery”, showing the birds’ frantic call and rush to escape the lake to relocate as Demeter messes with the weather.
As the goddess of grain, several references to corn and harvest are made throughout the poem to reflect Demeter’s resentment. While referencing cereal, the last line of the poem states, “Though I pour myself the recommended bowlful, stones are what I sprinkle among the chaff”. Chaff is defined as the unwanted husks of corn or is used as another word for trash. In Demeter’s state of hatred, she chooses to mix rocks with rubbish and fill the land with her breakfast of choice to represent her mourning. The author uses word play with the rhyming and similarities in the words “mourning” and “morning” interchangeably, to tie in with the title, “Breakfast of Champions”, and Demeter’s state of being. Throughout this poem, Dove utilizes word play and first person narration to symbolize Demeter’s suffering.
In Tou Wan Speaks to Her Husband, Liu Sheng, Rita Dove writes in first person through the perspective of Liu Sheng’s wife. In the first lines she scribes, “I will build you a house / of limited chambers / but it shall last forever” (1-4). Tou Wan’s devotion to her husband is shown through her dedication to building him a large tomb. She wishes to bury him in a place that will last for eternity so that he will be happy forever. She calls him “my / only conqueror” (6-7) illustrating her loyalty and love towards him. Dove’s choice of diction also alludes to Tou Wan’s reverence of his role as emperor. The second and third stanzas of this piece reflect the archaeological finds in the emperor’s tomb. Tou Wan and her husband’s wealth and privilege are prevalent in the items she places in his tomb. In the beginning, Tou Wan is depicted as completely compliant and obedient, with no ounce of resentment towards her spouse. In the fourth stanza, with an aggressive tone, Dove pens, “but you’re bored. / Straight ahead then, the hall / leading to you, my / constant / emperor” (19-23) to show a different aspect of Tou Wan. She is honest and knows that her unappreciative husband would grow tired of all the things he has. She directs him, as if giving a tour of a cozy home, to his actual place of resting. She refers to him as her “constant emperor”, still showing her submissiveness and adoration toward her husband however.
In the next lines, Tou Wan speaks of the smell of Liu Sheng’s decomposing body, showcasing her brutal honesty towards his death. The stench will drive her husband “to air (but / you will find none)” (26-7) demonstrating a morbid side to the seemingly unassertive wife. In this work, she is constantly reminding her husband that he is dead, yet Dove subtly weaves in the ways she has accommodated his feelings of discomfort. Tou Wan has thought of everything that her husband will need during his time in the tomb. “When darkness / oppresses, I will set you / a lamp” (35-7) exhibits the relentless thought and care she has put into pleasing her husband in the afterlife. Dove uses dark imagery to convey the inevitable loneliness and despair that Liu Sheng would feel while dead. Employing a parenthetical, she writes in a passive aggressive tone to juxtapose Tou Wan’s complete affection towards her husband. The wife is willing to put a symbol of another woman that her husband yearned for, further revealing her knowledge of his inevitable boredom and infidelity. In the following sestet, Tou Wan describes the jade burial suit that will encompass her husband’s flesh, while reminding him again that he is dead with the phrase “a suit to keep / the shape of your death” ( 34-5). The final couplet of the poem gives an ethereal and elegant description of Liu Sheng’s breath soul, an inner immortal essence, leaving his body and entering the outside world for eternity. Throughout the poem, Dove illustrates that Tou Wan is a dutiful spouse despite her husband’s constant demand for more.
I agree with your analysis of the passive aggressive tone created when Tou Wan reveals that she was aware of her husband's infidelity. However, I think that this tone is created throughout the entire poem. The phrase "my/only conqueror" shows Tou Wan confronting the hypocrisy and imbalance of power in her relationship with Liu Sheng. She allowed herself to be conquered only by him, but he went out and conquered many other women. The phrase "my/constant emperor" has the same effect. Liu Sheng was hardly constant, and Tou Wan knows this. Tou Wan masks her true feelings in false affection throughout the entire poem, and the parentheticals reveal that her love for him is, in fact, strained.
I agree with your analysis as well in the fact that Tou Wan evidently does not mind her husbands' flaws, as she views their love as stronger than any obstacles. It is further seen how she idolizes him in a metaphor near the end of the poem, "When you are long light and clouds over the earth." This metaphor paints her husband as a god-like figure, showing even further that her love for him may over power her common sense.
In her poem “Sonnet in Primary Colors,” Rita Dove contrasts the beauty of Frida Kahlo and her paintings with the physical and emotional pain that Kahlo felt throughout her life. Kahlo used painting as an escape from her pain; this is seen in the line “who painted herself a present--” (line 4). Kahlo is giving herself a present—something that will bring her joy—in the form of a painting. Following this line, Dove writes “wildflowers entwining the plaster corset/her spine resides in the romance of mirrors” (5-6). These lines refer to the corsets that Kahlo had to wear because her spine was too weak to support her after she contracted polio as a child. Kahlo would paint the plaster, and images of wildflowers did literally entwine her corsets. Dove uses the juxtaposition of delicate imagery (“wildflowers entwining” and “the romance of mirrors”) and harsh diction (“plaster corset” and “spine”) to show the brokenness inherent in her beautiful paintings. Dove also uses this juxtaposition in the phrases “her Beloved Dead” (8) and “Diego’s/love a skull” (11-12). Kahlo had a rough relationship with her husband, the muralist Diego Rivera. He had many affairs, and the couple divorced but later remarried. When Dove compares Rivera’s love to a skull, she compares it to pain and death. It is a reminder that Rivera’s love for Kahlo would not last, just as life itself does not last.
The title of this poem is very interesting. It is titled a sonnet, but the poem itself has only 13 lines instead of the usual 14. This makes the poem seem incomplete, as though there is still hope for Kahlo to escape her misery. In addition, Dove uses bird imagery and the repetition of the word “rose” (lines 7 and 10) to extend the idea of the existence of an escape for Kahlo. Dove compares Frida’s eyebrow to “one black wing/perched over her eyes” (1-2). Kahlo is a bird trying to fly away, and the exclusion of the 14th line suggests that such freedom is a possibility for her. The second half of the title is “Primary Colors.” The primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) are the only colors a painter needs. She can create every other color imaginable by combining those three colors in various proportions. Dove’s juxtaposition of delicate and morbid imagery throughout the poem seems to suggest that beauty and pain were Frida Kahlo’s primary colors: her entire life was an amalgamation of the two.
I had similar thoughts and read the poem as an appreciation Dove had for Frida Kahlo. It also describes how Kahlo used her artwork to escape from the atrocities she faced in her life, for example in ‘Each night she lay down is pain and rose/to her celluloid butterflies of her Beloved Dead,”. Dove also painted Kahlo as a courageous woman who was able to deal with her pain. Another reason Dove may have used an incomplete sonnet is to give the poem a feeling of a private piece Dove wrote in ode to Kahlo. It made me feel as though I were intruding on Dove’s personal writing which wasn't necessarily meant for the public to read. I really like your analysis of the use of the phrase “Primary Colors’ in the title.
I was noticed how there are only 13 and not 14 lines, like a normal sonnet. It makes me wonder why the poem is titled “Sonnet in Primary Colors" and not just "Primary Colors". I do have a theory as to why there are only 13 lines. If you count all the letters of red, yellow, and blue (the primary colors) there are only 13 letters. Or perhaps Dove only used 13 line to make an impact on the poem.
You make a very good point about the relationship between the juxtaposition in the phrase “Diego’s / love a skull” (11-12) and Kahlo’s dying relationship with her husband. However, I interpreted “her Beloved Dead” (8), in a different way. When I was researching Frida Kahlo, I found that in her attempt to get pregnant and have a child with her husband, she suffered through a miscarriage. Because the words “Beloved Dead” are capitalized, it made me think that she was referring to a person, such as a child that she loved, yet tragically lost, displaying the meaning behind these contrasting words.
At first glance, “Sonnet in Primary Colors” by, Rita Dove appears like a sonnet. A block of lines, the title of the poem declares itself a fourteen line poem. But there’s one line short. The poem speaks of Frida Kahlo, a Mexican painter, and a feminist icon, who fought norms by her depiction of abortion, miscarriage, and beauty ideals. Dove titling the poem a, “Sonnet,” an old, strict format, and defiance by writing thirteen lines, embodies Frida Kahlo herself. Kahlo, a painter, did create art with, “Primary Colors”, the foundation of all other shades. Although the poem is condensed into one stanza, Dove’s use of periods signifies a break at the end of line six and nine. In the first, “section,” (lines 1-6) Dove dedicates the poem, “for the woman with one black wing / perched over her eyes: lovely Frida,” (Dove 1-2). The imagery of a black wing refers to Kahlo’s signature unibrow. She defied beauty norms by refusing to get rid of her unibrow, and many know the painter by her striking image. Dove alludes to Kahlo’s self-portraits, “erect / among the parrots, in the stern petticoats of the peasant, / who painted herself a present--” (2-4). The rhyme scheme of, “peasant. . .present--” (3-4) builds an accelerating rhythm, which abruptly halts with the addition of two dashes. Dove unifies this first, “section,” by rhyming, “erect,” (2) with “corset” (5). The alliteration of, “p” continues with Dove’s description of the painting, “wildflowers entwining the plaster corset,” (5). Again, Dove alludes to a self-portrait created after an accident impaled her hip: “The Broken Column.” This painting depicts Kahlo in a metal corset symbolizing polio from her childhood and a recent accident. Alliteration used by Dove with the repeating, “p,” creates a staccato sound, emphasizing Kahlo’s strength in face of physical pain. The flowers around the corset, represent Kahlo’s beauty despite the ugliness of the injury. In the next line, Dove writes, “her spine resides in the romance of mirrors.” (6). With no alliteration of “p” (there is an consonance of p in “spine”) and no rhyming pair, the rhythm slows down, and signifies to the reader the closing of the first section.
In the second half of the poem, Dove writes, “Each night she lay down in pain and rose to her celluloid butterflies of her Beloved Dead,” (7-8). This alludes to the physical pain Kahlo endured. The, “celluloid butterflies,” refers to her painting, “self-portrait with thorn necklace hummingbird,” in where butterflies fly from her head. Some interpret this as a controversial symbol of her own personal resurrection which connects to Dove writing,“Beloved Dead” (8). Dove uses a rhyming pair with, “Dead. . .footstead.” (8-9) unifying her paintings with Dove’s allusion to Lenin, Marx, and Stalin. Kahlo was a member of the Mexican Communist Party, and Dove makes a reference to influential communists. The punctuation after “footstead.” (9) closes the second section. Using anaphora, Dove reiterates the phrase, “And rose to her” (10) emphasizing how in physical and emotional trauma, she was able to rise. Dove makes an allusion of Kahlo’s marriage, “Diego’s / love a skull in the circular window” (11-12). Kahlo and Diego Rivera’s relationship was known to be turbulent -fighting and infidelity, until Kahlo divorced Rivera. Dove compares Rivera’s love to a skull, connotating death, but in Mexican culture, it celebrates life. While their marriage was chaotic, eventually they remarried. The description of the, “circular window” (12) represents how their relationship came into a full cycle. Rita Dove concludes the poem with, “of the thumbprint searing her immutable brow.” (13). This vivid imagery from the word, “searing”, and “immutable”, invokes the reader’s mood to feel the intensity and strength of Kahlo. Using alliteration, allusion, and rhyming, Rita Dove conveys a Mexican artist, and a transcendental feminist icon.
In the poem Canary by Rita Dove, she writes about Billie Holiday’s tragic life and the constant pressure she felt. Rita dove uses symbolism and figurative language such as similes and personification to describe Holiday’s internal plight. The poem itself is called Canary, a melodious songbird which can be used to symbolise Billie Holiday. In the first line, “Billie Holiday’s burned voice/had as many shadows as light”, Dove uses the phrase ‘burned voice’ to show the weariness Holiday felt which was because of everything she had endured. She had a troubled childhood and was forced into prostitution at the age of 14. In the next two lines, “a mournful candelabra against a sleek piano,/the gardenia her signature under that ruined face.”, Dove uses personification, ‘mournful candelabra’ to intensify feelings of loneliness in Holiday’s life.She used to wear a white gardenia in her hair, her signature look and Dove used it to show how Holiday hid behind a cover of elegance and perfection. The next verse is a quatrain contained in parenthesis, with a shift to a second person point of view. It is a direct message to Billie holiday through the eyes of the media and society. In the lines “(Now you’re cooking, drummer to bass,/magic spoon,magic needle.”, it can be interpreted as Holiday trying to cope with her personal relationships but the ‘magic needle’ representing her drug addiction and alcoholism, kept pulling her back. The next two lines, “Take all day if you have to/with your mirror and your bracelet of song.)’’ , is a direct message to Holiday saying that despite her personal life falling apart, she must put on a presentable front. The ‘mirror’ symbolises how Holiday took great care of her appearance and the ‘bracelet of song’ was her delicate voice which must be kept safe. In the next couplet, it switches back to a third person perspective. The lines, “Fact is, the invention of women under siege/has been to sharpen love in the service of myth” could be to show Billie Holiday’s influential writings, the poem ‘Strange Fruit’ as an example, to show the constant pressure Holiday faced to serve her country while forgetting about her wellbeing. It raises the question whether Holiday’s service was worth the deterioration of her personal health? The last line is an interpretation of how Holiday felt, due to her traumatic past and pressure faced, she built a wall around herself and kept contained within its boundary. Billie Holiday was a representation of a caged canary.
I had many similar analyzation while reading Canary, however in the second to last stanza, within the quote “Fact is, the invention of women under siege has been to sharpen love in the service of myth” (line 9-10), I felt Rita Dove was trying to make the point that women who have been forced to surrender, or "placed under constant pressure", as you said, struggle to find love. Rita Dove's word choice of "love in the service of myth" I saw as more connecting back to Holliday's struggles with love and relationships, proven with her several husbands and suitors. Do you think that her struggle to love of others may also contribute to the decay of her health and love for herself?
I definitely do think her struggle to find love contributed to the decay of herself. It might be because of the constant pressure she faced to be perfect, she may have faced issues with self confidence and needed validation from others. Holiday may have gotten this validation through being with many partners.
In the poem Nestor’s Bathtub, the title itself has a powerful message. Nestor is the male in this poem, and his bathtub is referred to as only his, while his wife is the one mainly mentioned throughout the poem. While alluding to Nestor’s wife and her responsibilities in the household, dove writes, “until the small room steamed”, signifying that Nestor’s wife is the one who cared and cleaned for the bathtub, not Nestor. It is evident that Nestor frequently left his wife alone at home when it says, “But where was Nestor-”. This poem is clearly stating that men are viewed as higher than women, no matter how hard the women work in the household or the absence of the male. The lines, “her white hands scraped the dirt from a lover’s back”, could signify that his wife was fed up with Nestor’s actions and found a new lover. On the other hand, it could also be a representation of how hard his wife slaves over the bathtub to make sure it is in perfect shape for her husband. If this is the case, these lines show how deeply Nestor’s wife cares for him, despite him being away very often. There is repetition of the word “legend” in this poem, often in regards to being negative or wrong, to resemble the legend of men being held higher than women in society. She knows the bathtub (and house) is hers as well, but only viewed as her husband's. The bathtub may be a symbol of the wife’s devotion to her husband, even though this devotion is not reciprocated.
I the poem ‘Catherine of Alexandria’ by Rita Dove had a tone, similar to all the other poems in the collection of ‘Historical Figures’, of strength in sorrow and pain. This tone is shown within the first stanza, “Deprived of learning and the chance to travel, no wonder sainthood came as a voice” (Rita Dove line 1-4). In this first stanza Rita Dove talks about how Catherine was unable to travel or further learn due to her imprisonment by the emperor of Egypt, Maxentius. However Catherine rather than giving into Maxentius demands, declaring she was wrong about Christianity and Jesus, she suffered imprisonment and torture. The pain and persecution Catherine experienced while imprisoned, rather than cripple her, motivated her to become a stronger, more influential voice for christianity. Hundreds of people came to see and learn from Catherine in prison where she ended up converting most. The next stanza also discusses Catherine’s struggle in a more physically way. Rita Dove uses what appears to be second voice, “in your bed-” (Rita Dove line 5), to place the reader into the poem so that when Rita Dove says, “and what went on each night was fit for nobody’s ears” (Rita Dove 6-8) you, the reader, are forced to hear the screams of Catherine being tortured that is implied. Rita Dove wants to exaggerate the idea that Catherine was physically weak and damaged yet refused to give up. The reason that Catherine didn’t give up was focused on in stanza three where Rita Dove says, “but jesus’. His breath of a lily. His spiralling pain. Each morning” (Rita Dove, line 9-12). Rita Dove uses the, “breath of a lily” to symbolize the purity, passion, and love Jesus had in every ounce of his being. Rita Dove the then goes on to talk about the “spiralling pain” Jesus experienced every day. Jesus’ ability to remain loving, strong, and pure while being persecuted and pained daily motivated Catherine to stay true to her beliefs and remain strong through torture and pain of the life she chose for herself. Others have looked down on Catherine for wasting her life, however I commend Catherine and see her as very inspirational. Catherine knew what was happening to the kingdom was not right and threw her strong beliefs and endurance through even the hardest of times, Catherine was able to create a drastic change in the lives of many and continue to inspire for years upon years to come. Through the poem of Catherine of Alexandria, within the ‘Historical Figures’ collection, Rita Dove emphasizes the strength of the human spirit even within despair and pain.
I totally agree with the connection you made to the Historical Figures collection, however I interpreted this poem differently. In the very first line, I thought that Rita Dove was illustrating that she is about to depict history in a different way, for Catherine of Alexandria was a scholar in real life as apposed to being "Deprived of learning" (1). Dove wanted to show another side to Catherine and her relationship with Jesus Christ, so she imbeds sexual innuendos throughout the whole piece. She insinuates that Catherine has sex with Jesus through "sainthood / came as a voice / in your bed" (3-5) and further exhibits this by describing the explicit sounds that would come from this. Dove also writes in the last stanza, "above the nightshirt bunched / above your waist" (10-1) to evoke more sexual imagery. Dove wanted to rewrite the story of Catherine of Alexandria to emphasize her devout commitment to him while contrasting her historical reputation as a chaste saint.
In responce to your analizis, I too agreed that the poem could be interpreted as a more sexual refrence. I also interpreted abobe the nightshit bounced/ above your waist" as a refrence to her virginity being taken by Jesus but didn't saw the sexual refrence as more of a part of who Catherine was but not what I felt Rita Dove's poem was meant to portray. I too read that she was a scholar but interpred the "Deprived of learning" as the future learning she was deprived of. I see how the poem could intened to show the sexual ambitions but the reason I intereped this poem differently was due to the idea that I felt Rita Dove's collection of poems, Historical Figures was more of a repersentation of how these specific historical figures found light within a time of great sarrow and despare. I couldn't figure out her sexuality could realte to the theme of the poems. If anyone has any idea or explaniton please comment. :)
In the poem, “Catherine of Siena,” Dove presented Catherine of Siena’s opinion of following religion the traditional way. The line, “Under the star-washed dome of heaven, warm and dark.” gives a sense of safety for the reader, but at the same time the reader is also trapped. Dove’s word choice of using the word “dome” meant both a safe boundary and perhaps a prison to keep people in.
I did a little research on Catherine of Siena and here’s what I found: In Catherine of Siena’s lifetime, she was forced to fight for her way through a whole new perspective of women in her time period. She refused to accept the traditional course of marriage and motherhood. In order to spread her ideas, she traveled all across Italy. She was almost assassinated in the riots of Florence in 1378. She faced many challenges in her life and Dove writes “you prayed until tears streaked the sky.” This shows Catherine of Siena’s passion and the pain of sticking to her beliefs. Dove uses Catherine of Siena as an example or role model to deliver the idea of living you own lives and not under the standards of society.
The last two lines of the poem is a quasi-couplet. These lines make the reader feel empathy for Catherine of Siena. “No one stumbled across your path. No one unpried your fists as you slept.” By using second person it increase the connection between the reader and Catherine of Siena. The reader feels the same emotions as Catherine, the anger, the passion, and alienation; from the repetition of “no one” and “fists.”
I didn’t realize how the, “star-washed dome / of heaven” could also connotate a prison, that was an interesting point. Dove’s use of anaphora in the quasi-couplet did cause me, as a reader, to feel empathy for Catherine of Siena. It emphasized just how alone, and how little she was cared for. I also noticed Dove using repetition in the first stanza: “You walked the length of Italy . . .You struck the boulder at the roadside” (Dove 1-3). This also creates a connection from the reader to Catherine of Siena. In my research, I found it interesting that Dove did not place, “Saint” in front of, “Catherine of Siena” which she is commonly referred to. There’s also representation of her family, she is the twenty-fourth child of a wool dryer which is shown, “as the woolens stacked on cedar / shelves back home in your / father’s shop,” (7-9). Why do you think Dove wrote of Catherine of Siena’s home?
In the poem, “Catherine of Siena”, by Rita Dove, the author uses repetition in order to display and contrast Catherine of Siena’s spiritual journey with her physical journey. Catherine of Siena was a female figure in sainthood who was called to serve in Italy. The opening line of the poem states, “You walked the length of Italy / to find someone to talk to”, followed by, “You struck the boulder at the roadside / since fate has doors everywhere”. Dove uses second person narration, creating a personal effect on the reader that is amplified by her use of parallel structure. Her lines both start with “You”, referring to Catherine of Siena, and continue with a verb. The first line describes Catherine of Siena’s physical journey, travelling Italy to convert people to her faith. The next line reference’s her fate, displaying her God-led path which she is choosing to follow by obeying God’s command to travel Italy. As a woman in medieval time, a woman travelling on her own for religious purpose was not common and often dangerous. However, Catherine is willing to put her life at stake to pursue her fate. Catherine’s journey is once again contrasted through parallel structure in the last two lines of the second stanza: “No one stumbled across your path. / No one unpried your fists as you slept”. Catherine was never married, displaying her independent social status and commitment to her faith. Without the distraction of a husband in her physical life, “no one stumbled across [her} path” throughout her spiritual life, making her commitment to God stronger. Catherine of Siena’s faith in God is contrasted to her physical journey as shown through repetition and parallel structure in Rita Dove’s poetry.
Majority of readers would understand that, “Rosa,” is a poem about Rosa Park, simply by the title and the first line. Rosa Park’s simple act of defiance to give her seat to a white passenger, led to one of the most successful protests against segregation: the Montgomery bus boycott. Rita Dove’s decision to write Park’s first name only, adds to the simplicity of the poem, while symbolizing Park’s solidarity. Dove organizes the poem into four stanzas, each three lines or a tercet, and has an enjambment in the second line of the first and third stanza, and first two lines of the second and fourth stanza. The pattern with the enjambments creates a structured mood to the poem, emphasizing how Park’s protest was not one of chaos but order. Dove adds more patterns in the format with a curt line, “Her sensible coat.” (Dove 6) reappearing again in the last line, “That courtesy.” (12). Beginning with a capitalized word on the first line of every stanza, Dove reiterates Park’s imperturbability in face of arrest.
Dove uses anaphora with “How she sat there,” (1) and “How she stood up” (10) juxtaposing how Park continuing to sit was metaphorically standing up to the inequality of segregation. In the period of Jim Crow laws, tension between African Americans and White Anglo-Saxon Protestants is described in the first stanza, “the time right inside a place / so wrong it was ready.” (2-3). Lines two to three depict an era so erroneous, that it arrived to a point of inevitable protest. Referring to Rosa Park’s short name of eight letters, the second stanza describes Park, “That trim name with / its dream of a bench / to rest on.” (4-5). Describing Park’s name as, “trim” implies to the reader of Park’s orderly, and pragmatic nature, contradicting her defiance. While the, “dream of a bench” may seem unassuming, the bench embodies the desire for desegregation. Dove uses a paradox describing Park’s act, “Doing nothing was the doing:” (7). By refusing to stand, an act associated with laziness, Park was, “doing,” and instigating a change. Alliteration of the sharp sound of “c” in the words, “clean”, “carved”, and, “camera” , create a tone of intensity and makes the reader feel the importance of a deceptively simple act. Dove utilizes figurative language: “the clean flame of her gaze / carved by a camera flash.” (8-9) which describes Rosa Park’s iconic mug shot: a symbol of the civil rights movement. In the last stanza, Park’s humility is revealed by, “How she stood up / when they bent down to retrieve / her purse.” (10-12). Using enjambment, anaphora, and alliteration, Rita Dove conveys the ability of a simple act to influence and initiate change.
I agree with your analysis of this poem. I also think that Rita Dove sets a peaceful yet powerful tone through the use of simple diction, letting the reader focus solely on Rosa Parks' action. She offers intricate, subtle details to get the reader to closely observe Parks. She wants us to notice "how" (1,10) she acts and composes herself to fully comprehend how influential the mere act of sitting had on segregated America. The short and simple structure of the poem juxtaposes the gravity of the situation and the effect it had on our history forever.
I liked this poem as well and think you did a great job analyzing it. I also found that "trim" is another way to say "wheel", which could could correspond with the bus that she was on. When Dove writes, "The trim name with it's dream", this is also a synecdoche: "The dream" symbolizing the end of segregation.
In the collection of poems titled Civil Rights, Rita Dove illustrates the perils of being Black during segregated America. Specifically, in Climbing In, she refers to the fear most Black people felt while entering a public bus. She begins the first stanza with “Teeth. / Metallic. Lie-gapped” (1-2) to describe the bus itself. She personifies the vehicle to give it intimidating and evil characteristics. Her choice of diction exhibits how cold and isolated the narrator feels while on the bus. Dove writes that the dime was “cutting my palm” (5) showcasing that the narrator grips onto her bus fare so tightly that it physically hurts. The narrator is anxious and frightened to get onto the bus. Dove repeats the word “up” (7) to emphasize that the act of getting into the bus is mentally and physically exhausting and it feels as though the chair that awaits a black person is unbearably far away. In the third stanza, Dove begins to allude to the children’s story Little Red Riding Hood, in which a wolf is disguised as the protagonist’s grandmother in order to eat her. The teeth that Dove references to in “these are big teeth” (9) are those of the bus driver’s and they symbolize the cruelness that emanated from him. She further alludes to the children’s story through, “teeth of the wolf / under Grandmother’s cap” (10-1), insinuating that the harsh, abominable feelings of the bus driver are disguised under the cap of a person that services the public. They actually bear teeth like the wolf that consumes innocent Red. This person is described as having “Not quite a grin” (12) to reiterate the false mask that many white people assumed, while in reality they supported segregation and the mistreatment of Black individuals. The following line “Pay him to keep smiling” (13) displays the exchange that marginalized people had to make in order to ensure their safety. Black people had to relinquish their rights in order to survive a ride on the bus.
The final stanza writes of the coin going “head over tail” (15) down the bus fare machine. Dove purposefully uses diction such as, “tail” (15) and “gullet” (16) to refer back to Little Red Riding Hood using animal like imagery. The long, fragmented structure of the poem emphasizes that when entering a segregated bus, it felt like an eternity for a black person and that there are certain steps that one had to follow to keep the white people happy. Endpoints litter many of the lines to accentuate an alarming, frightening tone; both for the reader and the narrator. Each line with this punctuation issues a sense of finality and an honest, eerie description of what’s taking place. Climbing In reveals to the reader the terrifying experiences that black people faced during segregation.
I think it's very interesting that you made the connection to Little Red Riding Hood, and I agree with your analysis. But I have another perspective to look at in this poem: why does the poem contain fifteen lines, one line over the standard for a sonnet? My interpretation of this is that it represents how the conditions that blacks were going through during the civil rights era were very difficult and unfair. The conditions could have been much more pleasant if blacks were granted more rights. This inappropriateness of the conditions in the era is reflected in the number of lines because sonnets are pretty and lyrical, yet the poem, like the conditions of the era, fails to achieve this pleasantness that sonnets possess.
In the poem ‘The House Slave’, Rita Dove uses vast literary devices to create a tone of sorrow and bitterness the narrator expresses rising each morning as a slave. In the first line, “The first horn lifts its arm over the dew-lit grass” there are three different literary devices, symbolism, personification, and visual imagery. The first horn represents the wake up call that rings throughout the slave quarters. The personification within the first line gives the horn human like qualities by saying that it lifts its arm. The purpose of the personification was to make show the control a sound had over the slaves, as if a human, also adding to the tone of bitterness and sorrow. Lastly in the first line Rita Dove uses rich visual imagery in the quote, “dew- lit grass”, to place the reader into the story by painting a picture in the reader's head. Rita continues to use literary devices where she compares the slave workers to bees through the use of a metaphor in stanza five on line 14, “they spill like bees among the fat flowers”. The reason Rita Dove uses a metaphor to compare slave workers to bees spilling to fat flowers is to create a visual image in your head of the works, like worker bees, in the field working hard for their master, or queen. The comparison of slave workers to bees not only exemplifies the dehumanization African Americans experienced, but endless routine with no way out. Rita Dove structures the poem ‘The House Slave’ in a repetitive 3 lines per stanza even in length. I think the purpose of this was to symbolize the repetition, consistency, and routine lives of the slaves and their daily lives.
In the poem “Freedom Ride”, Rita Dove sequences the poem’s imagery so that a stanza or phrase always begin with positive images, but then ends with negative ones. These images are observed in the poem from a car; the narrator is on a “freedom ride”. The narrator in the vehicle wants to escape the raging war over civil rights by traveling to pleasant places that stir up positive connotations in the reader, but whenever the car ties to make an escape, they just end up traveling through rough neighborhoods and unpleasant surroundings that reflect the inescapable suffering of the era. This pattern is illustrated in the first stanza when Dove writes, “the view would veer onto someplace fresh: Curaçao, or a mosque adrift on a milk fed-pond. But there’s just more cloud cover and germy air condensing on the tinted glass, and the little houses with their fearful patches of yard rushing into the flames.” (lines 3-11). Dove begins this stanza with the narrator expecting to turn off a street and end up in a place free of worry or strife that blacks in the civil rights era constantly had to go through. Both the tropical island Curaçao and a mosque influence positive, peaceful connotations of the reader. Yet, the grim reality that blacks must face during the civil rights era is revealed when all the narrator sees once the turn onto the new road is “more cloud cover” and “little houses with their fearful patches of yard rushing into flames”. The houses’ yards metaphorically represent what little positivity blacks had in this era, and how now even the last of their positivity is being burnt away. This, along with the many other images in the second half of the stanza, is a grim reality for the narrator to have forced upon theirself when they are expecting to come to an area full of tranquility and happiness. In this way, the name “Freedom Ride” is situationally ironic, because the ride in the poem doesn’t promote freedom, it only emphasizes how dire the civil rights situation truly is.
This is an interesting analysis. When I read this poem, I noticed Rita Dove's use of second person narration ("you'll find yourself walking," "you'll wake up"). This creates a more intimate tone, as the reader is placed inside the poem and is asked to make decisions: "Pick any stop: "You can ride / into the afternoon singing with strangers, / or rush home to the scotch / you've been pouring all day--" (25-28). This technique allows the reader to empathize with African Americans during the civil rights era because Dove places the reader on the bus during the freedom rides as an African American. You mention the poem emphasizing how dire the civil rights situation truly is, and the second person narration effectively impresses this upon the reader.
I agree with how the poem transitions from positive to negative imagery. While I was reading, I did get a grim mood from the poem, and a tone of seriousness is achieved with negative connotations. In “Freedom Ride”, Rita Dove utilized alliteration, assonance, and consonance throughout the poem. For example, “view would veer” (Dove 3), and “cloud cover” (6) have clear, hard sounds, reinforcing a positive mood to in the beginning of the poem. Dove uses less hard sounds while increasing softer sounds in the last two stanzas: “Stop too soon”, (12) “stale dark of a cinema”, (16) “sad reel won’t stay / stuck” (18) and “singing with strangers” (26). The long “o” sound and the “s” create a depressive mood to the poem. Dove’s use of alliteration also contributes to your idea that the poem emphasizes the grim reality of the civil rights situation.
In Rita Dove’s “Freedom Ride”, expressions of hope for the future in segregation are sharply contrasted with a harsh reality. The “Freedom Ride” was created to promote equal opportunities for segregation on buses. However, this is not the view of the rider telling the story in the poem. In the first stanza, the rider expresses the need for a change, or something new, to happen in the world. Dove writes, “The view would veer onto someplace fresh”, portraying the rider wishes to retreat to a place where there is no racial injustice. Dove uses dark imagery such as, “Cloud cover” and “Germy air” to create a heavy feel, conveying that segregation is still weighing on the shoulders of many. The imagery also resembles a rude awakening to the fact that segregation was not solved, though the Freedom Ride made it out to be solved to the public. The first stanza juxtaposes positive and negative imagery in the mindset of a rider on this bus, “Or a mosque adrift on a milk-fed pond. But there’s just more cloud cover”, to signify the roller coaster emotions of an African American in the 1950’s. Although segregation was taking a turn for the better, there was no denying that it was still present. Dove mentions “tinted glass” to resemble to windows of the bus, as the African Americans wanted to ride in privacy. Although the men and women on this bus are safe during their commute, dove mentions many words associated with being afraid. Words like, “Fearful”, “Flames”, “Gauntlet of stairs”, “Stale dark” and “Scorched back” are all used to resemble what is was like for these people to think about stepping off the bus and being stared at with judgemental faces. Civil rights were far from being solved.
Another example from the text that would support your analysis of the looming presence of segregation is Rita Dove’s use of repetition. In the first stanza, Dove writes, “But there’s just more cloud cover, / and germy air / condensing on the tinted glass, / and the little houses with / their fearful patches of yard / rushing into the flames” (6-11). The phrase “there’s just more”, followed by imagery of fire is repeated in similar ways throughout the poem, such as in stanza two: “there’s still / Bobby and Malcolm and Memphis, / at every corner the same / scorched brick, darkened windows” (19-22). Although segregation seemed to be diminishing, it was still widely present in the lives of African Americans. Throughout the course of their daily lives, they were constantly engulfed by the flames of segregation, as shown through Doves imagery of fire. Her use of repetition emphasizes the consistent presence of segregation, helping to bring awareness of this cause to her audience and creating a tone of despair through the lives of the oppressed.
In her poem “Rosa,” Rita Dove describes Rosa Parks’ act of protest aboard a segregated Montgomery bus. She uses caesurae and end stops to create a calm, even tone throughout the poem. The poem is structured in four stanzas of three lines each. Every stanza begins with a capital letter, and every stanza ends with an end stop (a period). Each line and each stanza look very similar because the length of each line is roughly equal. The similarity in line length and stanza structure creates an evenness throughout the entire poem that shows that Rosa Parks was not doing anything extraordinarily heroic by refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger. The use of caesurae in the second and fourth stanzas also contributes to the even tone. The period after “on” in the line “to rest on. Her sensible coat” (line 6) causes the reader to pause so that the poem is read in a carefully measured way. The same caesura occurs in the last line, where there is a pause between “her purse.” and “That courtesy” (9). The caesurae and end stops reflect how Rita Dove describes Rosa Parks: calm, sensible, and courteous. They ensure that the reader doesn’t rush through the poem in one breath, just as Rosa Parks didn’t run away at the sight of the first white passenger boarding the bus.
In addition to the even, orderly structure of the poem, Rita Dove uses clean, neat diction to advance the calm, even tone. The words “trim,” “sensible,” “clean,” and “courtesy” all have positive connotations and bring to mind an image of a put-together, level-headed woman, which is how Dove has described Rosa Parks. Within the poem, Parks’ actual act of defiance is only briefly described. Dove places more emphasis on the situation before and after Parks refuses to give up her seat to a white passenger. Dove writes, “the time right inside a place/so wrong it was ready” (2-3). The “place so wrong it was ready” refers to the segregated bus but also to the United States as a whole during the 1950s. With the use of the word “ready,” Dove shows that Rosa Parks was not taking an extreme action by refusing to give up her seat because the country was ready and waiting for something to change. The line “Doing nothing was the doing” (7) is the only line that refers to Parks’ action. In this poem, it is described less as an action and more as a refusal to act. This line also makes Rosa Parks’ protest seem normal and necessary because, as Rita Dove writes, she didn’t do anything. Even after being arrested, Parks remains polite. Dove writes, “How she stood up/when they bent down to retrieve/her purse” (10-12) and then describes this action as courteous. The calm even tone allows this poem to be a source of inspiration to polite, level-headed people who still wish to make a difference in their society. In the poem, Rosa Parks is treated as sensible and courteous, yet her actions sparked a large scale bus boycott. Dove shows readers that simple, quiet actions can have as much or more of a positive effect on society as boisterous, violent protests.
In the poem, “Rosa”, by Rita Dove, the author’s use of paradox emphasizes the importance of Rosa Park’s push for civil rights. Rosa Parks’ defiance against segregation was a defining moment in history for African Americans. By not changing seats on a segregated bus, and therefore, being martyred for her belief in equality of all races, Rosa Parks served as a symbol of freedom in the history of civil rights. Rita Dove illustrates this bold move through a paradox when she writes, “How she sat there, / the time right inside a place / so wrong it was ready” (1-3). The contradiction, “so wrong it was ready”, displays the instantaneous change in the course of civil rights caused by Parks’ belief in equality. Although her movement appeared separate from societal ethics, it had a profound meaning in the push towards civil rights. African Americans had a passion for change in societal standards on the basis of segregation, and Rosa Parks’ boldness was just what the people needed to commence a change. Her act of rebellion is again displayed as an act of boldness against society when the author writes, “Doing nothing was the doing” (7). Dove believes that opposition to a common belief for the good of others is best supported through actions rather than words. The paradox “doing nothing was the doing” explains Rosa’s noncompliance through resisting segregation was a great action towards support of civil liberties. Her defiance to moving to the back of the bus by protesting the white request that she move brought more respect to the black community and led to spread awareness to their rights. This paradox brings a sense of rebellion to the poem, showing that taking action for a cause that promotes the wellbeing of others can be accomplished through resisting actions against freedom. Although Rosa Park’s bold stand for desegregation seemed diminutive at the time, Rita Dove’s use of paradox represents her importance in the history and movement of civil rights.
In the poem “Lady Freedom Among Us” Dove used diction, imagery, and personification to show the strong connection between the Statue of Liberty and the idea of freedom. Dove wrote “with her oldfashioned sandals with her leaden skirts with her stained cheeks and whiskers and heaped up trinkets,” in this quote Dove uses imagery to personify the Statue of Liberty, bringing her to life. The reason why Dove is personifying the Statue of Liberty, is because she know how deeply it’s symbolic meaning of freedom has affected all the people in United States. At some point in their lifetime they have associated the two objects together. Thus, Dove feels the importance of making the statue more than just a statue. The quote, “she has fitted her hair under a hand-me-down cap and spruced it up with feathers and stars,” right here, Dove uses a mix of diction, personification, and imagery. The personification farther emphasize the significance of the stature and the idea it represent, hinting the readers that they should not skim though this fact too quickly. The description of the “hand-me-down cap.” is very special, this diction is trying to tell the reader that something old that has been passed down through generations; namely this “something” is freedom, and it has been passed down and improved upon through multiple generations. Dove wrote “consider her drenched gaze her shining brow” created the image of glistening sweat trickling down the face of Lady Liberty. Here the beads of sweat is a symbol for the challenges that were faced and the immense amounts of hard work experienced by many who fought to attain freedom. The last two lines of the poem was particular diction “for she is one of the many and she is each of us,” deliver the message that the Statue of Liberty is a single representation of all Americans as a whole, connected or tied together by the similar desire for freedom. Through the use of imagery, personification, and diction, the overall tone of triumphant exhaustion is achieved.
I do agree with what the statue represents and how it signifies the desire for freedom and the struggles of those who fought to attain freedom. However, I interpreted the statue Dove is referencing to as the the Statue of Freedom in Washington DC atop the Capitol building.After doing some research on it, I found out that Dove also read the poem during its restoration in 1993. Its physical appearance is also more similar to the one described in the poem.
That's very interesting, I haven't thought of it this way before. I originally thought that Dove was writing about the statue of liberty, but your point might be right. I think either way, Dove is trying to show how in society, people focus on their own life and they forget about their own freedom, and what things truly stands for. For an example when Americans say the pledge of allegiance, look at the flag, or even the statue of liberty, all they see are objects, or "another item to fit on a tourist's agenda"; instead of what they truly stand for: freedom.
The poem “Claudette Colvin Goes To Work” in the civil rights movement section by Rita Dove, stood out from the rest because she Rita Dove was addressing a woman in the civil rights movement who was ignored. Rita Dove writes about a woman called Claudette Colvin. After doing some research, she was an African american civil rights activist who lived in Montgomery. She was 19 years old when she was riding the bus and refused to give up her a seat and was therefore arrested. This occurred 9 months before the publicised Rosa Parks case. The NACP had chosen to ignore this act of resistance because during the time of her arrest, Claudette became pregnant and was unmarried. It wouldn't set a very good example, so her courage was swept under the carpet. Instead she got a reputation of a troublemaker and judgement from her community which made her move to New York where she worked as a nurse. In the poem, Dove uses internal thoughts, flashbacks and negative diction to highlight Claudette’s struggles with her present life in relation to her past along with feeling lonely. In the lines “…Anyone home?/or I’m beat, bring me a beer.” (line 6-7) and “mostly I say to myself Still here.Lay” (line 8), the inner thoughts reflect the weariness of Colvin’s situation. She is not very content with her job and it upsets her. In the line, “So ugly, so fat, so dumb, so greasy—” (line 24), it can be interpreted as her self perception based on what people judged her as in her past. It creates the image of Colvin not being self confident and as though she has lost all hope as read in the next line, “What do we have to do to make God love us?” (line 25). Dove uses flashbacks as a literary device to cement the fact that Claudette’s past affects her even though she is living a different life now. In the lines “….And I don't curse or spit/or kick and scratch like they say I did then. I help those who can’t help themselves, I do what needs to be done…” (lines 31-34), Claudette is denying her public persona in Montgomery which paints her as a rebellious troublemaker. Even though Claudette is in New York now,she is constantly looking for validation from others in the form of behaving like others would want her to and defending her actions. Lastly, Dove uses negative diction throughout the poem by using words such as “shadows”, “dark”, “scourge” and phrases such as “….Sometimes I wait until it’s dark enough for me body to disappear;” (line 14). It creates a bleak tone and questions how many other struggles were forgotten or misinterpreted. Another interesting aspect in this poem was the quote from the Boycott Flier from December 5th, 1955, published 4 days after the Rosa Parks bus resistance incident. It cites the “Claudette Colbert” case, I interpreted it as an error in the spelling of her last name. It signifies how little importance she was given and Dove placing it at the beginning of the poem is to attract attention towards it. It could be a purposeful error in order to hide her identity. Colvin was arrested on March 2nd, 1955 when she hadn't given up her seat.
What comes into mind with the word “parsley”? Out of context, it means simply a herb or a spice. But with the motif of the green vegetable in the excerpt from, "The Farming of Bones" (by Edwidge Danticat) and the poem, “Parsley” (by Rita Dove) it signifies a deeper meaning. Researching into the context of the excerpt, Danticat and Dove base their works on the Parsley Massacre in 1937. Ordered by the Dominican Republic Dictator, Rafael Trujillo, soldiers killed those who could not roll the “r” in the Spanish word for parsley: “perejil”. This allowed soldiers to differentiate between Dominicans to be spared, and Haitians to be executed. Dove uses anaphora throughout the first section, “1. The Cane Fields” (Dove 1) and repeats these words with different phrasing in “2. The Palace” (21). Dove writes the same words, “Out of the swamp the cane appears” (4) at the end of several stanzas in the first section but adjusts the punctuation. Repeating the phrase without capitalization and with a comma, “out of the swamp, the cane appears” (10), and again but the comma replaced by a period, “out of the swap. The cane appears” (16), adds to the reader’s feeling of anxiety. Repetition of the phrase suggests a premonition, and the use of enjambment at the end of these lines leads to feelings of uncertainty. This mood conveys the fear felt by the Haitian workers in “The Cane Fields” (1) who were asked to name the herb and executed for their lack of the trill. The image evoked by “swamp” is one of negativity, because of it’s association with opaque waters and danger from lurking predators. “Cane” means sugarcane, describing the workers in the field, but may connotate punishment as in canes used for beating. In the last stanza of the first section, Dove restates the phrase but with capitalization and breaks the pattern of enjambment: “Out of the swamp the cane appears.” (20). With the capitalization, no comma, and period at the end of the line, Dove strikes the reader into a mood of finality. The deletion of the comma forces the reader to go through the line without a chance to pause, similar to how the Haitians’ deaths came without warning. The curt line also conveys the length of the massacre: five days, and yet about 20,000 slaughtered. Rita Dove’s anaphoras in, “Parsley” expresses the fear Haitians felt in the Parsley Massacre.
I really like your analysis of the line "Out of the swamp the cane appears." I agree that this anaphora creates a tone of anxiety because the line is repeated at the end of four of the six stanzas. Each time it is repeated, the punctuation is slightly different so that the reader knows the line is coming (as you mentioned) but cannot know exactly how it will appear. The anticipation and anxiety felt by the reader is similar to that felt by the Haitians, who did not know when they would be forced to speak the word "perejil" but knew, as they waited, that they would not be able to. Another repeated line that supports your idea that anaphora expresses the fear that the Haitians felt is the line "There is a parrot imitating spring." This line is used four times throughout the poem. However, in the second stanza, the line is "Like a parrot imitating spring,” using “like” instead of “there is.” This line has a similar effect on the reader as the line you previously mentioned because its location in the stanza changes throughout the poem, creating a sense of uncertainty.
In the poem Parsley, Rita Dove writes a haunting piece on the murder of 20,000 Black Haitians in the Dominican Republic through the use of violent and fanatical diction. In the excerpt The Farming of Bones, the main characters are chased and tortured for being unable to roll the "r" in the word perejil, the Spanish word for parsley, the same event Dove bases her poem on. The first section, 1. The Cane Fields, Dove writes through the perspective of the Haitian victims and she uses specific word choice to establish a tone of intensity. She writes, “screaming” (7), “punches” (7), “lashed” (16) in the first section to display the horrors that the Haitians experienced while laboring in the cane fields and the massacres that they witnessed. In the second section titled 2. The Palace, Dove writes about Trujillo, the dictator that ordered the cruel killings. She juxtaposes his obsessive love for his mother with his disturbing encounters in the battlefield. He has an extreme affection for his parrot, who symbolizes his dead mother. Dove writes that he requests pastries for it, “dusted with sugar on a bed of lace” (43) illustrating his ability to feel deeply for this creature as well as his affinity for his mom. In the same octet, Dove describes the boots he wears on his first day in battle, “splashed with mud and urine” (46) which juxtaposes the fancy, beautiful display he had made for his pet. The stanza continues with him commenting “how stupid” (48) a soldier looked when he came to him in the middle of war. The contradiction between Trujillo’s sensitive, affectionate side and his cruel, harsh side shows his psychotic tendencies. His fixation with his mother and the letter R is apparent with “she / could roll an R like a queen” (59-60). He is determined to murder anyone who disgraces his memory of his mother. Dove reiterates his love for her through “My mother, my love in death” (68), which she writes in Spanish and English to show that his infatuation has no boundaries. His fervent feelings towards his mother and his horrifying misuse of power as a dictator are exhibited through the particular word choice Rita Dove uses.
I enjoyed your take on what the parrot symbolized. However, i also saw it as resembling wealth. The parrot is inside with Trujillo, while outside, slaving in the fields, are the Haitians who will eventually meet their termination at Trujillo's hands. The division between the rich and the poor in this poem and in the actual historical event are seen in the massacre itself in many ways. Thus, the parrot in Parsley is also a symbol for a willingness to only spend money on ones self.
I agree with you how Dove’s diction creates tone of intensity. In addition to “fanatical diction” I noticed a consonance of “p” sounds in clusters throughout the poem which added to an intense tone. For example in the first section: “parrot”, (Dove 2) “palace”, (3) “parsley”,(3) “swamp” (4) and “appears” (4) all have a solid “p” sound. Near the end of “Parsley” Dove utilizes consonance again: “parrot”, (62) “parody”, (63) “pale”, (64) and “disappear”, (65). This staccato sound forms a sharp and tense mood for the reader, and allows the reader to get closer to the view of the victims.
I like your analysis on Dove's use of contradiction between the general's sensitive side and psychotic tendencies. I saw it being used throughout the poem, for example in the lines "in the palace, its feathers parsley green/Out of the swamp the cane appears", she uses a positive place and then changed it to a negative scenery. The constant juxtaposition of these sceneries and qualities had a larger impact on me as a reader.
I found the poem “Parsley” to represent the different effects and stages of Trujillo’s role during the Parsley Massacre of 1937. In the beginning of the poem, Rita Dove shows the side of General Trujillo that is intimidating and terrorizing, but continued to show the side of him that was sensitive and defenceless. Using a motif, Dove uses “the cane” to resemble the weakness and instability of Trujillo's reign through various symbolic images. In the first section of the poem, “The Cane Fields”, there is repetition of a single phrase, “Out of the swamp the cane appears”. The swamp can make it seem as if something is holding someone down, and this something could be the world of isolation and poverty in which the Haitians lived and worked. The cane, in this section, may represent how this world of theirs is quite frequently disrupted by Trujillo’s anti beliefs in Haitian cruelty. Thus, this phrase can be interpreted as the sugarcane harvested by the enslaved Haitians. It seems as though one of the Haitians biggest fears is the rod used for physical punishment, and i found that this phrase could also resemble that as well. Some words that caught my eye were, “He laughs, teeth shining out of the swamp”, creating a negative description of Trujillo. It may refer to Haitians desire to bring his down in his regime. In the next section of the poem, “The Palace”, Dove mentions that Trujillo, “Planted her walking cane at the grave/ and it flowered, each spring stolidly forming/ four-star blossoms.” “Flowers” are associated with growth, and this can connect to the rise of Trujillo as a dictator. The words, “Four-star blossoms” creates a perfect image of a flower sprouting toward the sun and symbolizes a four-star general rising to power. There are many references to autumn and death, to signify the end of an era for Trujillo’s power, corresponding with how leaves fall during autumn. Parsley is a very important symbol in this poem. At first glance, everyone knows Parsley as a delicious herb on our Italian food. If it were to disappear, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. However, during the massacre, the word “Parsley” was a matter of life or death. This juxtaposition catches the reader's eye, as it seems like nothing important, but turns out to be catastrophic.
I really like your analysis of the leaves and the irony of the parsley. I also noticed how Dove contrasts the seasons in this poem. I thought that autumn and death are nearly synonymous, while the General's beloved parrot, as well as the pride he has of being his mother's son, is described with bright imagery found in the springtime. Dove characterizes his parrot with green features and writes that he "can roll an R" ( 61) to emphasize that he believes that those who can't perform this linguistic skill should be killed. Dove also scribes that he "remembers the tiny green sprigs / men of his village wore in their capes / to honor the birth of a son" (69-71) to illustrate how proud he is to be the son of his beloved mother, through highlighting green details.
Rita Dove’s heart breaking poem Parsley is drawn from the devastating Parsley Massacre of 1953. This Massacre was where in a span of 2 days thousands upon thousands of Haitian citizens who happened to accidentally be on the Dominican border were brutally massacred. Rita Dove portrays this horrid event in her Poem Parsley where Rita Dove uses rich weather and season symbolism, repetition, and auditory imagery to create a gloomy tone. Rita dove repeatedly uses weather and climate imagery to make the reader feel uneasy along with placing the reader in the shoes of the thousands of innocent civilians being murdered. In the section ‘The Cane Fields’, Rita Dove uses weather and season symbolism in the first line, “There is a parrot imitating spring”. Spring typically symbolizes love, growth, birth, or a fresh start. Rita Dove’s use of a parrot, a foreign bird, is trying to imitate the idea of the Massacre causing a new start, a new birth for the nation. The symbolism of spring is later contradicted in the third stanza when Rita Dove says, “we lie down screaming as rain punches though”. Rain screaming and punching is very dark diction and imagery that causes the reader to feel hollow. This dark imagery and tone creates a weather idea of winter, a season known for gloominess, dark skies, harsh rain, and uneasy moods. Although the parrot may be trying to imitate spring, the reality is, their living in winter. The repetition Rita Dove uses of the expression “There is a parrot imitating spring” and “out of the swamps, the cane appears” add to the gloomy tone making the reader feel very uncomfortable and on edge. These two lines are reported in every stanza in the first section The Cane Fields. This adds to the rhythm and flow of the poem as well as adding emphasis. Lastly to exaggerate the sorrow of the Massacre, Rita Dove uses auditory imagery to make the reader hear the screams and sorrow of those being murdered. Auditory imagery is heard vividly on line 16, stanza 6, “lashed by wind and screaming.” The reader is able to hear the screams of those begging for their lives or screaming out in pain as the wind whips like a whip in the background. Another example of auditory imagery is in stanza 4, line 12, “the mountains we call in whispers Katalina.” Whispering always is intended to keep someone from hearing or for exclusion creating an uncomfortable tone and adding to the gloominess of the poem. Overall the poem Parsley, is terribly sad because it's a look into the horrors of a Massacre of innocent people but it's important to keep the reader informed on events we otherwise may not have been aware of. I also think the purpose of this gloomy and uncomfortable tone was to lead reads away from indifference. Rita Dove’s goal with Parsley was to make the reader feel so angry that they can't remain silent and crushed by the social norm or lost in the flow.
In “The Palace,” the second part of Rita Dove’s poem “Parsley,” Rita Dove juxtaposes Trujillo’s memories of his mother with his fixation on killing the Haitians to show the absurdity of the Parsley Massacre of 1937 and genocide in general. In the first stanza, Dove writes, “the general thinks/of his mother, how she died in the fall/and he planted her walking cane at the grave/and it flowered” (lines 4-6). The detail describing Trujillo planting the walking cane, which can also refer to sugarcane, suggests that he cared about his mother and was upset when she died. In the next stanza, however, Dove writes, “As he paces he wonders/Who can I kill today” (11-12). The use of a period instead of a question mark at the end of the question creates a definite tone and suggests that it is certain that Trujillo will kill someone that day, despite the fact that he was strongly affected by the death of his mother. Rita Dove increases the reader’s awareness of the effect his mother’s death had on Trujillo when she writes, “Ever since the morning/his mother collapsed in the kitchen/while baking skull-shaped candies/for the Day of the Dead, the general/has hated sweets” (17-21). His mother’s death had such a profound effect on Trujillo that no longer likes sweets because she was making them when she died, but he still desires the death of the Haitians, which might have caused survivors of the massacre to swear off parsley. The reason for Trujillo’s hypocrisy is his idea that the Haitians are inferior to the Dominicans: “God knows/his mother was no stupid woman; she/could roll an R like a queen” (38-40). The use of the word “queen” to describe Trujillo’s mother’s facility with language suggests that she was superior and ruled over the poor pronunciation of the Haitians. The last sentence of the poem points again towards Trujillo’s intention to carry out the massacre: “He will order many, this time, to be killed/for a single, beautiful word” (51-53). The use of caesurae in these last lines breaks up the sentence and creates a halting tone that shows that Trujillo’s love for his mother may cause him to reconsider his decision to have so many people killed. The poem ends with a period, which is the ultimate mark of finality, showing that Trujillo killed the Haitians anyway. His sadness over his mother’s death was not enough to keep from carrying out the massacre, and Rita Dove shows this by ending the poem with Trujillo’s orders instead of a description of his mother.
I think you bring up some very valid and interesting points about how Trujillo's mother's death almost prevented him from carrying out the massacre, but I also see the effect of his mother's death from a different point of view. I saw the line, "Who can I kill today" (12), as Trujillo voicing out his anger and need of revenge for his mother's death; he feels cheated because it has made him depressed, yet other people whose mothers are still with them remain blissfully happy. This idea is reinforced when it is told that "the general/has hated sweets" (20-21). His mother's death has caused him to develop a hatred for sweets, which are normally seen as a positive object. So, it would make sense that his hatred for sweets could also be transferred to another positive element, happy people. The genocide would be the perfect way for him to channel his hatred towards them.
The poem “Parsley” by Rita Dove draws inspiration from the Parsley Massacre of 1937, a conflict that took place between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Haitians passing through the borderlands of the Dominican Republic were murdered by Dominican soldiers if they were found to be unable to pronounce the Spanish word for parsley, perejil, without a trill on the R. In the poem, Dove dives into the irony of using parsley as a symbol of death. In the first two lines of the poem, Dove writes, “There is a parrot imitating spring/in the palace, its feathers parsley green” (1-2). These two lines contain a plethora of positive imagery. Parrots are typically thought to be beautiful, smart creatures, and spring brings up connotations of thriving life and growth. In the second line, the trend continues with “palace”, which is associated with royalty and perfection. What is interesting here though, is that all of this positive imagery connects to parsley. The word is used in a positive sense here, because it is used to describe the parrot, which has already been established as a positive element in the previous line. Also, Dove utilizes color imagery when she writes “parsley green”; that phrase radiates naturalness. However at the very end of the poem, the word takes on a completely different meaning. Dove writes, “He will/order many, this time, to be killed/ for a single beautiful word” (71-72). The word that Dove refers to in this passage is parsley; it has gone from a symbol of well-being and positivity at the beginning of the poem to death in the form of a word at the end of the poem. The different meanings of the word parsley throughout the poem illustrate how words, people, objects, places, and so on can have different meanings to different people based on the context that they are placed in.
In the poem "Parsley", Dove uses the words "green" or "freshness" as anaphora to convey a sense of irony. Green and freshness are usually associated with something new or perhaps freedom. By repeating these words in the poem, it created a sense of irony that the Hatians are not receiving enough freedom. The Hatians were suffering and dying but the world around them paid no attention to this atrocity, the world continued spinning and moved on. In the third stanza, the juxtaposition of green and suffering is presented, "we lie down screaming as rain punches through/and we come up green." These lines described clearly how the Hatians felt as the countries turned their backs and having a blind eye to their endless suffering. The juxtaposition created a tragic and cruel tone to the poem. This makes the readers to feel sympathy for the Hatians and causes the reader to feel angry like the Hatians. Rita Dove used this literary device to make sure the readers spiritually prevent these events from happening again. Aside from connecting with the reader the juxtaposition also explains the general's background and why he committed what he did. The general's mother, as described in the poem "how she died in the fall/and it flowered, each spring stolidly forming/four-star blossoms." From these lines the reader is able to understand that the general blames the Hatians for the death of her mother and wants revenge. While the general could have solved this without his aggressive and cruel action, the audience sees the reason behind his actions. Notice how Rita Dove used the same juxtaposition of greenness to describe both the general and the Haitians. This hints the connection between the two than what might be more clearly presented.
In her poem “The House Slave”, Rita Dove uses imagery of an approaching dawn in order to symbolize to her audience the darkness of slavery. Her word choice in expressing imagery is prevalent in the first stanza when the author writes, “The first horn lifts its arm over the dew-lit grass” (1). Dew is defined as “tiny drops of water that form on cool surfaces at night” (Google), showing the importance of the setting in this poem. Dove wants the reader to understand the night time setting of this poem in order to emphasize the symbolism of the coming freedom from the wretched conditions of slavery. Further emphasizing her setting Dove again references night in the second stanza: “I watch them driven into the vague before-dawn / while their mistress sleeps like an ivory toothpick” (5-6). The simile “their mistress sleeps like an ivory toothpick” expresses the malnourishment of slaves. A frail, thin object, such as a toothpick, symbolizes physical weakness, which was a symptom of slavery, further worsening slavery’s impact on the slave. The narrator of the poem, a slave, describes the terrors her sister endures as she is molested by the slave owners. This also adds to the despair the narrator suffers, explaining the closing line of the poem when she states, “It is not yet daylight” (15). While remaining in the darkness of night, the author acknowledges daylight in her future. Although the terrors she suffers in the present are intolerable, she still possesses a hope for light. The wording “not yet” addresses her hope and her belief that daylight will one day come, allowing her to focus surviving through the night. Rita Dove’s use of setting and imagery symbolize the inhumane situation of slavery and the hope slaves possess for freedom.
In the section Politics of History, a poem called “Parsley” along with an excerpt from Farming of the Bones is present. In the first section of the poem Parsley, “The cane fields”, Rita Dove uses literary devices such as consonance, anaphora and nature imagery to express a tone of hopelessness through the Haitians accepting their situation. Throughout the section the word ‘r’ and ‘p’ is used continuously. The use of this is ironic because the Haitians had troubles pronouncing the r is perejil, but by writing the poem in first person she is able to create verbal irony. There is anaphora used in each stanza, the lines being “There is a parrot imitating spring” and “Out of the swamp the cane appears”. The repetition symbolises how the killings because a routine and there was nothing that could surprise them anymore. In the phrase, “There is a parrot imitating spring” , the parrot could represent a better life or a fresh start but however hard they try, they will continue ‘imitating’ it rather than achieving it. Further in the poem, the parrot belongs to the general and it being let out onto the cane fields, can be connected to the ‘flight is freedom’ maxim. As the people being murdered watch the parrot above them soar, it is a mockery to their situation. Lastly, Dove uses nature imagery to display the severity and harshness of their condition. For example in “we lie down screaming as rain punches through” and “in our dreams, lashed by wind and streaming.”. The adjectives used are forceful and convey a feeling of weariness among the people. Rita dove also uses punctuation to accentuate the gloominess by not capitalising the first word of the three stanzas in between but capitalising ‘El General’. It can stand for repression or submissive behaviour and the dominance of Trujillo.
I like how you pointed out how Haitians had troubles pronouncing the r is perejil is ironic. I never thought of it that way. and how by repeating that "There is a parrot imitating spring” symbolize how the killings because a routine. I think part of the reason why parrot represent a better life or a fresh start, is because of their color green.
Rita Dove captures the essence of the elusive fox in the poem Quick. Through mysterious language and the couplet structure, Dove creates a tone of awe and admires the brilliant creature. She uses alluring diction to convey the enchanting qualities of the baby fox, writing “he peers from the culvert… / vacant eyes” (3-4). His eyes show no emotion and are impassive, causing the reader to be curious about him and his true feelings. Depicting where the mother fox was, Dove pens “crested / in moonshine the fabled silhouette” (7-8) to enhance the mystical aura surrounding these animals. The dark imagery emphasizes that we don’t truly know what the fox looks like; they are nocturnal creatures and are the stealthiest of predators. We can see her silhouette but that doesn’t give us the full picture. Dove writes “O to be gone / like that, no grief nor though / of love” (14-6) to demonstrate how envious she is of the fox and its utter freedom and independence. The fox is a furtive creature and does whatever it pleases. Dove ends the poem with alliteration, “---pure purpose poured into flight” (16-7) to reiterate the solitary lifestyle they lead; their main goal is to protect themselves. The baby fox - described in the first three stanzas - sees his mother, but instead of helping him, she runs away. The smooth rhythm of this line reinforces the tone of respect; the awe and inspiration in the narrator’s language is palpable. When pronounced, the words emit a whisper, issuing an intimate look at the animal.
The poem contains eight couplets in eight separate stanzas, juxtaposing the title of the poem, Quick. The combination of the prolonged length of the poem and the vivid imagery, exhibits the spectator’s stream of consciousness while watching the foxes. As if Dove was just trying to catch a glimpse of the animal, but caught up in the beauty and magic of it, she couldn’t look away. The title also signifies that a fox has a lasting impression on those who merely get a quick look at it. This piece exhibits a more magical and mystical side to the fox, contrary to most of the stereotypical characteristics given to it – such as deceitful, sly, and cunning. Instead Dove portrays them as enigmatic, and their sheer independence and undeniable confidence is something to be admired.
This is an insightful analysis of the poem, but I would like to add some additional analysis of the structure of the poem. You write that the length of the poem is juxtaposed with the title of the poem, but the short stanzas seem to contribute to the mood created by the word "quick." Because each stanza is only two short lines, the reader is able to move through the poem very quickly. In comparison with the actual number of words in the poem, there is a significant amount of white space created by the stanza breaks. The last stanza of the poem is only a single line ("poured into flight."), which makes it stand out from the other stanzas. The poem comes to an abrupt end as though the fox has run away before a second line could be written about it. This structure complements the title, "Quick," because it exemplifies how quickly the fox has vanished from view.
In 'Fox', Rita Dove portrays a very confident woman through the use of diction, which resembles pridefulness elements as well as independence as she reflects on her house burning down. Dove uses the repetition of "she" to illustrate Dove's growing independence after the tragedy that greatly impacted her life. Dove states, "She knew what she was and so was capable of anything anyone could imagine", She 'knew' what her capabilities were, therefore she was comfortable with herself and what she could potentially achieve. By 'knowing oneself', the character shows the ability to go through life and have no fear of error or mistakes. The repeated, "she knew”, “she was”, “she loved" shows how even after she lost everything, she was determined and strong. Imagination is mentioned many times throughout the poem, and this may be tied in to give the reader a sense of how much Rita Dove could achieve since ‘she was capable of anything anyone could imagine'. Her confidence was not affected by the tragedy and she proves, in the contrary, that she still has potential to achieve the greatness she had before her house was burned down. Using juxtaposition, Dove states, "..there/for the taking/ imagine" (8-10) with "She imagined/ nothing". This juxtaposition of opposites suggests that even though bad things happen, good things can come out of it. In Dove's case, she lost her house, but she gained the love of dancing. Dove symbolizes herself as not only a fox throughout this poem, but also as the slang term for it, “foxy”. Foxes are stereotyped as quick, keen, sneaky, and even somewhat defiant; a description that Dove uses of herself in the poem. She describes herself as strong and determined and the 'fox' implies her passion for dancing. At the end of the last stanza it says, "she loved/ nothing more than what she had,/ which was enough/ for her". This conveys that Rita Dove does not dwell on the sorrow of losing her house, and instead, finds value in what she currently has. This makes her strong and independent "which was more/ than any man/ could handle".
I really like how your analysis connected to Rita Dove's personal life, regarding her home burning down. I also thought that the anaphora of "she" could be generalized for other women as well. Dove is describing a confident and independent woman, that no man can handle (no one could ever tame her; she is a wild and free spirit). She is so sure of herself and desired nothing; she is fully content. The title of the poem could symbolize the woman as the intelligent, solitary creature.
Rita Dove characterizes the narrator in the poem, “Fox”. She portrays her speaker as a cunning animal through diction and creative connotations, creating an dark, mysterious tone. In the first stanza, the author illustrates this tone through alliteration. She writes, “She knew what / she was and so / was capable” (1-3). In the first three sentences, Dove immediately sets the tone of the poem through repetition of sharp sounds in the words: “what” and “was”. This tone creates a perception for the reader that the narrator is sure of herself as a cunning individual. Further adding onto this characterization is the title of the poem, “Fox”. When the reader envisions a fox, connotations such as independent, clever, and tricky come to mind, foreshadowing the end of the second stanza. The author writes, “She loved / nothing more / than what she had / which was enough / for her, / which was more / than any man / could handle” (13-20). Dove’s use of anaphora emphasizes the diction used in the repeated line, “which was”. Alliteration once again captures the essence of a harsh tone through sharp sounds. Displaying an ominous tone through anaphora, the author emphasizes the mood of the poem. The last verse symbolizes a failed relationship. This conclusion can be drawn by the cunning language throughout the poem and Dove’s use of connotations to personify the narrator. Because of her independent characterization and fox-like qualities, she is unable to sustain a relationship that “any man could handle”. Throughout “Fox”, Dove’s utilization of alliteration and anaphora portrays the characterization of an independent and deceitful narrator.
I like your analysis, but rather than interpreting the last stanza as a failed relationship, I thought it represented how Dove felt liberated from the difficulties of romance and love because she had found dance. Dove writes "She loved / nothing more / than what she had, / which was enough / for her, / which was more / than any man / could handle" (13-20). By writing that "she loved what she had", Dove illustrates the strong sense of self that she had when she started to take up dancing. Since dancing was an outlet for her to express passion and commitment, she felt that she did not need the love of a man. She was perfectly happy on her own, because of her love for dance.
Rita Dove’s, “American Smooth” depicts the beauty and the feeling of escape through ballroom dancing. Dove alludes to dance with the title, “American Smooth” a category of ballroom dance including foxtrot, tango, waltz, and Viennese waltz. But even without the background knowledge of dance, Dove makes it clear to the reader in the first line, “We were dancing—it must have / been a foxtrot or a waltz,” (Dove 1-2). Immediately opening with first person narration, it brings the reader into a more intimate relationship with the poem, and the past tense makes the reader feel feelings of reminiscence. Although “American Smooth” consist of a single 31 line long stanza, it could be broken into two parts between line fourteen and fifteen: “of American Smooth. / And because I was distracted” (14-15). Using an end-stop with a period, the reader senses not a beginning and end, but a change of direction. The speaker in the poem doesn’t remember what specific dance it was, but remembers the dancing was, “something romantic but / requiring restraint, / rise and fall” (3-5). Dove’s use of alliteration of the “r” creates a soft, lyrical sound to the poem and builds a rhythm, embodying the dance itself. Continuing, Dove writes, “precise / execution as we moved / into the next song without / stopping, two chests heaving / above a seven-league / stride” (5-10), the description of moving without a break is reinforced by Dove crafting the poem without line spacing. Doves applies alliteration again, but with the softer sound of “s”, continuing the lyrical feeling of the poem. Enjambment in this section furthers the feeling to the reader of breathlessness, as it doesn’t allow the reader to take a complete pause. An em dash halts the rhythm momentarily, “stride—such perfect agony / one learns to smile through,” (10-11), resembling a brief moment in dance where things stand still. It also brings attention to the oxymoron of, “perfect agony” (10). Despite the exhaustion of dance, it’s description of perfection and something one smiles through, conveys how dancing is not without effort but worth the, “agony” (10). Dove writes how the rapturous imitation in American Smooth is an important factor: “ecstatic mimicry / being the sine qua non / of American Smooth.” (12-14). The Latin phrase adds to the melodic tone of the poem; the Latin meaning an indispensable factor or element.
(continued) Dove changes direction from describing the dance itself, to the emotion it invokes in the second section. Part two begins with, “And because I was distracted / by the effort of / keeping my frame” (15-17), describing the concentration required by American Smooth and the parenthetical “(the leftward lean, head turned / just enough to gaze out / past your ear and always / smiling, smiling),” (18-21), reveals inner thoughts of focus. Another parenthetical with interrogatives “(for two measures? four?)—” (25-26) alludes to measures or bars in music, which keep time. The loss of time represents how the speaker was so deep in dancing, they lost track of the bar. The repetition of, “smiling”, reinforces how in their, “perfect agony”, one learns to smile through the fatigue. Dove also begins to use second person, referring to a “your” or the speaker’s partner. Because of the distraction, Dove writes, “I didn’t notice / how still you’d become until / we had done it” (22-24). The phrasing of, “how still you’d become” (23) causes a sober mood as stillness represents the partner reflecting on the moment. Dove utilizes an em dash again, describing the “it” in “we had done it” (24) where the dancers, “—achieved flight, / that swift and serene / magnificence, “ (26-28). Flight connecting to the maxim, “Flight is Freedom,” connotates escape and liberation through dance. Alliteration of, “swift and serene” (27) create a soothing and lyrical tone, conveying escape from the harshness of reality. Dove ends the poem with figurative language, “before the earth / remembered who we were / and brought us down.” (29-31). This signifies the end of the song, a tone of resolution, and the return to reality from the beauty of ballroom dance. Utilizing alliteration, enjambment, and end-stop, Dove crafts “American Smooth”, a poem portraying beauty and escape by dance.
I agree that this poem is conveying that working through pain can lead to the light at the end of the tunnel. I also perceived this poem as being about completely losing ones self in the moment, or in this case in another individual. The words, "Sine qua non" translate to, "indispensable condition". The narrator in this poem is talking about the person he/she is dancing with, and this portrays that they are not worried about the future, past, or anything troubling them at that time. They are lost in the moment.
Along the lines of Sierra's comment, I also felt feelings of nostalgia throughout the poem. By using past tense, Dove creates a perfect memory which exists in the person's memory. In the last few lines, "before the earth/remembered who we were/ and brought us down", there is a sense of having to move on and somethings last in our memory forever. I agree with how the use of "perfect agony" expresses smiling through fatigue.
In the poem “Quick”, Rita Dove compares the wonder that a baby bird has for its elegant mother to symbolize the confusing, awe-inspiring process of first learning to dance. Dove is symbolized by the baby bird; she is inexperienced, eager to learn, and kind of awkward. The experienced dancers she sees are represented by the mother bird; they are magnificent, masterful, and inspiring. The first line of the poem introduces the bird metaphor when Dove writes, “Look, a baby one! Wink of fuzz / in the headlights, and gray at that” (1-2). The “baby one” refers to the baby bird. The description of the bird as “a wink of fuzz” and “gray” plays two roles here: literally, it paints a picture of a newly born baby bird in the reader’s minds, but the words fuzz and gray create a tone of uncertainty, reflecting the feeling that someone gets when they try dancing for the first time. This tone of uncertainty is further reinforced in the next two lines, where Dove writes, “Now he peers from the culvert, / all the bobble and twitch, vacant eyes” (3-4). The word “vacant” continues the tone of uncertainty, but the words “peers” and “bobble” also add a new layer of curiosity to the overall tone. The curious tone embodies the youthful energy for discovery that one possesses when they are learning how to dance. Moving to the fourth stanza, after Dove describes the bird’s mother, writing, “On the hill, there––crested / in moonshine the fabled silhouette” (7-8). By using phrases that have connotations of perfection and elegance like “on the hill”, “crested in moonshine”, and “the fabled silhouette” to describe the mother bird, Dove shifts the tone to awe and wonder in the baby bird’s mind. The new tone reflects the feeling that a new dancer undergoes when they watch the intricate, masterful moves of an experienced dancer. Throughout the rest of the poem, Dove continues to describe the mother bird using this tone of awe. The title of the poem, “Quick”, represents how swiftly Dove became fascinated with dancing, and the poem describes the process of this infatuation through the metaphor of the birds.
The other literary device that I saw in this poem was Dove's use of italicization. It affected mood and tone in this passage, making the poem seem more personal, as if seeing into the mind set of the speaker. The first line of the first stanza states, "Look, a baby one!" (1). The term "look" grabs the attention of the reader, similar to a dancer when they first appear on stage. The poem starts individualistic until the second dancer appears in the third stanza: "Where's mother?" (6). This phrase causes the reader to wonder why the person is dancing alone, giving an introduction to the entrance of the partner. Rita Dove's use of italics in this poem allows for a change in tone from individualistic, to dependent by comparing the dancers to a baby bird and its mother.
I really enjoyed your analization and interpretation of the poem Quick. I really like your idea of the bird comparison. I also really enjoy your analization of the color gray and how you connected it back to the baby bird.
When I read the poem “Quick”, it reminded me of the hit song “What Does the Fox Say?” by Ylvis, from a few years ago. The way Dove uses imagery to convey a sense of wonder of the fox just Ylvis do in their hit song. The lines “waving its flamboyant afterthought, she disappears: red swish or gray, too quick to tell,” create a sense of curiosity. The fox is famous for its ability to disappear in an instant, like the ghost of the forest. The main questions of the song-“What does the fox say?!”- is funny but at the same time, a valid one, because it is not common knowledge to know how a fox sounds like. Humans make onomatopoeias for common animals but there is no such onomatopoeia for the sound a fox makes. In both context, the authors use imagery to convey the wonders of the fox, nature’s most mysterious predator.
In her poem “Fox,” Rita Dove creates an image of a strong, self-aware, confident woman. The poem is titled “Fox,” an animal that is described in Dove’s poem “Quick” as a “fabled silhouette” (8) and “pure purpose/poured into flight” (16-17). By using “Fox” as the title, Dove compares this woman to this powerful and elusive creature. The poem was written after Dove lost her house to a fire caused by lightning, and the poem can be read as autobiographical. Dove is describing the courage she found after being affected by tragedy. However, the poem is also a universal ode to all strong women. Dove uses intentionally vague phrasing--the subject is described only with a pronoun (“she”)--to create a poem that applies to myriad situations and women.
The first stanza of the poem is two sentences stretched into ten lines. The shortness of the lines allows the reader to move quickly through the stanza. This sense of movement is enhanced by the seven lines ending in enjambment. The ease with which the reader can read the poem simulates the self-assuredness of the subject. This self-assuredness is seen in the only capitalized word in the poem: “She.” The capitalization places more emphasis on the subject of the poem than on any other image in the poem. Rita Dove begins the poem with a simple statement: “She knew what / she was” (1-2). The second sentence expands on this self-awareness, using the same structure as the first: “She loved what / she was” (7-8). With this anaphora, the poem builds on itself in a logical order, just as the women described must first know what she is to love what she is. Both sentences of the first stanza end in “imagine.” This word, used in the phrase, “and so / was capable / of anything / anyone / could imagine,” suggests the endless possibilities that this woman’s self-acceptance has created for her (2-6). The last line of the first stanza is simply “imagine,” which is a call for the reader to connect with this women and her potential (10). The first stanza of “Fox” has a confident tone, and is a description of a woman’s awareness of her strengths. It is juxtaposed with the second stanza, which focuses on this woman’s gratitude and humility despite her confidence.
The second stanza of “Fox” has the same number of lines and sentences as the first stanza. The lines are similarly short. This consistency shows that the two stanzas a merely parts of a cohesive whole. However, the first sentence of the second stanza, “She imagined / nothing,” contrasts with the last line of the first stanza (11-12). While the last line implores the reader to “imagine,” Dove writes that the subject herself imagined nothing, showing that she is humble despite her confidence and awareness. The repetition of “imagine” connects the first two stanzas together, despite their differing tones. Dove then expands on this woman’s humility: “She loved / nothing more / than what she had, / which was enough for her” (13-17). This combination of character traits—self-awareness, self-acceptance, humility, and gratitude, is “more / than any man / could handle” (18-20). Throughout the poem “Fox,” Dove uses anaphora and a consistent structure to describe all strong women. They are often called “foxy,” but they are much more nuanced than that.
I liked how you included background information about how “Fox” could be about an autobiography, which was a perspective I didn’t pick up upon first reading the curt poem. I agree more with the view that Dove wrote this as an ode to independent women, particularly because of the third person used throughout the poem. Along with being visually appealing, enjambment and the shortness of each line reinforces how the “she” doesn’t need extravagant words. The minimalist structure of the poem also conveys the line, “what she had, / which was enough for her,” (15-17).
The poem that stood out to me the most among the American Smooth poems was the poem Quick. Throughout the poem quick, Rita Dove uses lots of animal imagery, color symbolism, pattern, and alliteration to create a flow and rhythm of a dance and it’s movement. The overall poem was very confusing but I was able to connect Rita Dove’s poem Quick to the famous story Cinderella, specifically the way Cinderella and the Prince interacted at the ball. I saw the first 3 stanzas as relating to, or discussing character traits of a man, or in the cinderella story, prince charming. I saw the second 3 stanzas s relating to, or discussing character traits of a female, or Cinderella. The last 3 stanzas seemed to be a overall narration or 3rd party reflecting on the previous events. I saw the first two lines in stanza one, “Look, a baby one! Wink of fuzz/ in the headlights, and gray at that.” (line 1 and 2, Stanza 1, Rita Dove), as a comparison of a young man experiencing his first dance, or ball, as in the story of Cinderella. The comparison of the young man to a baby animal stuck in the headlights was great imagery of how a young man alone at his first dance may appear. I also saw the imagery, “Wink of fuzz/ in the headlights,” and color symbolism, “and gray at that.” all connecting back to the idea of a blank stare or mindset towards the dance. In the story Cinderella, the prince had not wanted a ball, his father forced him to throw it in attempt to find a wife whom the prince had not wished to be burdened with at the moment. I go on to connect the fifth and sixth line, stanza three, to prince charming and/ or a young boy lost and confused at his first dance, “he’s been through this bit and switch/ all night. Where’s mother?” (line 5 and 6, Stanza 3, Rita Dove). These two lines are most commonly interpreted as a young man at his first dance nervous and unaware feeling exposed, “bait”, and constantly being thrown around a room, “switch/all night”. I connected this to how Prince Charming, before meeting Cinderella, was being tossed from woman to woman threw dance hoping to win over the heart of the prince of the kingdom. Also, the quote “Where’s mother” as an example of innocence, yet also Prince charming had lost his mother at a young age as the story of Cinderella lead the reader to believe. Connecting the poem Quick to the story Cinderella, Prince Charming at his moment may be wishing his mother was there to appease his father and let him live his life, like a rescue. However in stanza 4, the story shifts from talking about a male, Prince Charming, to a female character. I compared the female charactor to Cinderella due to the visual imagery of a bold woman covered in a ball gown portrayed on line eight, “in moonshine the fabled silhouette”. This line reminds me of when Cinderella is entering the palace and all eyes are on her. Then in line 11, “she disappears:” (line 11, stanza 6, Rita Dove). Cinderella too disappears leaving the story with a confusing aftermath and tone. The poem Quick was a longer poem but with short lines read very quick. Each line or stanza seemed to get smaller and more compacted as the poem drew to a close which I also compared to Cinderella and the countdown of the clock until midnight. Once the clock struck midnight the story was then left with a cold and empty tone and feeling, as this poem felt once concluded with the line, “poured into flight.” (line 17, Stanza 9, Rita Dove). Although I concluded the poem Quick by Rita Dove was about a dance, I felt the poem had many similar characteristics to the famous fairytale story of Cinderella.
In the poem Quick by Rita Dove, she symbolises losses and hard decisions we must take in our lives through the fox and its cub. She was able to convey this through using literary devices such as colour imagery,end stops and inner thoughts. By using colour imagery such as, “afterthought she disappears:/red swish/or gray/too quick to tell” (lines 11,12 and 13) and “in the headlights, and gray at that”, Dove is able to attract the attention of the reader towards the use of the colours. By using red and gray, she juxtaposes a warm colour next to a cold one. This could be interpreted as a positive feeling, or warmth being changed to one of distance. Dove uses end stops throughout the poem such as full stops,cola and commas throughout the poem. In lines such as “in the headlights, and gray at that.” (line 2) and “all bobble and twitch, vacant eyes” (line 4). This created a tone of finality and something being definite or unchangeable. It adds to the effect of a concrete decision being taken and there is no going back. By using inner thoughts, in the lines “Look a baby one! Wink of fuzz” (line 1) and “all night. Where’s mother?” (line 6), it makes the connection between a human perspective and animal. We personify animals in order to understand them while they may not be that different. In the line “On the hill, there-crested/in moonshine the fabled silhouette,” (lines 7 and 8), it was the pain the mother wolf felt being let out through a catharsis by howling at the moon. Lastly the final couplet and one line following it, “like that, no grief not thought/of love-pure purpose/ poured into flight” (lines 15, 16 and 17), added to the overall theme of loss because it is as though the mother wolf is trying to block out all the emotions she was feeling to flee the situation. She could be fleeing for the betterment of her child or as a need for self perseveration. Whatever the reason is, it was a hard decision for her to have made. The poem is written in a first person point of view, so the story could be a person projecting their life onto the ones of a wolf and its cub. It is uncertain whether the cub belongs to the wold or not which adds to the feeling of a person going through loss and projecting it upon animals. In contrast to the end stops being used, the structure of the poem itself are short couplets which accentuate the tone of fleeting moments and contribute to the idea that we must let go of things which we hold dear.
In the poem “Fox Trot Fridays”, Dove to create a musical rhythm to the poem, by using several literary/poetic devices. I looked up the meaning of fox trot, and it turns out to be a type of dance that is very smooth and progressive. I also looked up Nat King Cole, in the fourth stanza, was a man known for his swing, local jazz and traditional pop. In the third stanza, the "quick-quick with a heel-ball-toe," give the reader a feeling of actual dancing shoes tapping the floor. This creates musical, rhythmic tone. Notice how all the words used in this stanza are mostly one syllable words, this illustrates speed of the dance/poem because the foxtrot is a fast dance. Alliteration is used in the next stanza to convey the elegance of dancing. The Rita Dove wrote, “as Nat King Cole’s slow satin smile,” The repeated sound of s in this stanza creates a graceful tone. In the previous stanza, the juxtaposition of the sharp diction along with the smooth s sound conveys the idea that the dance is elegant and graceful, at the same time rhythmic. In the fifth and sixth stanza, Dove wrote, “one day at a time: / one man and / one women,” This creates a tome of peacefulness. Rita Dove is hinting that by dancing, it helps the reader take their mind away from something. Rita Dove personified many qualities of dancing in this poem.
In The Abduction, Rita Dove artfully describes the story of Solomon Northrup, a free Black man who is deceived, abducted and traded to be a slave. The first two stanzas illustrate how content the narrator feels before all of this occurs, through an exclamation point – “Harrison!” (2) - and the acquisition of companions, “Brown and Hamilton” (5). These men, who he believes are musical performers, are the men who trick him into becoming a slave. The next line foreshadows this event with “Why should I have doubted them?” (6) and Dove continues on to describe the successes they had as traveling musicians. They made copious amounts of money and Northrup loved what he was doing. The carefree and joyful tone in these two stanzas illustrates how hoodwinked he is by Brown and Hamilton.
In the next stanza, the tone of the poem is shifted from happy and hopeful to eerie and sinister. The line “Then the wine, like a pink lake, tipped” (11) symbolizes Northrup’s free life coming to an end. The pink color imagery illustrates how bright and merry his life was, but now it will never be the same. Dove writes “the sky swiveled, clicked into place” (12) to represent the reality of Brown and Hamilton’s deception finally setting in. In the beginning stanzas, he had been leading a pleasant existence with these men, but finally their trickery is revealed and Northrup is jolted into slavery. “I floated on water I could not drink” symbolizes the journey he is forced to take to become a slave. The final line of the poem, “I woke and found myself alone, in darkness and in chains” (15) demonstrates an ominous tone, the complete opposite of the beginning of the poem. He is without companions and has no color in his life; there is no pink, just darkness.
To further indicate the abrupt, terrifying change in Northrup’s life, Dove decreases the number of lines in each successive stanza. The first stanza, a quintet, represents the fullness and freedom the narrator possesses. With the foreshadowing as emphasis, the following quatrain showcases his diminished happiness. The next triplet exhibits the change in tone and the reality he faces as a black man. The couplet demonstrates the disappearance of his once pleasant and independent life. Finally, the last line signifies the complete loss of freedom he experiences. The decreasing length ultimately shows his gradual transition from a free man to an enslaved one.
Dove’s structure of losing one line for each progressive stanza was one of the first thing I noticed in “The Abduction”. I also interpreted it as representing the destruction of Solomon Northrup’s life from one of freedom to enslavement. The shortness of the poem also conveys how quickly Northrup was taken into slavery, despite carrying around his “free papers” (Dove 4). The first stanza on the surface felt cheerful with positive connotations of “great” (2), “violin” (4), and friends” (5), it’s overpowered by a foreboding undercurrent, causing the reader to feel unsettled. While “bells” (1) can be associated with a joyous occasion, it is also associated with death, and the negative connotation of cannons and a house with crepe, a fabric worn for mourning, sets the eerie tone throughout the poem.
I really enjoyed your analysis on how the decreasing stanza lengths represent the diminishing hope and freedom of Solomon Northrup. I noticed a line in the second to last stanza that supports this idea that you have. Dove writes, "Though the pillow / was stone, I climbed no ladders in that sleep" (13-14). This line demonstrates how even something as sacred as sleep is being harmed by the changes and loss of freedom in Northrup's life. The phrase "I climbed no ladders in that sleep" serves as a metaphor for the extent of Northrup's troubles. Ladders often have the connotation advancement and progress. By utilizing this metaphor, Dove demonstrates how the abduction has caused him to regress rather than progress in his life.
I also enjoyed how you noticed the decreasing lines, because i noticed that too! Not only does this resemble a diminishing hope, but the final stanza portrays Solomon's devastating reality of being back in chains. The decreasing number of verses gives insight to the numbing horrors of living as a slave, "I floated on water I could not drink. Though the pillow/was stone, I climbed no ladders in that sleep." (Dove 13-14). Solomon slowly becomes paralyzed with fear as he realizes that he can never truly be free.
In the section Slavery, one of the poems was The House Slave. I read it through the viewpoint of Belinda, from the poem Belinda’s Petition. In Belinda’s Petition, in the line “since the age of twelve a Slave.”, her experiences were described in the poem The House Slave. Dove uses weather imagery to set the mood, similes and verbs at the begging of the second, third, fourth and fifth triplet to set a harsh and unforgiving scenery. Dove utilises weather imagery throughout the poem to describe the time and their surroundings. The poem starts of with “The first horn lifts it arm over the dew-lit grass” (line 1) , this sets an image of a positive and pretty appearance but is quickly changed to a scene of the slave quarters in the next line. In the line,“I watch them driven into the vague before-dawn”(line 5), there is a feeling of uncertainty and dawn is generally foggy which creates a mysterious effect. In the last triplet , “and as the fields unfold to whiteness” (line 13) and “I weep.It is not yet daylight” (line 15) shows how early it is and “fields unfold to whiteness” can be a metaphor to show how foggy it is. The last line sounds like a complain made by a youngster which symbolises how naive and miserable the children working feel. Through the use of similes such as “while their mistress sleeps like an ivory toothpick” (line 6) and “and they spill like bees among to fat flowers,” (line 14), Dove is able to show the hierarchy present. Their mistress is compared to an ivory toothpick which sets an image of someone rich and delicate, juxtaposed by the slaves who are compared to bees, small in size which can be translated into inferiority. By comparing them to bees, it is also a group where individuals aren't recognised and these humans are stripped of their personalities. Through Dove’s use of verbs at the beginning of lines, she is able to create a feeling of extreme sadness and hopelessness. In the lines, “I watch them driven into vague before-dawn” (line 4), “I cannot fall asleep again. At the second horn,” (line 7), “I lie on my cot, shivering in the early heat,” (line 9) and “I weep. It is not yet daylight.” (line 12), there is a tone of forcefulness and further accentuates the bleakness of the situation the slaves were in. They had no choice but to continue living the way they did. Along with using verbs, Dove also brings up Belinda’s sister, who is working out in the field. The narrator cannot help her, all she can do is lie their helpless. The narrator is not out there working, possibly because her shift begins later in the day.
I really liked your analysis of the bees and the weather imagery! Throughout this poem, I sensed a tone of anguish and anxiousness, for the narrator of the poem - who I interpreted as the house slave - is merely a spectator to the atrocities the field workers and her sister face. She wants desperately to help the people around her, as she hears them whipped and beaten, but she can only watch from afar. I also thought that the length of the poem demonstrates how long each day was for a slave. "I weep. It is not yet daylight" (12) emphasizes how hard emotionally it was to be a slave. Through the continuous use of triplets, Dove showcases that every day was the same; a struggle they had to endure.
I never thought of how the triplets could demonstrate how long each day was. That is very interesting and the use of three lines can also indicate, daytime, midday and night. It also adds to the feeling of a routine life with no hope for the future and by using such a strict structure, it accentuates the feeling.
One thing that really stood out to me while I read "The House Slave" was the consonance of "s" in every line of the poem. The recurring "s" sounds exemplified the cyclic nature of the house slave's life, which is fitting because the entire poem is essentially a generalized description of what happens each morning -- a cycle of torture that hasn't ended yet with the "daylight" that is freedom.
Rita Dove writes about an African-American writer and abolitionist, titling the poem,“David Walker (1785-1830)”. Most of Dove’s poems about historical figures have titles alluding to the person or their first name, for example the poem, “Rosa” about Rosa Parks. The directness of the title is reminiscent of Walker’s uncensored emotion in his antislavery pamphlet. Perhaps because David Walker is not widely known, Dove chose to highlight the entirety of his name and date of birth and death, leaving no ambiguity as to the subject of the poem. Dove structured the poem to follow Walker’s life starting from his life in Boston to his death. David Walker, born in Wilmington, North Carolina, was born to a free mother and an enslaved father, and therefore born free. Dove alludes to his free status writing, “Free to travel, he still couldn’t be shown how lucky / he was: They strip and beat and drag us about like rattlesnakes.” (Dove 1-3). The italics signifies the perspective of David Walker, and throughout the poem, it portrays his frustration and pain, unsettling the reader. There’s a little sarcasm in the first line, where Walker is depicted as ungrateful for his freedom when he’s “beat. . .like rattlesnakes”(2-3). Dove uses simile to compare the treatment of African-Americans to the treatment of rattlesnakes, which are feared, similar to how the possibility of slaves revolting caused fear among slaveowners. This simile and negative connotations of “beat” and “drag”creates a harsh tone to poem. Walker moved to Boston, where he became an owner of a secondhand clothes store. Again, Dove utilizes allusion describing the location of Walker’s shop, “Home on Brattle Street” (3). Dove continues to describe his shop, “Compass needles, / eloquent as tuning forks, shivered, pointing north.” (5-6). The compass “pointing north” alludes to freedom, and hope for greater opportunities, and represents Walker’s aid to former slaves.
Anguish from slavery in the south and discrimination in the north, Walker published a pamphlet, “Walker's Appeal. . .to the Coloured Citizens of the World. . .and. . .to Those of the United States of America” in 1829. These pamphlets were smuggled into the south, “On the faith of an eye-wink, pamphlets were stuffed, / into trouser pocket. Pamphlets transported / in the coat linings of itinerant seamen,” (9-11). In this second stanza, the alliteration of “p” creates a sharper tone, conveying Walker’s inflammatory writing. Dove juxtaposes the situation of African-Americans to the wealthy in the third stanza with, “We are the most wretched, degraded and abject set / of beings that ever lived since the world began.” (16-17). Evoking an intense pain and sense of injustice to the reader, Dove then uses visual and sound imagery to describe luxury, “The jewelled canaries in the lecture halls tittered,” (18). One of the shortest lines in the poem, Dove writes, “Every half-step was no step at all” (21) relaying that even though some may be free, they aren’t free in the true sense as Walker and blacks faced discrimination. In the last stanza, two more editions are published, and Walker is found dead. Again in italics, “perfectly appalled. / Humanity, kindness and the fear of the Lord does not consist in protecting devils.” (26-28). Dove uses religious references, similar to how Walker referred to the Bible in this pamphlet. This conveys the frustration of Walker, where he demanded immediate abolition. Before many abolitionists sought for gradual abolition, which Walker believed that it was “protecting devils” (28) the devils referring to those who were pro slavery. Extremely controversial for his advocation of violence, a reward was posted for his death (some speculate poisoning, others tuberculosis) and was later found dead in Boston, only, “A month—” (28) later of the release of his later editions in 1930.
Rita Dove’s “Belinda’s Petition” portrays a mocking yet appreciative tone. Dove describes Belinda as proud in the third and fourth stanza. When Belinda said “I am Belinda, an African…”, she didn’t say African American, because she was proud of being an African. Also, Dove carefully chose to let the Senate and House of Representative know that she was an African. This shows that she was fearless and not scared of the fact that they might judge her. The words, “honorable”, “pitiable”, and “plead” show the tone of mockery, like Belinda was using sarcasm at the US government by seeming considerate. Belinda has alike qualities to Dove because they both find a way to fight against their misery and try to do something to improve their situation. Dove wants the reader to feel that Belinda isn't simply a gloomy slave that is worthy of pity, she wants to appear that even in most difficult of times, she, and everyone else must rise, deal with the problem at hand, and fight back, as Belinda did. This petition is connected to Dove's personal sadness throughout her life, when her house burned down. Dove capitalizes nouns mid sentence while using sarcastic dictions. By capitalizing unnecessary nouns and adjectives, Dove creates a burdensome and crucial tone on these words to make the reader, which could be the Senate and House of Representatives, take a second look at these capitalized words. It causes the reader to stop and think about why they are being stressed throughout the poem. I noticed that the capitalized words were things that Dove was very passionate about throughout her life, such as, “Accusation”, “Ignorant”, and “Banks”. The word “Banks” could have been mentioned to shed light on the event of the time of when she was captured near the banks of Rio de Volta in Ghana by white men and was taken to the middle passage. Also, the capitalized words create the tone of anger throughout the poem, as capitalized letters usually correspond with yelling.
In her poem “The Abduction”, Rita Dove utilizes juxtaposition of positive and negative imagery to illustrate how quickly the dreams of freedom could be crushed for a slave. The poem is narrated from the perspective of Solomon Northrup, a newly freed slave making a living with his new “friends” Brown and Hamilton in Washington D.C. The opening quintet is almost completely full of positive imagery. Dove writes, “The citizenry of Washington / clotted the avenue––I among them, Solomon Northrup” (2-3). By including the phrase “I among them”, Dove conveys Northrup’s pure joy of finally being able to live a normal, slavery free life among the people of Washington. In the next line, Dove writes, “free papers in my pocket, violin / under my arm, my new friends Brown and Hamilton by my side” (4-5). Many of the words in these two lines carry heavy positive connotations. Through the use of this positive imagery, Dove is able to make the audience feel genuinely happy for Northrup; he’s finally living free, and he’s enjoying every second of it. The second stanza, a quatrain, maintains the positive tone of the first stanza, but there is an inkling of doubt that begins to develop. Dove opens the stanza with the line, “Why should I have doubted them? The wages were good” (6). By revealing that Northrup had fears earlier on that his attempt at freedom wouldn’t work out, Dove plants the seeds of negativity that will sprout up in the next stanza. Meanwhile, the cheery atmosphere is maintained in the rest of the stanza as Dove describes Northrup’s new life. The third stanza, a triplet, is where the situation takes a turn for the worse. Dove writes “then the wine, like a pink lake, tipped” (11). In this sentence, Dove uses the wine to symbolize Northrup’s pleasurable new life. The tipping of wine, however, symbolizes the corruption of his newfound freedom. This creates a tone of irreversible tragedy in the readers. The fifth and final stanza, a single line, concludes Northrup’s descent back from freedom to slavery when Dove writes, “I woke and found myself alone, in darkness and in chains” (15). So, by choosing to fill the poem with more positive imagery, but ending with negative imagery, Dove conveys to her audience just how easily a freed slave's big, false sense of hope could be spoiled.
I appreciate your analysis of the symbol of the wine in this poem. Before Solomon Northrup was taken back into slavery, he was drugged by Brown and Hamilton. The wine in this poem can also refer to his tainted drink. The line following the description of the wine, "I was lifted--the sky swivelled, clicked into place," can refer to the disorienting feeling that Northrup felt after he was drugged and put on the ship to Louisiana. The word "swivelled" connotes dizziness and a sense of disorientation. The second part of the line, "clicked into place" shows that Northrup has finally realized what has happened to him. The word "clicked" is almost onomatopoeic, and bears a resemblance to the sound made by chains clinking together.
In her poem “Belinda’s Petition,” Rita Dove alludes to a petition made by a real woman. Belinda was a slave in Massachusetts, and she petitioned the Massachusetts legislature for her freedom following the American Revolution. Rita Dove uses erratic capitalization to emphasis certain nouns, such as “Slave,” “Time,” “Life,” and “Nation,” but this could also be a reference to Belinda’s likely inability to read or write (4-7). The capitalization lends realism to the poem because it reflects patterns of capitalization used in older English. The second stanza of the poem describes the hypocrisy found in the American Revolution. Dove’s use of the capitalized phrase, “the Binds of Tyranny,” creates a mocking tone because it overemphasizes the effects of the American Revolution on freedom in the country. The United States was free from the tyranny of the British, but the only people who benefited were white men, as slavery was still legal. Belinda points out this contradiction in the lines, “pure Air being the sole Advantage / of which I can boast in my present Condition” (11-12). Belinda was taken from her home in Ghana when she was a young child, and the third stanza points to this. The repetition and capitalization of the word “Ignorant” points toward the way whites during that time period thought of black slaves. Dove ends the poem with a question for the Massachusetts Legislature: “How might / I have known of Men with Faces like the Moon, / who would ride toward me steadily for twelve Years? (18-20). The “Men with Faces like the Moon” refers to the white men who took Belinda from her home, as the moon is white. Ending the poem with a question lends it ambiguity and uncertainty. The reader cannot know what happened to Belinda by reading this poem. Rita Dove is calling readers to consider how they would respond to such a petition and how they would respond to the pleas of African Americans today.
I really like your interpretation of lines 11-12, where Belinda writes, “pure Air being the sole Advantage / of which I can boast in my present Condition”. I interpreted this line as sarcasm. The author uses a hyperbole of boasting in her present Condition, since slavery reaps no benefits for the slave. Dove capitalizes the word “Condition” to put emphasis on the inhumane condition of slavery which Belinda is suffering through, due to the “Binds of Tyranny” over slaves, which was being enforced by the U.S. government. This is ironic as the poem alludes to a time of freedom for Americans during the Revolutionary War: “Lately your Countrymen have severed / the Binds of Tyranny. I would hope / you would consider the Same for me” (8-10). Throughout the second stanza, Dove’s use of capitalization and irony emphasizes the inhumanity of slavery in America during the 1700s.
The poem "The House Slave” was interesting to me because it showed me the difference between a house slave and a field slave. Rita Dove uses strong imagery, similes, and symbolism to create a bitter and helpless tone to reflect the emotions of the house slave. The line "I watch them driven into the vague," and "The whip curls across the backs of the laggards--" illustrate the reality of being a spectator, unable to help and frustrating. Because of the special position the narrator is, a house slave, he/she is able to see the struggles from their people but this only caused them to feel more pain in the end. Dove also displays this strong sense of empathy through imagery of pain because the whippings are so real to the house slaves that they can almost feel it themselves. In addition to imagery, Dove employs simile. She writes, "Their mistress sleeps like an ivory toothpick," this shows the bitterness of the house slave towards the mistress by explaining how fragile the house slave thinks she is. In the final line that goes, "I weep. It is not yet daylight," the daylight could literally means daytime, but I think it metaphorically symbolizes freedom and a better life. The house slave weeps because every day she wakes up; she must face the reality that freedom is beyond his or her reach.
Throughout her poem “Parsley”, Rita Dove captures the fear the Haitian migrant workers felt towards the Dominican general in the Parsley Massacre. During the massacre, the Dominican Republic expelled Haitians from their country based on their pronunciation of the word perejil, or “Parsley”. In “The Cane Fields”, Dove writes through the perspective of a Haitian migrant worker with fear of the general. The first stanza characterizes the general with wealth and beauty as she writes, “There is a parrot imitating spring / in the palace, its feathers parsley green” (1-2). Dove alludes to the Parsley Massacre by comparing the parrots feathers to parsley. The imagery of green connotates to images of wealth, beauty, and power, such as the luxury which the general experiences in the palace. In the second and third stanzas, the author contrasts the Haitians to the Dominicans as she writes, “Like a parrot imitating spring, we lie down screaming as rain punches through / and we come up green” (6-8). Dove’s use of weather imagery allows for a change in tone, showing the spring time to be one of sadness and grey skies rather than sun. Rain is often a symbol for a storm, such as the massacre of thousands of Haitians by the Dominican general. The Haitians also lie down to avoid the “punches” of the rain, alluding to the persecution they experienced during the massacre and characterizing the general of the Dominicans with violence. El General’s characterization continues into the fifth stanza through imagery: “He laughs, teeth shining / out of the swamp” (14-15). Here, the general is seen as a predator with his teeth shining for all the Haitians to see. Dove elaborates this as he emerges out of a swamp, a muddy, thick enviroment, with shining teeth, contrasting his appearance to that of the swamp. “His laugh” is one of mockery as he witnesses the death of thousands of Haitians, yet he remains blind to the evil he is causing. The next line emulsifies the Haitians terror as, “The cane appears / in our dreams, lashed by wind and streaming. / And we lie down. For every drop of blood / there is a parrot imitating spring. / Out of the swamp the cane appears” (15-18). Weather imagery again illustrates the wrath of the Dominicans as they storm over the Haitians, who take refuge in lying down in terror. Dove uses a metaphor to contrast this persecution” “For every drop of blood,” alluding to the dying Haitians, “there is a parrot imitating spring”. The author uses anaphora of the “parrot imitating spring” throughout the poem to show the inhumane actions done by the Dominicans, who are hungry for the wealth and power, which the green parrot symbolizes. Throughout her poem “Parsley”, Dove alludes to the class differences between the Haitians and Dominicans to represent the inhumanity of the Parsley Massacre.
In the poem “The situation is intolerable”, by Rita Dove, she compares the situation and discrimination of black men and women during the civil rights movement to a sword in battle and missionary stars to exaggerate the need for change and create an empowering tone. Rita Dove not only starts her poem, “The situation is intolerable” with the word Intolerable, but it’s in the title. The title of the poem is calling to all the black men and women who are being discriminated against and demanding change. Rita Dove, in stanza 1 line 4, starts her poem out saying, “a righteous sword advancing/ onto the field of battle/ in the name of the Lord…”. This line is a metaphor comparing black men and women to a swords. The symbolism of a sword is to give feeling of pride. Swords are strong, unbreakable, and determined, all the things these black men and woman should be. Rita Dove uses an oxymoron while describing the sword, “a righteous sword”, to exaggerate to the reader the idea that those who are battling for black freedom of discrimination and equality are doing the right thing along with the idea that blacks aren’t using violence as the sword typically implies, but using righteousness. The end of line seven also says that the black men and women are battling in the name of the Lord. They are fighting this battle for what is right, if they weren't, they wouldn’t be battling in the name of the Lord, the one who has the ability to cast judgement. Rita Dove then further goes on to compare those leading this social revolution, civil right era to missionary stars, “but the stars-/ tiny, missionary stars-/ on high, serene, studding/ the inky brow of heaven,” (Stanza 2, line 11-14, RIta Dove). The purpose of using a metaphor to compare those willing to lead black men and women to missionary stars is to once again emphasize the idea that black men and women needed to step up to make a equal future for themselves. The narrator in the poem appears to be calling out all the men and women who haven’t contributed to helping the goal of civil rights. The narrator is angry with the situation they’ve been placed into and are frustrated with the lack of effort around them to spark social change. By comparing black men and women to missionary stars, the narrator is repeating the idea that God is on their side and they are doing the right and just thing. This idea is also proved in the line, “studding the inky brow of heaven” (line 24, Rita Dove). Heaven’s inky brow is strong visual imagery and personification that paints a picture of heaven as a man, God, and his questioning eyebrow as he looks upon the lack of care at the intolerable situation. This comparison of black men and women to stars, along with the imagery of heaven’s eyebrow creates a blond, strong, and passionate tone that causes the reader to feel inspired to spark change for the intolerable situation. Rita Dove’s poem “The situation is intolerable”, is a call to help and a call to change among the black community that inspires the reader through the it’s rich literary devices and bold, strong tone, to take charge and improve your life.
The first time reading through the poem Exit, i saw more of how Rita Dove departed from Greek myths rather than connecting to them. The poem’s theme seemed to describe a woman passing into a new beginning. When she writes, “when hope withers”, it represents that the woman wishes to receive a change in life. The quote, “The door opens onto a street like in the movies”, represents a good change, but that the woman also feels very alone on the journey she is about to take. After taking this into further consideration, it is clear that this connects to Persephone as she was abducted by Demeter, because Persephone felt alone on the journey before her as well. Dove says, “It is your street you are leaving”, resembling Persephone when she was forced to leave her home to live in Demeters “hell”, and that she is afraid. The imagery in the poem describes the path that the women is taking, “The windows you have closed behind you are turning pink, doing what they do every dawn. Here it’s gray.” The windows can be seen as a symbol of Persephone looking back into her old life, seeing happiness, or “pink”. Pink represents a happy color in most cases, such as sunsets or a baby girl being born. The “gray” represents where the woman is at in her life at the time the poem is written. Gray typically paints the picture of a cloudy or rainy day, and often corresponds with feelings of dullness and loss. This represents the hell that Demeter has taken Persephone to. Dove uses color imagery to represent the happiness and sadness of the woman's changing life. The way this poem connects to mothers and daughters is found in the last stanza, “The sky begins to blush, as you did when your mother told you what it took to be a woman in this life.” Using a simile, Dove shows the woman focusing on the good of her situation, as she mentions that the sky began to blush. Persephone, being merely 16 years of age, is scared of leaving her mother behind for the first time. However, she feels very strongly that her mother has taught her to be strong and independent, and uses this power given to her by her mother to create a positive energy about this drastic change in her life.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting analysis, but I also see that Rita Dove is following the myth, rather than deviating from it. The phrase "Just when hope withers" could refer the the winter and famine that Demeter caused when Persephone was abducted. As Demeter's hope withered, so did the crops. The word "provisionally" is very important in this poem. Dove writes, "Reprieve has been granted, "provisionally"--a fretful word." Hades has granted Persephone a reprieve--she can leave the underworld--but there are strings attached. Because Persephone ate the pomegranate seeds while in the underworld, she must return each winter. The use of the word "provisionally" shows that Persephone cannot permanently leave Hades. It is "a fretful word" to Demeter because it means that her daughter will have to leave her again.
DeleteI meant to say Hades instead of Demeter, my bad!
DeleteIn the poem, Breakfast of Champions, Dove uses the form of an Italian sonnet to structure the poem. The poet uses time and weather to express Persephone going back to the underworld after living with her mother for 6 months. For example in, ‘Finally, overcast skies. I’ve crossed a hemisphere, worked my way through petals and sunlight’. Overcast skies are usually associated with feelings of sadness, which Persephone felt after leaving Demeter. In the sestet, Persephone has started to adapt to her routine life in the underworld, ‘…a sonic hospital graph announcing recovery.’. The difference between the octave and sestet marks a new beginning and change in opinion which makes it easier for the reader to interpret the message. A relationship explored between mother and daughter is how the child is dependent on its mother for basic needs such as food. ‘I rummage the pantry’s stock for raisins and cereal..’, a mother would know exactly where the food is kept and will serve the food. A daughter is often lost without the guidance of her mother.
ReplyDeleteAnother interpretation through which Dove departs from the greek myth is how people experience hardships and even after they get through it, certain aspects from those experiences remain with them. The ‘champion’ is one who is grateful for what they have and understand its worth. They have been through hardships and have recovered, read in ‘…a sonic hospital graph announcing recovery.’. Even though it is a ‘brand new morning’ they did rather live a simplistic life, ‘Though I pour myself the recommended bowlful, stones are what I sprinkle among the chaff.’. The person has enough wealth now to support oneself but it is not interested in a lavish, materialistic way of living.
This is a thought provoking analysis, but I also thought that this poem could be read through the perspective of Demeter. Shown through a passive tone, Demeter is trying to survive another day without her daughter. She has been searching for Persephone all day and she is trying to escape her devastation - illustrated through "overcast skies" - with a "grateful martini". In the second stanza, Rita Dove shows the cycle that Demeter goes through each day during Winter. The geese are supposed to signal a fresh, hopeful start to her morning, but instead her faith is diminishing and she eats stones, symbolizing the pain she feels.
DeleteI agree with both of your outlooks, but i also found a different way to interpret how Dove departs from Greek myth. This poem can also be seen in the idea of childbirth, where there is hardship with great reward in the end. When Dove writes, "Worked my way through petals and sunlight to find a place fit for mourning", she could be referencing the happy experience of thinking about raising a child, but now has to go through the pain of childbirth. When Dove mentions a martini, it may be a symbol of celebration about having a child.
DeleteAll above are interesting analyzations. I see how all 3 could be seen. I agree with Cally where I took "Breakfast of Champions" relating more to Demeter and how she becomes to a point depressed. On line five and six, Rita Dove discusses how the protagonist will "dive into a grateful martini tonight, eye to eve with the olive". This to me came across as drinking away the pain threw the symbolism of the alcohol and the forcefulness of the alcohol consumption in attempts to rid themselves of the pain, as shown in the idea of being eye to eye with an olive which you can only do with the glass being tilted way up. As upset as persephone is that she must return to Haiti's, I believe Demeter is more upset with the loss of her daughter, exemplified when Demeter created winter.
DeleteGood points, guys! Cameron, I think you are definitely write about the drinking away the pain of the loss of her daughter and the way it all relates to Demeter!
DeleteIn her poem “Mother Love,” Rita Dove describes the narrator’s experiences as a mother and connects these experiences to a part of the myth of Demeter and Persephone. In the second line of the poem, Dove writes, “Any woman knows the remedy for grief/is being needed…” This statement explains why Demeter chooses to take care of the baby mentioned in the second stanza. She is mourning the loss of Persephone and sees the kind woman’s offering of her child as an opportunity to be useful. This woman is the mother of four young women (“her bouquet of daughters”) who found Demeter disguised as an old women and resting at Eleusis while searching for Persephone. In the fourth line of the second stanza, Dove writes, “I put aside the lavish trousseau of the mourner…” A trousseau is the possessions, including clothes and household linens, that a woman collects before being married. In this poem, the use of “trousseau” suggests that Demeter’s mourning is an ordeal and has become as ritualized as a wedding. In the myth of Persephone and Demeter, Demeter wishes to make the woman’s child immortal to express her gratitude for the sisters’ hospitality. Rita Dove references her wishes in the line “I decided to save him.” The way to make a human immortal was to stick him in the fire each night, and this is what Demeter did. Dove uses cooking diction (“juices,” “cured,” “sizzling,” “spit”) to compare the act of making the baby immortal with the act of cooking a Virginia ham. This comparison heightens the absurdity of the situation and shows that Demeter was desperate for any opportunity to act as a mother. The use of the word “cured” can refer to the curing of a Virginia ham, but it can also refer to being freed from an affliction. In this poem, Demeter is curing the baby like a ham in order to cure him of his mortality. In the myth, the mother awakes one night, sees, what Demeter is doing, and screams. The last sentence of the poem is “Poor human—to scream like that, to make me remember.” The phrase “to make me remember” connects back to the first sentence of the poem, which is “Who can forget the attitude of mothering?” Dove suggests that Demeter believes no one can forget what it is like to be a mother, but Demeter has forgotten. She has neglected to consider the anguish the kind woman would feel if she saw her baby being roasted in a fire and thought that she was losing him. The woman’s scream makes Demeter remember how she felt when Persephone was taken away from her, and she realizes that the woman feels the same way.
ReplyDeleteGood job sharing the back-story! :)
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ReplyDeleteIn the poem, Wiederkehr, Rita Dove writes through the perspective of Persephone to address her relationship with Hades. The poem begins with “he only wanted me for happiness” (line1), which immediately shows the reader that Hades was selfish, and therefore only wanted Persephone for his own needs. This relates to the Greek myth where Hades tricks Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, to stay with him forever in the underworld. The next two lines, “to walk in air and not think so much” (2-3) refer to “walking in air” as being in love, for being in love engenders an ethereal experience where nothing else matters but your significant other. He doesn’t want her to think because thinking about her unfortunate situation makes her sad. Hades’ physical reaction to Persephone’s beauty is shown through, “to watch the smile begun in his eyes end on his lips his eyes caressed” (4-7). He longs for Persephone. There is an unsettling tone to this line. His eyes caress her because he loves her, but it is disturbing because Persephone doesn’t want to be with him in Hell. In the next line, “he merely hoped, in darkness, to smell rain” (line 8-9) he wanted her as he wanted rain, for he was lonely in the underground of hell. He craves a break from the eternal, scorching hot, pit he lives in. In the following line, “and though he saw how still I sat to hold the rain untouched inside me” (9-11) Dove refers to Persephone not giving into him and his desires. Rain is a metaphor for love. Hades wants her love, but she holds it within her and doesn’t reciprocate his affection. She does not want to give him a remedy for the fiery darkness he endures. Towards the end of the poem, Dove writes, “he never asked if I would stay” (11-2) illustrating how Hades deceived her into coming to Hell. The final lines, “which is why when the choice appeared, I reached for it” (line 13-4) refer to when she can go above land during the months of spring. In this poem, she’s eager for her opportunity to leave and be with her mother above hell. Wiederkehr shows how Hades desires Persephone so much that she feels trapped. The title of the poem translated means “repetition” or “happens again” which displays that this theme of a young girl being seduced into a restricting relationship is seen often.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely (in terms of just analyzing “Wiederkehr”) in the perspective that Persephone despised Hades and love was not mutual. I also noticed that Rita Dove titled the poem in German, where “Wiederkehr” in English means recurrence, or repetition. Why do you think Dove named the poem in German instead of English? The title does fit the context of the poem; Persephone is never free from Hades and there will always be a recurrence where she has to return to the Underworld. While I was reading and color marking, I made a connection to the Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont’s fairy tale, “Beauty and the Beast.” Although the endings starkly differ, the scenario of holding Beauty against her will is similar to the perspective of Persephone in, “Wiederkehr.” The Beast desired after Beauty, much like Hades “eyes caressed” (Dove 7) after Persephone. And much like how Persephone, “sat to hold the rain untouched / inside me” (10-11) and kept love from Hades, in the beginning Beauty refused Beast’s proposals.
DeleteRita Dove’s poem, “Exit,” relates to the Greek myth of Persephone, Demeter, and Hades. Titled “Exit,” it represents Persephone’s departure of the Underworld from Hades and return to Demeter. In Greek mythology, Persephone’s feelings towards Hades is never fully known, but “Exit,” reveals what she may have felt. The sonnet is organized into three stanzas. In the first stanza, Dove begins with the imagery of hope withering, which relates to the kidnapped Persephone losing hope of freedom at the beginning of her imprisonment. The word, “withers,” (Dove 1) is associated with vegetation, connecting it to Demeter, the goddess of harvest where plant life suffers from her anger of losing her daughter to Hades. The speaker continues that, “a reprieve is granted”, meaning a temporary relief from evil, or Persephone’s release from the Underworld, is temporary and her return is inevitable (1). Dove emphasizes ephemerality of Persephone’s reprieve by repetition of, “Reprieve has been granted, / “provisionally”ーa fretful word.” (4-5). Quotation marks around, “‘provisionally,’” further limelights the impermanence of Persephone’s freedom from the Underworld, and Demeter’s distress of their separation. Despite that Persephone was kidnapped, a simile implies that Persephone has some reluctance of leaving Hades’s realm: “The door opens onto a street like in the movies, / clean of people, of cats; except it is your street / you are leaving.” (2-4). In the context of Greek mythology, the “door” represents the gate of the Hall of Hades, and Persephone’s slight reluctance to leave is revealed through the description of the emptiness of the, “street.” (3). Dove italicized, “your”, (3) which creates a tone that Persephone realizes that her departure is indeed happening, and the curt, “you are leaving,” (4) creates a factual tone, not one of jubilance.
ReplyDeleteIn stanza two, there is a color motif. Again Persephone’s slight reluctance to return to Demeter is revealed with the windows behind described as, “pink, doing what they do / every dawn.” (7-8) which contrasts, “Here it’s gray; the door to the taxicab waits.” (8-9). The taxicab symbolizes Persephone’s passage out of the Underworld and, “gray”, connotates gloominess. There’s almost a bittersweet mood at this point in the poem, as Persephone’s leaves the “pink”, and “dawn”, (which have positive connotations) for the “gray” (8). Persephone’s reluctance is also revealed in the personification of the suitcase as the, “saddest object in the world.” (9-10). The suitcase as sad invokes that Persephone herself may be upset to leave the Underworld. Stanza three continues the tone of reluctance with, “Well, the world’s open.” (11). If Persephone was without hesitation of leaving the Underworld, the tone would be one of rejoice. However, the, “Well,” (11) constructs a mood of passiveness. In the last lines of the poem, “as you did when your mother told you / what it took to be a woman in this life.” (13-14). Demeter disapproved of many gods (Apollo, Hermes, Ares etc.) who sought to wed Persephone, and it is reinforced in the last lines that Persephone did what her mother told herーshe left Hades and followed through on her reprieve. “Exit” by Rita Dove, implies that Persephone may have resented Hades for kidnapping, and may never loved him, but perhaps did grow to feel attachment and loyalty.
In the poem, “Heroes” by Rita Dove, the narrator goes through a series of changes. The narrator first tried to save the flower but ended up making a mistake. The narrator then tried to make the women feel better as an attempt of showing love. But the narrator was rejected and, under desperate measures, the narrator killed the women. The narrator had good intentions to save the flower but ended up harming someone. This is an example of situational irony. The poem is an allegory of how heroes are not always the most popular and welcomed one. Sometime doing the right thing doesn't mean you will get accepted. The title “Heroes” also hinted the idea of an allegory of Greek heroes’ fate. Many Greek heroes spend their whole life trying to do the right thing or forced to do things for the sake of others. Heroes like Oedipus, the king of Thebes who unwittingly killed his father and married his mother. Oedipus always tried to do the right thing but he had a tragic ending and damages his own eyes.
ReplyDeleteAnother perspective of this poem is when the poppy flower gets picked; it is a metaphor of Hades kidnapping Persephone. The woman in the poem represents Demeter, and when the poppy was picked she screamed; because the poppy, Persephone, "gave her the strength every morning to rise". The narrator, Hades, strikes the woman and the woman hit her head on the white boulder. This symbolized the great damage that the kidnap had done to Demeter. The boulder was white, symbolizing the snowy, winter months, which is also the pain that Demeter goes through without her daughter. By telling the story in first person the readers understand Hades point of view. He might not have done it for an evil purpose; what he did was out of blind love. Hades tried to apologies by returning Persephone to Demeter, just like how the narrator tried to explain his/her actions but "it's too late for apologies though you go through the motions, offering trinkets and a juicy spot in the written history...".
I like your idea of how heroes are not always the most popular and welcomed people. I would elaborate on that by saying that this is because they make mistakes, as demonstrated in the poem. The narrator had the intention of helping the woman; helping is something that all heroes do. What the narrator didn't know, however, is that by picking the flower, they were actually harming the woman. The fact that the narrator took a course of action that involved helping proves they are a "hero", but the results they got from helping weren't the normal results a hero would expect. Therefore, this poem demonstrates how heroes make mistakes even when they think they are helping.
DeleteI agree. This process is common in human nature as guilt makes humans try to fix the problems that they made. Most of the time, the effort is in vain. This reaction towards guilt is an attempt to show love to those whom love was taken away but the situation worsened and love became crime, regret, and murder. The narrator’s intention started as love, however, Rita Dove places a tone of the narrator's thoughts that implies that the narrator is trying to make the woman feel better so that the guilt will leave. This is supported by the fact that the narrator kills the woman because the existence of the woman is making the guilt persist as well. In human nature, is this reaction, when good intentions turn into problems that cause guilt, done out of love, or out of selfishness and reprieve.
DeleteIn the poem “Golden Oldie”, Rita Dove illustrates the captivating power of music on the human mind. The poem tells a short anecdote of a person who was driving home and would have been ahead of her schedule, but a certain song came on, so she stayed in the car to listen. Dove first illustrates the captivating effect of the music when she writes, “stalled in the driveway, swaying at the wheel like a blind pianist caught in a tune meant for more than two hands playing.” (lines 2-4). Normally, without the influence of music, the person in the poem would have easily been able to leave her car. But, because of the music’s effect, she is “swaying” at the wheel. Dove’s use of the word “swaying” comes with connotations of indecisiveness and being hesitant to make a decision. The next phrase, “a blind pianist caught in a tune meant for more than two hands playing” reinforces the overwhelming feeling of the music that has been illustrated with the previous phrase. Pianists already use very complex rhythms and movements with their two hands, so comparing the overwhelming feeling of the music to a blind pianist who needs to use more than two hands is quite fitting. In the next stanza, Dove uses oxymorons when talking about the song's lyrics to demonstrate the complex yet simple power of the song. She talks about a “young girl dying to feel alive” (line 6). The oxymoron in this phrase lies in “dying” and “alive”. By putting two words that have opposite meanings together yet still constructing a phrase that makes sense, Dove shows how music’s poetic quality can have a substantial emotional impact. Dove also uses an oxymoron in the phrase “a pain majestic enough to live by” (line 7). Pain brings up many different connotations, but majestic is not one of them. But by pairing them together, Dove creates a poetic effect that carries emotional weight.
ReplyDeleteOctober 28, 2015
ReplyDeleteRita Dove, in her poem Used, uses, imagery, metaphors, exaggeration, and symbolism to show the reader how society has “used” woman. Rita Dove says that “we have been used” (Rita Dove, line 6), to cast a feeling of sorrow for women. Being “used” is never associated with positive condentations. Being used by another person often refers to being taken advantage of.
Rita Dove first discusses how society sets a standard for women and takes advantage of them threw unrealistic ideals of beauty, “and the skirts ballooning above twinkling knees are every man-child’s preadolescent dream” (line 2-3). Rita Dove uses the metaphor of the skirts ballooning and imagery of the twinkling knees to paint a picture in the reader’s head of skinny legs under a too large skirt, along with legs that sparkle because they are shaved and cleaned. This is an example of how society convinces women that to be admired and desired by men you must be skinny and well groomed.
On line 10-16, Rita Dove talks about how a Macy’s sales clerk is trying to convince a woman to buy “silk sheets”. The woman knows she does not need the silk sheets but, “couldn’t hang on, slipped” (line 14). Slipping is a symbol for the woman giving into society’s the idea of mass consumption to achieve happiness. Rita Dove then goes on to discuss the guilt for buying the expensive silk sheets in the lines 14- 15 where she says, “by morning the quilts had slid off too. Enough of guilt-” (14-15). Rita dove in this section uses imagery of the quilts falling off the bed to exaggerate how guilty the woman had felt for buying the society glamorized sheets that were infact useless and couldn’t even hold up her quilts.
Rita Dove emphasises that you should try to stay away from being used by refraining from giving up child- like dreams and aspirations, “the nevels sunk in grief when the last child emptied us of their brief interior light,” (line 6-7), as well with leaving the reader knowing that staying away from the being used by society is hard work and will not come easy, “it’s hard work staying cool” ( line 14).
-Cameron Kays
Another example from the text that would also support your analysis is the rhyme scheme. Throughout the poem, the last word in every two lines rhyme with each other. However, due to the odd number of lines in stanzas two and three, the words “used” and “cool” appear to stand out. I think Rita Dove did this purposefully to provide emphasis on these words, showing that society compares being used and being cool in an unhealthy way. Society seems to promote that materialism is the best way to become “cool” and accepted by others. Yet, the second stanza states, “Our muscles say We have been used”. An individual’s personal thoughts should be what controls their life, however, society interferes and changes the individual’s perspective. The muscles crying out that they have been “used” emphasize your point on how keeping up with society is as hard as it gets.
DeleteIn the poem, “Breakfast of Champions”, by Rita Dove, the author uses first person narration and word play to display the grief of Demeter after her daughter is abducted by Hades. In the mythological legend, Demeter, the goddess of the harvest and grains, suffers through depression as her daughter, Persephone is taken each year by Hades, the god of the underworld. Rita Dove displays this depression through the use of first person narration by Demeter throughout the poem. When Demeter discovers “overcast skies” she describes the clouds: “here’s weather to match my condition: the first pair of Canada geese have arrived on the lake”. Demeter’s condition, as referenced in this quote, is one of depression and lonesome, so she decides to reflect her feelings though the weather. Through symbolism, the author shows the approach of winter, represented by the first geese on the lake. In winter, Canadian geese, as well as many other birds, tend to fly south when the temperature decreases. Soon after the birds arrive Demeter states, “they pull honking out of the mist, a sonic hospital graph announcing recovery”, showing the birds’ frantic call and rush to escape the lake to relocate as Demeter messes with the weather.
ReplyDeleteAs the goddess of grain, several references to corn and harvest are made throughout the poem to reflect Demeter’s resentment. While referencing cereal, the last line of the poem states, “Though I pour myself the recommended bowlful, stones are what I sprinkle among the chaff”. Chaff is defined as the unwanted husks of corn or is used as another word for trash. In Demeter’s state of hatred, she chooses to mix rocks with rubbish and fill the land with her breakfast of choice to represent her mourning. The author uses word play with the rhyming and similarities in the words “mourning” and “morning” interchangeably, to tie in with the title, “Breakfast of Champions”, and Demeter’s state of being. Throughout this poem, Dove utilizes word play and first person narration to symbolize Demeter’s suffering.
In Tou Wan Speaks to Her Husband, Liu Sheng, Rita Dove writes in first person through the perspective of Liu Sheng’s wife. In the first lines she scribes, “I will build you a house / of limited chambers / but it shall last forever” (1-4). Tou Wan’s devotion to her husband is shown through her dedication to building him a large tomb. She wishes to bury him in a place that will last for eternity so that he will be happy forever. She calls him “my / only conqueror” (6-7) illustrating her loyalty and love towards him. Dove’s choice of diction also alludes to Tou Wan’s reverence of his role as emperor. The second and third stanzas of this piece reflect the archaeological finds in the emperor’s tomb. Tou Wan and her husband’s wealth and privilege are prevalent in the items she places in his tomb. In the beginning, Tou Wan is depicted as completely compliant and obedient, with no ounce of resentment towards her spouse. In the fourth stanza, with an aggressive tone, Dove pens, “but you’re bored. / Straight ahead then, the hall / leading to you, my / constant / emperor” (19-23) to show a different aspect of Tou Wan. She is honest and knows that her unappreciative husband would grow tired of all the things he has. She directs him, as if giving a tour of a cozy home, to his actual place of resting. She refers to him as her “constant emperor”, still showing her submissiveness and adoration toward her husband however.
ReplyDeleteIn the next lines, Tou Wan speaks of the smell of Liu Sheng’s decomposing body, showcasing her brutal honesty towards his death. The stench will drive her husband “to air (but / you will find none)” (26-7) demonstrating a morbid side to the seemingly unassertive wife. In this work, she is constantly reminding her husband that he is dead, yet Dove subtly weaves in the ways she has accommodated his feelings of discomfort. Tou Wan has thought of everything that her husband will need during his time in the tomb. “When darkness / oppresses, I will set you / a lamp” (35-7) exhibits the relentless thought and care she has put into pleasing her husband in the afterlife. Dove uses dark imagery to convey the inevitable loneliness and despair that Liu Sheng would feel while dead. Employing a parenthetical, she writes in a passive aggressive tone to juxtapose Tou Wan’s complete affection towards her husband. The wife is willing to put a symbol of another woman that her husband yearned for, further revealing her knowledge of his inevitable boredom and infidelity. In the following sestet, Tou Wan describes the jade burial suit that will encompass her husband’s flesh, while reminding him again that he is dead with the phrase “a suit to keep / the shape of your death” ( 34-5). The final couplet of the poem gives an ethereal and elegant description of Liu Sheng’s breath soul, an inner immortal essence, leaving his body and entering the outside world for eternity. Throughout the poem, Dove illustrates that Tou Wan is a dutiful spouse despite her husband’s constant demand for more.
I agree with your analysis of the passive aggressive tone created when Tou Wan reveals that she was aware of her husband's infidelity. However, I think that this tone is created throughout the entire poem. The phrase "my/only conqueror" shows Tou Wan confronting the hypocrisy and imbalance of power in her relationship with Liu Sheng. She allowed herself to be conquered only by him, but he went out and conquered many other women. The phrase "my/constant emperor" has the same effect. Liu Sheng was hardly constant, and Tou Wan knows this. Tou Wan masks her true feelings in false affection throughout the entire poem, and the parentheticals reveal that her love for him is, in fact, strained.
DeleteI agree with your analysis as well in the fact that Tou Wan evidently does not mind her husbands' flaws, as she views their love as stronger than any obstacles. It is further seen how she idolizes him in a metaphor near the end of the poem, "When you are long light and clouds over the earth." This metaphor paints her husband as a god-like figure, showing even further that her love for him may over power her common sense.
DeleteIn her poem “Sonnet in Primary Colors,” Rita Dove contrasts the beauty of Frida Kahlo and her paintings with the physical and emotional pain that Kahlo felt throughout her life. Kahlo used painting as an escape from her pain; this is seen in the line “who painted herself a present--” (line 4). Kahlo is giving herself a present—something that will bring her joy—in the form of a painting. Following this line, Dove writes “wildflowers entwining the plaster corset/her spine resides in the romance of mirrors” (5-6). These lines refer to the corsets that Kahlo had to wear because her spine was too weak to support her after she contracted polio as a child. Kahlo would paint the plaster, and images of wildflowers did literally entwine her corsets. Dove uses the juxtaposition of delicate imagery (“wildflowers entwining” and “the romance of mirrors”) and harsh diction (“plaster corset” and “spine”) to show the brokenness inherent in her beautiful paintings. Dove also uses this juxtaposition in the phrases “her Beloved Dead” (8) and “Diego’s/love a skull” (11-12). Kahlo had a rough relationship with her husband, the muralist Diego Rivera. He had many affairs, and the couple divorced but later remarried. When Dove compares Rivera’s love to a skull, she compares it to pain and death. It is a reminder that Rivera’s love for Kahlo would not last, just as life itself does not last.
ReplyDeleteThe title of this poem is very interesting. It is titled a sonnet, but the poem itself has only 13 lines instead of the usual 14. This makes the poem seem incomplete, as though there is still hope for Kahlo to escape her misery. In addition, Dove uses bird imagery and the repetition of the word “rose” (lines 7 and 10) to extend the idea of the existence of an escape for Kahlo. Dove compares Frida’s eyebrow to “one black wing/perched over her eyes” (1-2). Kahlo is a bird trying to fly away, and the exclusion of the 14th line suggests that such freedom is a possibility for her. The second half of the title is “Primary Colors.” The primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) are the only colors a painter needs. She can create every other color imaginable by combining those three colors in various proportions. Dove’s juxtaposition of delicate and morbid imagery throughout the poem seems to suggest that beauty and pain were Frida Kahlo’s primary colors: her entire life was an amalgamation of the two.
I had similar thoughts and read the poem as an appreciation Dove had for Frida Kahlo. It also describes how Kahlo used her artwork to escape from the atrocities she faced in her life, for example in ‘Each night she lay down is pain and rose/to her celluloid butterflies of her Beloved Dead,”. Dove also painted Kahlo as a courageous woman who was able to deal with her pain. Another reason Dove may have used an incomplete sonnet is to give the poem a feeling of a private piece Dove wrote in ode to Kahlo. It made me feel as though I were intruding on Dove’s personal writing which wasn't necessarily meant for the public to read. I really like your analysis of the use of the phrase “Primary Colors’ in the title.
DeleteI was noticed how there are only 13 and not 14 lines, like a normal sonnet. It makes me wonder why the poem is titled “Sonnet in Primary Colors" and not just "Primary Colors". I do have a theory as to why there are only 13 lines. If you count all the letters of red, yellow, and blue (the primary colors) there are only 13 letters. Or perhaps Dove only used 13 line to make an impact on the poem.
DeleteYou make a very good point about the relationship between the juxtaposition in the phrase “Diego’s / love a skull” (11-12) and Kahlo’s dying relationship with her husband. However, I interpreted “her Beloved Dead” (8), in a different way. When I was researching Frida Kahlo, I found that in her attempt to get pregnant and have a child with her husband, she suffered through a miscarriage. Because the words “Beloved Dead” are capitalized, it made me think that she was referring to a person, such as a child that she loved, yet tragically lost, displaying the meaning behind these contrasting words.
DeleteAt first glance, “Sonnet in Primary Colors” by, Rita Dove appears like a sonnet. A block of lines, the title of the poem declares itself a fourteen line poem. But there’s one line short. The poem speaks of Frida Kahlo, a Mexican painter, and a feminist icon, who fought norms by her depiction of abortion, miscarriage, and beauty ideals. Dove titling the poem a, “Sonnet,” an old, strict format, and defiance by writing thirteen lines, embodies Frida Kahlo herself. Kahlo, a painter, did create art with, “Primary Colors”, the foundation of all other shades. Although the poem is condensed into one stanza, Dove’s use of periods signifies a break at the end of line six and nine. In the first, “section,” (lines 1-6) Dove dedicates the poem, “for the woman with one black wing / perched over her eyes: lovely Frida,” (Dove 1-2). The imagery of a black wing refers to Kahlo’s signature unibrow. She defied beauty norms by refusing to get rid of her unibrow, and many know the painter by her striking image. Dove alludes to Kahlo’s self-portraits, “erect / among the parrots, in the stern petticoats of the peasant, / who painted herself a present--” (2-4). The rhyme scheme of, “peasant. . .present--” (3-4) builds an accelerating rhythm, which abruptly halts with the addition of two dashes. Dove unifies this first, “section,” by rhyming, “erect,” (2) with “corset” (5). The alliteration of, “p” continues with Dove’s description of the painting, “wildflowers entwining the plaster corset,” (5). Again, Dove alludes to a self-portrait created after an accident impaled her hip: “The Broken Column.” This painting depicts Kahlo in a metal corset symbolizing polio from her childhood and a recent accident. Alliteration used by Dove with the repeating, “p,” creates a staccato sound, emphasizing Kahlo’s strength in face of physical pain. The flowers around the corset, represent Kahlo’s beauty despite the ugliness of the injury. In the next line, Dove writes, “her spine resides in the romance of mirrors.” (6). With no alliteration of “p” (there is an consonance of p in “spine”) and no rhyming pair, the rhythm slows down, and signifies to the reader the closing of the first section.
ReplyDeleteIn the second half of the poem, Dove writes, “Each night she lay down in pain and rose to her celluloid butterflies of her Beloved Dead,” (7-8). This alludes to the physical pain Kahlo endured. The, “celluloid butterflies,” refers to her painting, “self-portrait with thorn necklace hummingbird,” in where butterflies fly from her head. Some interpret this as a controversial symbol of her own personal resurrection which connects to Dove writing,“Beloved Dead” (8). Dove uses a rhyming pair with, “Dead. . .footstead.” (8-9) unifying her paintings with Dove’s allusion to Lenin, Marx, and Stalin. Kahlo was a member of the Mexican Communist Party, and Dove makes a reference to influential communists. The punctuation after “footstead.” (9) closes the second section. Using anaphora, Dove reiterates the phrase, “And rose to her” (10) emphasizing how in physical and emotional trauma, she was able to rise. Dove makes an allusion of Kahlo’s marriage, “Diego’s / love a skull in the circular window” (11-12). Kahlo and Diego Rivera’s relationship was known to be turbulent -fighting and infidelity, until Kahlo divorced Rivera. Dove compares Rivera’s love to a skull, connotating death, but in Mexican culture, it celebrates life. While their marriage was chaotic, eventually they remarried. The description of the, “circular window” (12) represents how their relationship came into a full cycle. Rita Dove concludes the poem with, “of the thumbprint searing her immutable brow.” (13). This vivid imagery from the word, “searing”, and “immutable”, invokes the reader’s mood to feel the intensity and strength of Kahlo. Using alliteration, allusion, and rhyming, Rita Dove conveys a Mexican artist, and a transcendental feminist icon.
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ReplyDeleteIn the poem Canary by Rita Dove, she writes about Billie Holiday’s tragic life and the constant pressure she felt. Rita dove uses symbolism and figurative language such as similes and personification to describe Holiday’s internal plight. The poem itself is called Canary, a melodious songbird which can be used to symbolise Billie Holiday. In the first line, “Billie Holiday’s burned voice/had as many shadows as light”, Dove uses the phrase ‘burned voice’ to show the weariness Holiday felt which was because of everything she had endured. She had a troubled childhood and was forced into prostitution at the age of 14. In the next two lines, “a mournful candelabra against a sleek piano,/the gardenia her signature under that ruined face.”, Dove uses personification, ‘mournful candelabra’ to intensify feelings of loneliness in Holiday’s life.She used to wear a white gardenia in her hair, her signature look and Dove used it to show how Holiday hid behind a cover of elegance and perfection. The next verse is a quatrain contained in parenthesis, with a shift to a second person point of view. It is a direct message to Billie holiday through the eyes of the media and society. In the lines “(Now you’re cooking, drummer to bass,/magic spoon,magic needle.”, it can be interpreted as Holiday trying to cope with her personal relationships but the ‘magic needle’ representing her drug addiction and alcoholism, kept pulling her back. The next two lines, “Take all day if you have to/with your mirror and your bracelet of song.)’’ , is a direct message to Holiday saying that despite her personal life falling apart, she must put on a presentable front. The ‘mirror’ symbolises how Holiday took great care of her appearance and the ‘bracelet of song’ was her delicate voice which must be kept safe. In the next couplet, it switches back to a third person perspective. The lines, “Fact is, the invention of women under siege/has been to sharpen love in the service of myth” could be to show Billie Holiday’s influential writings, the poem ‘Strange Fruit’ as an example, to show the constant pressure Holiday faced to serve her country while forgetting about her wellbeing. It raises the question whether Holiday’s service was worth the deterioration of her personal health?
ReplyDeleteThe last line is an interpretation of how Holiday felt, due to her traumatic past and pressure faced, she built a wall around herself and kept contained within its boundary. Billie Holiday was a representation of a caged canary.
I had many similar analyzation while reading Canary, however in the second to last stanza, within the quote “Fact is, the invention of women under siege has been to sharpen love in the service of myth” (line 9-10), I felt Rita Dove was trying to make the point that women who have been forced to surrender, or "placed under constant pressure", as you said, struggle to find love. Rita Dove's word choice of "love in the service of myth" I saw as more connecting back to Holliday's struggles with love and relationships, proven with her several husbands and suitors. Do you think that her struggle to love of others may also contribute to the decay of her health and love for herself?
DeleteI definitely do think her struggle to find love contributed to the decay of herself. It might be because of the constant pressure she faced to be perfect, she may have faced issues with self confidence and needed validation from others. Holiday may have gotten this validation through being with many partners.
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ReplyDeleteIn the poem Nestor’s Bathtub, the title itself has a powerful message. Nestor is the male in this poem, and his bathtub is referred to as only his, while his wife is the one mainly mentioned throughout the poem. While alluding to Nestor’s wife and her responsibilities in the household, dove writes, “until the small room steamed”, signifying that Nestor’s wife is the one who cared and cleaned for the bathtub, not Nestor. It is evident that Nestor frequently left his wife alone at home when it says, “But where was Nestor-”. This poem is clearly stating that men are viewed as higher than women, no matter how hard the women work in the household or the absence of the male. The lines, “her white hands scraped the dirt from a lover’s back”, could signify that his wife was fed up with Nestor’s actions and found a new lover. On the other hand, it could also be a representation of how hard his wife slaves over the bathtub to make sure it is in perfect shape for her husband. If this is the case, these lines show how deeply Nestor’s wife cares for him, despite him being away very often. There is repetition of the word “legend” in this poem, often in regards to being negative or wrong, to resemble the legend of men being held higher than women in society. She knows the bathtub (and house) is hers as well, but only viewed as her husband's. The bathtub may be a symbol of the wife’s devotion to her husband, even though this devotion is not reciprocated.
ReplyDeleteNovember 1, 2015
ReplyDeleteI the poem ‘Catherine of Alexandria’ by Rita Dove had a tone, similar to all the other poems in the collection of ‘Historical Figures’, of strength in sorrow and pain. This tone is shown within the first stanza, “Deprived of learning and the chance to travel, no wonder sainthood came as a voice” (Rita Dove line 1-4). In this first stanza Rita Dove talks about how Catherine was unable to travel or further learn due to her imprisonment by the emperor of Egypt, Maxentius. However Catherine rather than giving into Maxentius demands, declaring she was wrong about Christianity and Jesus, she suffered imprisonment and torture. The pain and persecution Catherine experienced while imprisoned, rather than cripple her, motivated her to become a stronger, more influential voice for christianity. Hundreds of people came to see and learn from Catherine in prison where she ended up converting most.
The next stanza also discusses Catherine’s struggle in a more physically way. Rita Dove uses what appears to be second voice, “in your bed-” (Rita Dove line 5), to place the reader into the poem so that when Rita Dove says, “and what went on each night was fit for nobody’s ears” (Rita Dove 6-8) you, the reader, are forced to hear the screams of Catherine being tortured that is implied. Rita Dove wants to exaggerate the idea that Catherine was physically weak and damaged yet refused to give up.
The reason that Catherine didn’t give up was focused on in stanza three where Rita Dove says, “but jesus’. His breath of a lily. His spiralling pain. Each morning” (Rita Dove, line 9-12). Rita Dove uses the, “breath of a lily” to symbolize the purity, passion, and love Jesus had in every ounce of his being. Rita Dove the then goes on to talk about the “spiralling pain” Jesus experienced every day. Jesus’ ability to remain loving, strong, and pure while being persecuted and pained daily motivated Catherine to stay true to her beliefs and remain strong through torture and pain of the life she chose for herself.
Others have looked down on Catherine for wasting her life, however I commend Catherine and see her as very inspirational. Catherine knew what was happening to the kingdom was not right and threw her strong beliefs and endurance through even the hardest of times, Catherine was able to create a drastic change in the lives of many and continue to inspire for years upon years to come. Through the poem of Catherine of Alexandria, within the ‘Historical Figures’ collection, Rita Dove emphasizes the strength of the human spirit even within despair and pain.
Cameron Kays
I totally agree with the connection you made to the Historical Figures collection, however I interpreted this poem differently. In the very first line, I thought that Rita Dove was illustrating that she is about to depict history in a different way, for Catherine of Alexandria was a scholar in real life as apposed to being "Deprived of learning" (1). Dove wanted to show another side to Catherine and her relationship with Jesus Christ, so she imbeds sexual innuendos throughout the whole piece. She insinuates that Catherine has sex with Jesus through "sainthood / came as a voice / in your bed" (3-5) and further exhibits this by describing the explicit sounds that would come from this. Dove also writes in the last stanza, "above the nightshirt bunched / above your waist" (10-1) to evoke more sexual imagery. Dove wanted to rewrite the story of Catherine of Alexandria to emphasize her devout commitment to him while contrasting her historical reputation as a chaste saint.
DeleteIn responce to your analizis, I too agreed that the poem could be interpreted as a more sexual refrence. I also interpreted abobe the nightshit bounced/ above your waist" as a refrence to her virginity being taken by Jesus but didn't saw the sexual refrence as more of a part of who Catherine was but not what I felt Rita Dove's poem was meant to portray. I too read that she was a scholar but interpred the "Deprived of learning" as the future learning she was deprived of. I see how the poem could intened to show the sexual ambitions but the reason I intereped this poem differently was due to the idea that I felt Rita Dove's collection of poems, Historical Figures was more of a repersentation of how these specific historical figures found light within a time of great sarrow and despare. I couldn't figure out her sexuality could realte to the theme of the poems. If anyone has any idea or explaniton please comment. :)
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ReplyDeleteIn the poem, “Catherine of Siena,” Dove presented Catherine of Siena’s opinion of following religion the traditional way. The line, “Under the star-washed dome of heaven, warm and dark.” gives a sense of safety for the reader, but at the same time the reader is also trapped. Dove’s word choice of using the word “dome” meant both a safe boundary and perhaps a prison to keep people in.
ReplyDeleteI did a little research on Catherine of Siena and here’s what I found:
In Catherine of Siena’s lifetime, she was forced to fight for her way through a whole new perspective of women in her time period. She refused to accept the traditional course of marriage and motherhood. In order to spread her ideas, she traveled all across Italy. She was almost assassinated in the riots of Florence in 1378. She faced many challenges in her life and Dove writes “you prayed until tears streaked the sky.” This shows Catherine of Siena’s passion and the pain of sticking to her beliefs. Dove uses Catherine of Siena as an example or role model to deliver the idea of living you own lives and not under the standards of society.
The last two lines of the poem is a quasi-couplet. These lines make the reader feel empathy for Catherine of Siena. “No one stumbled across your path. No one unpried your fists as you slept.” By using second person it increase the connection between the reader and Catherine of Siena. The reader feels the same emotions as Catherine, the anger, the passion, and alienation; from the repetition of “no one” and “fists.”
I didn’t realize how the, “star-washed dome / of heaven” could also connotate a prison, that was an interesting point. Dove’s use of anaphora in the quasi-couplet did cause me, as a reader, to feel empathy for Catherine of Siena. It emphasized just how alone, and how little she was cared for. I also noticed Dove using repetition in the first stanza: “You walked the length of Italy . . .You struck the boulder at the roadside” (Dove 1-3). This also creates a connection from the reader to Catherine of Siena. In my research, I found it interesting that Dove did not place, “Saint” in front of, “Catherine of Siena” which she is commonly referred to. There’s also representation of her family, she is the twenty-fourth child of a wool dryer which is shown, “as the woolens stacked on cedar / shelves back home in your / father’s shop,” (7-9). Why do you think Dove wrote of Catherine of Siena’s home?
DeleteIn the poem, “Catherine of Siena”, by Rita Dove, the author uses repetition in order to display and contrast Catherine of Siena’s spiritual journey with her physical journey. Catherine of Siena was a female figure in sainthood who was called to serve in Italy. The opening line of the poem states, “You walked the length of Italy / to find someone to talk to”, followed by, “You struck the boulder at the roadside / since fate has doors everywhere”. Dove uses second person narration, creating a personal effect on the reader that is amplified by her use of parallel structure. Her lines both start with “You”, referring to Catherine of Siena, and continue with a verb. The first line describes Catherine of Siena’s physical journey, travelling Italy to convert people to her faith. The next line reference’s her fate, displaying her God-led path which she is choosing to follow by obeying God’s command to travel Italy. As a woman in medieval time, a woman travelling on her own for religious purpose was not common and often dangerous. However, Catherine is willing to put her life at stake to pursue her fate. Catherine’s journey is once again contrasted through parallel structure in the last two lines of the second stanza: “No one stumbled across your path. / No one unpried your fists as you slept”. Catherine was never married, displaying her independent social status and commitment to her faith. Without the distraction of a husband in her physical life, “no one stumbled across [her} path” throughout her spiritual life, making her commitment to God stronger. Catherine of Siena’s faith in God is contrasted to her physical journey as shown through repetition and parallel structure in Rita Dove’s poetry.
ReplyDeleteMajority of readers would understand that, “Rosa,” is a poem about Rosa Park, simply by the title and the first line. Rosa Park’s simple act of defiance to give her seat to a white passenger, led to one of the most successful protests against segregation: the Montgomery bus boycott. Rita Dove’s decision to write Park’s first name only, adds to the simplicity of the poem, while symbolizing Park’s solidarity. Dove organizes the poem into four stanzas, each three lines or a tercet, and has an enjambment in the second line of the first and third stanza, and first two lines of the second and fourth stanza. The pattern with the enjambments creates a structured mood to the poem, emphasizing how Park’s protest was not one of chaos but order. Dove adds more patterns in the format with a curt line, “Her sensible coat.” (Dove 6) reappearing again in the last line, “That courtesy.” (12). Beginning with a capitalized word on the first line of every stanza, Dove reiterates Park’s imperturbability in face of arrest.
ReplyDeleteDove uses anaphora with “How she sat there,” (1) and “How she stood up” (10) juxtaposing how Park continuing to sit was metaphorically standing up to the inequality of segregation. In the period of Jim Crow laws, tension between African Americans and White Anglo-Saxon Protestants is described in the first stanza, “the time right inside a place / so wrong it was ready.” (2-3). Lines two to three depict an era so erroneous, that it arrived to a point of inevitable protest. Referring to Rosa Park’s short name of eight letters, the second stanza describes Park, “That trim name with / its dream of a bench / to rest on.” (4-5). Describing Park’s name as, “trim” implies to the reader of Park’s orderly, and pragmatic nature, contradicting her defiance. While the, “dream of a bench” may seem unassuming, the bench embodies the desire for desegregation. Dove uses a paradox describing Park’s act, “Doing nothing was the doing:” (7). By refusing to stand, an act associated with laziness, Park was, “doing,” and instigating a change. Alliteration of the sharp sound of “c” in the words, “clean”, “carved”, and, “camera” , create a tone of intensity and makes the reader feel the importance of a deceptively simple act. Dove utilizes figurative language: “the clean flame of her gaze / carved by a camera flash.” (8-9) which describes Rosa Park’s iconic mug shot: a symbol of the civil rights movement. In the last stanza, Park’s humility is revealed by, “How she stood up / when they bent down to retrieve / her purse.” (10-12). Using enjambment, anaphora, and alliteration, Rita Dove conveys the ability of a simple act to influence and initiate change.
I agree with your analysis of this poem. I also think that Rita Dove sets a peaceful yet powerful tone through the use of simple diction, letting the reader focus solely on Rosa Parks' action. She offers intricate, subtle details to get the reader to closely observe Parks. She wants us to notice "how" (1,10) she acts and composes herself to fully comprehend how influential the mere act of sitting had on segregated America. The short and simple structure of the poem juxtaposes the gravity of the situation and the effect it had on our history forever.
DeleteI liked this poem as well and think you did a great job analyzing it. I also found that "trim" is another way to say "wheel", which could could correspond with the bus that she was on. When Dove writes, "The trim name with it's dream", this is also a synecdoche: "The dream" symbolizing the end of segregation.
DeleteIn the collection of poems titled Civil Rights, Rita Dove illustrates the perils of being Black during segregated America. Specifically, in Climbing In, she refers to the fear most Black people felt while entering a public bus. She begins the first stanza with “Teeth. / Metallic. Lie-gapped” (1-2) to describe the bus itself. She personifies the vehicle to give it intimidating and evil characteristics. Her choice of diction exhibits how cold and isolated the narrator feels while on the bus. Dove writes that the dime was “cutting my palm” (5) showcasing that the narrator grips onto her bus fare so tightly that it physically hurts. The narrator is anxious and frightened to get onto the bus. Dove repeats the word “up” (7) to emphasize that the act of getting into the bus is mentally and physically exhausting and it feels as though the chair that awaits a black person is unbearably far away. In the third stanza, Dove begins to allude to the children’s story Little Red Riding Hood, in which a wolf is disguised as the protagonist’s grandmother in order to eat her. The teeth that Dove references to in “these are big teeth” (9) are those of the bus driver’s and they symbolize the cruelness that emanated from him. She further alludes to the children’s story through, “teeth of the wolf / under Grandmother’s cap” (10-1), insinuating that the harsh, abominable feelings of the bus driver are disguised under the cap of a person that services the public. They actually bear teeth like the wolf that consumes innocent Red. This person is described as having “Not quite a grin” (12) to reiterate the false mask that many white people assumed, while in reality they supported segregation and the mistreatment of Black individuals. The following line “Pay him to keep smiling” (13) displays the exchange that marginalized people had to make in order to ensure their safety. Black people had to relinquish their rights in order to survive a ride on the bus.
ReplyDeleteThe final stanza writes of the coin going “head over tail” (15) down the bus fare machine. Dove purposefully uses diction such as, “tail” (15) and “gullet” (16) to refer back to Little Red Riding Hood using animal like imagery. The long, fragmented structure of the poem emphasizes that when entering a segregated bus, it felt like an eternity for a black person and that there are certain steps that one had to follow to keep the white people happy. Endpoints litter many of the lines to accentuate an alarming, frightening tone; both for the reader and the narrator. Each line with this punctuation issues a sense of finality and an honest, eerie description of what’s taking place. Climbing In reveals to the reader the terrifying experiences that black people faced during segregation.
I think it's very interesting that you made the connection to Little Red Riding Hood, and I agree with your analysis. But I have another perspective to look at in this poem: why does the poem contain fifteen lines, one line over the standard for a sonnet? My interpretation of this is that it represents how the conditions that blacks were going through during the civil rights era were very difficult and unfair. The conditions could have been much more pleasant if blacks were granted more rights. This inappropriateness of the conditions in the era is reflected in the number of lines because sonnets are pretty and lyrical, yet the poem, like the conditions of the era, fails to achieve this pleasantness that sonnets possess.
DeleteNovember 3, 2015
ReplyDeleteIn the poem ‘The House Slave’, Rita Dove uses vast literary devices to create a tone of sorrow and bitterness the narrator expresses rising each morning as a slave. In the first line, “The first horn lifts its arm over the dew-lit grass” there are three different literary devices, symbolism, personification, and visual imagery. The first horn represents the wake up call that rings throughout the slave quarters. The personification within the first line gives the horn human like qualities by saying that it lifts its arm. The purpose of the personification was to make show the control a sound had over the slaves, as if a human, also adding to the tone of bitterness and sorrow. Lastly in the first line Rita Dove uses rich visual imagery in the quote, “dew- lit grass”, to place the reader into the story by painting a picture in the reader's head. Rita continues to use literary devices where she compares the slave workers to bees through the use of a metaphor in stanza five on line 14, “they spill like bees among the fat flowers”. The reason Rita Dove uses a metaphor to compare slave workers to bees spilling to fat flowers is to create a visual image in your head of the works, like worker bees, in the field working hard for their master, or queen. The comparison of slave workers to bees not only exemplifies the dehumanization African Americans experienced, but endless routine with no way out. Rita Dove structures the poem ‘The House Slave’ in a repetitive 3 lines per stanza even in length. I think the purpose of this was to symbolize the repetition, consistency, and routine lives of the slaves and their daily lives.
Cameron Kays
I also realize this is the wrong poem set but I didn't want to write another so feel free to comment once we've read the set of poems Slavery
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ReplyDeleteIn the poem “Freedom Ride”, Rita Dove sequences the poem’s imagery so that a stanza or phrase always begin with positive images, but then ends with negative ones. These images are observed in the poem from a car; the narrator is on a “freedom ride”. The narrator in the vehicle wants to escape the raging war over civil rights by traveling to pleasant places that stir up positive connotations in the reader, but whenever the car ties to make an escape, they just end up traveling through rough neighborhoods and unpleasant surroundings that reflect the inescapable suffering of the era. This pattern is illustrated in the first stanza when Dove writes, “the view would veer onto someplace fresh: Curaçao, or a mosque adrift on a milk fed-pond. But there’s just more cloud cover and germy air condensing on the tinted glass, and the little houses with their fearful patches of yard rushing into the flames.” (lines 3-11). Dove begins this stanza with the narrator expecting to turn off a street and end up in a place free of worry or strife that blacks in the civil rights era constantly had to go through. Both the tropical island Curaçao and a mosque influence positive, peaceful connotations of the reader. Yet, the grim reality that blacks must face during the civil rights era is revealed when all the narrator sees once the turn onto the new road is “more cloud cover” and “little houses with their fearful patches of yard rushing into flames”. The houses’ yards metaphorically represent what little positivity blacks had in this era, and how now even the last of their positivity is being burnt away. This, along with the many other images in the second half of the stanza, is a grim reality for the narrator to have forced upon theirself when they are expecting to come to an area full of tranquility and happiness. In this way, the name “Freedom Ride” is situationally ironic, because the ride in the poem doesn’t promote freedom, it only emphasizes how dire the civil rights situation truly is.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting analysis. When I read this poem, I noticed Rita Dove's use of second person narration ("you'll find yourself walking," "you'll wake up"). This creates a more intimate tone, as the reader is placed inside the poem and is asked to make decisions: "Pick any stop: "You can ride / into the afternoon singing with strangers, / or rush home to the scotch / you've been pouring all day--" (25-28). This technique allows the reader to empathize with African Americans during the civil rights era because Dove places the reader on the bus during the freedom rides as an African American. You mention the poem emphasizing how dire the civil rights situation truly is, and the second person narration effectively impresses this upon the reader.
DeleteI agree with how the poem transitions from positive to negative imagery. While I was reading, I did get a grim mood from the poem, and a tone of seriousness is achieved with negative connotations. In “Freedom Ride”, Rita Dove utilized alliteration, assonance, and consonance throughout the poem. For example, “view would veer” (Dove 3), and “cloud cover” (6) have clear, hard sounds, reinforcing a positive mood to in the beginning of the poem. Dove uses less hard sounds while increasing softer sounds in the last two stanzas: “Stop too soon”, (12) “stale dark of a cinema”, (16) “sad reel won’t stay / stuck” (18) and “singing with strangers” (26). The long “o” sound and the “s” create a depressive mood to the poem. Dove’s use of alliteration also contributes to your idea that the poem emphasizes the grim reality of the civil rights situation.
DeleteIn Rita Dove’s “Freedom Ride”, expressions of hope for the future in segregation are sharply contrasted with a harsh reality. The “Freedom Ride” was created to promote equal opportunities for segregation on buses. However, this is not the view of the rider telling the story in the poem. In the first stanza, the rider expresses the need for a change, or something new, to happen in the world. Dove writes, “The view would veer onto someplace fresh”, portraying the rider wishes to retreat to a place where there is no racial injustice. Dove uses dark imagery such as, “Cloud cover” and “Germy air” to create a heavy feel, conveying that segregation is still weighing on the shoulders of many. The imagery also resembles a rude awakening to the fact that segregation was not solved, though the Freedom Ride made it out to be solved to the public. The first stanza juxtaposes positive and negative imagery in the mindset of a rider on this bus, “Or a mosque adrift on a milk-fed pond. But there’s just more cloud cover”, to signify the roller coaster emotions of an African American in the 1950’s. Although segregation was taking a turn for the better, there was no denying that it was still present. Dove mentions “tinted glass” to resemble to windows of the bus, as the African Americans wanted to ride in privacy. Although the men and women on this bus are safe during their commute, dove mentions many words associated with being afraid. Words like, “Fearful”, “Flames”, “Gauntlet of stairs”, “Stale dark” and “Scorched back” are all used to resemble what is was like for these people to think about stepping off the bus and being stared at with judgemental faces. Civil rights were far from being solved.
ReplyDeleteAnother example from the text that would support your analysis of the looming presence of segregation is Rita Dove’s use of repetition. In the first stanza, Dove writes, “But there’s just more cloud cover, / and germy air / condensing on the tinted glass, / and the little houses with / their fearful patches of yard / rushing into the flames” (6-11). The phrase “there’s just more”, followed by imagery of fire is repeated in similar ways throughout the poem, such as in stanza two: “there’s still / Bobby and Malcolm and Memphis, / at every corner the same / scorched brick, darkened windows” (19-22). Although segregation seemed to be diminishing, it was still widely present in the lives of African Americans. Throughout the course of their daily lives, they were constantly engulfed by the flames of segregation, as shown through Doves imagery of fire. Her use of repetition emphasizes the consistent presence of segregation, helping to bring awareness of this cause to her audience and creating a tone of despair through the lives of the oppressed.
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ReplyDeleteIn her poem “Rosa,” Rita Dove describes Rosa Parks’ act of protest aboard a segregated Montgomery bus. She uses caesurae and end stops to create a calm, even tone throughout the poem. The poem is structured in four stanzas of three lines each. Every stanza begins with a capital letter, and every stanza ends with an end stop (a period). Each line and each stanza look very similar because the length of each line is roughly equal. The similarity in line length and stanza structure creates an evenness throughout the entire poem that shows that Rosa Parks was not doing anything extraordinarily heroic by refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger. The use of caesurae in the second and fourth stanzas also contributes to the even tone. The period after “on” in the line “to rest on. Her sensible coat” (line 6) causes the reader to pause so that the poem is read in a carefully measured way. The same caesura occurs in the last line, where there is a pause between “her purse.” and “That courtesy” (9). The caesurae and end stops reflect how Rita Dove describes Rosa Parks: calm, sensible, and courteous. They ensure that the reader doesn’t rush through the poem in one breath, just as Rosa Parks didn’t run away at the sight of the first white passenger boarding the bus.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to the even, orderly structure of the poem, Rita Dove uses clean, neat diction to advance the calm, even tone. The words “trim,” “sensible,” “clean,” and “courtesy” all have positive connotations and bring to mind an image of a put-together, level-headed woman, which is how Dove has described Rosa Parks. Within the poem, Parks’ actual act of defiance is only briefly described. Dove places more emphasis on the situation before and after Parks refuses to give up her seat to a white passenger. Dove writes, “the time right inside a place/so wrong it was ready” (2-3). The “place so wrong it was ready” refers to the segregated bus but also to the United States as a whole during the 1950s. With the use of the word “ready,” Dove shows that Rosa Parks was not taking an extreme action by refusing to give up her seat because the country was ready and waiting for something to change. The line “Doing nothing was the doing” (7) is the only line that refers to Parks’ action. In this poem, it is described less as an action and more as a refusal to act. This line also makes Rosa Parks’ protest seem normal and necessary because, as Rita Dove writes, she didn’t do anything. Even after being arrested, Parks remains polite. Dove writes, “How she stood up/when they bent down to retrieve/her purse” (10-12) and then describes this action as courteous. The calm even tone allows this poem to be a source of inspiration to polite, level-headed people who still wish to make a difference in their society. In the poem, Rosa Parks is treated as sensible and courteous, yet her actions sparked a large scale bus boycott. Dove shows readers that simple, quiet actions can have as much or more of a positive effect on society as boisterous, violent protests.
In the poem, “Rosa”, by Rita Dove, the author’s use of paradox emphasizes the importance of Rosa Park’s push for civil rights. Rosa Parks’ defiance against segregation was a defining moment in history for African Americans. By not changing seats on a segregated bus, and therefore, being martyred for her belief in equality of all races, Rosa Parks served as a symbol of freedom in the history of civil rights. Rita Dove illustrates this bold move through a paradox when she writes, “How she sat there, / the time right inside a place / so wrong it was ready” (1-3). The contradiction, “so wrong it was ready”, displays the instantaneous change in the course of civil rights caused by Parks’ belief in equality. Although her movement appeared separate from societal ethics, it had a profound meaning in the push towards civil rights. African Americans had a passion for change in societal standards on the basis of segregation, and Rosa Parks’ boldness was just what the people needed to commence a change. Her act of rebellion is again displayed as an act of boldness against society when the author writes, “Doing nothing was the doing” (7). Dove believes that opposition to a common belief for the good of others is best supported through actions rather than words. The paradox “doing nothing was the doing” explains Rosa’s noncompliance through resisting segregation was a great action towards support of civil liberties. Her defiance to moving to the back of the bus by protesting the white request that she move brought more respect to the black community and led to spread awareness to their rights. This paradox brings a sense of rebellion to the poem, showing that taking action for a cause that promotes the wellbeing of others can be accomplished through resisting actions against freedom. Although Rosa Park’s bold stand for desegregation seemed diminutive at the time, Rita Dove’s use of paradox represents her importance in the history and movement of civil rights.
ReplyDeleteIn the poem “Lady Freedom Among Us” Dove used diction, imagery, and personification to show the strong connection between the Statue of Liberty and the idea of freedom. Dove wrote “with her oldfashioned sandals with her leaden skirts with her stained cheeks and whiskers and heaped up trinkets,” in this quote Dove uses imagery to personify the Statue of Liberty, bringing her to life. The reason why Dove is personifying the Statue of Liberty, is because she know how deeply it’s symbolic meaning of freedom has affected all the people in United States. At some point in their lifetime they have associated the two objects together. Thus, Dove feels the importance of making the statue more than just a statue. The quote, “she has fitted her hair under a hand-me-down cap and spruced it up with feathers and stars,” right here, Dove uses a mix of diction, personification, and imagery. The personification farther emphasize the significance of the stature and the idea it represent, hinting the readers that they should not skim though this fact too quickly. The description of the “hand-me-down cap.” is very special, this diction is trying to tell the reader that something old that has been passed down through generations; namely this “something” is freedom, and it has been passed down and improved upon through multiple generations. Dove wrote “consider her drenched gaze her shining brow” created the image of glistening sweat trickling down the face of Lady Liberty. Here the beads of sweat is a symbol for the challenges that were faced and the immense amounts of hard work experienced by many who fought to attain freedom. The last two lines of the poem was particular diction “for she is one of the many and she is each of us,” deliver the message that the Statue of Liberty is a single representation of all Americans as a whole, connected or tied together by the similar desire for freedom. Through the use of imagery, personification, and diction, the overall tone of triumphant exhaustion is achieved.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with what the statue represents and how it signifies the desire for freedom and the struggles of those who fought to attain freedom. However, I interpreted the statue Dove is referencing to as the the Statue of Freedom in Washington DC atop the Capitol building.After doing some research on it, I found out that Dove also read the poem during its restoration in 1993. Its physical appearance is also more similar to the one described in the poem.
DeleteThat's very interesting, I haven't thought of it this way before. I originally thought that Dove was writing about the statue of liberty, but your point might be right. I think either way, Dove is trying to show how in society, people focus on their own life and they forget about their own freedom, and what things truly stands for. For an example when Americans say the pledge of allegiance, look at the flag, or even the statue of liberty, all they see are objects, or "another item to fit on a tourist's agenda"; instead of what they truly stand for: freedom.
DeleteThe poem “Claudette Colvin Goes To Work” in the civil rights movement section by Rita Dove, stood out from the rest because she Rita Dove was addressing a woman in the civil rights movement who was ignored. Rita Dove writes about a woman called Claudette Colvin. After doing some research, she was an African american civil rights activist who lived in Montgomery. She was 19 years old when she was riding the bus and refused to give up her a seat and was therefore arrested. This occurred 9 months before the publicised Rosa Parks case. The NACP had chosen to ignore this act of resistance because during the time of her arrest, Claudette became pregnant and was unmarried. It wouldn't set a very good example, so her courage was swept under the carpet. Instead she got a reputation of a troublemaker and judgement from her community which made her move to New York where she worked as a nurse.
ReplyDeleteIn the poem, Dove uses internal thoughts, flashbacks and negative diction to highlight Claudette’s struggles with her present life in relation to her past along with feeling lonely. In the lines “…Anyone home?/or I’m beat, bring me a beer.” (line 6-7) and “mostly I say to myself Still here.Lay” (line 8), the inner thoughts reflect the weariness of Colvin’s situation. She is not very content with her job and it upsets her. In the line, “So ugly, so fat, so dumb, so greasy—” (line 24), it can be interpreted as her self perception based on what people judged her as in her past. It creates the image of Colvin not being self confident and as though she has lost all hope as read in the next line, “What do we have to do to make God love us?” (line 25). Dove uses flashbacks as a literary device to cement the fact that Claudette’s past affects her even though she is living a different life now. In the lines “….And I don't curse or spit/or kick and scratch like they say I did then. I help those who can’t help themselves, I do what needs to be done…” (lines 31-34), Claudette is denying her public persona in Montgomery which paints her as a rebellious troublemaker. Even though Claudette is in New York now,she is constantly looking for validation from others in the form of behaving like others would want her to and defending her actions. Lastly, Dove uses negative diction throughout the poem by using words such as “shadows”, “dark”, “scourge” and phrases such as “….Sometimes I wait until it’s dark enough for me body to disappear;” (line 14). It creates a bleak tone and questions how many other struggles were forgotten or misinterpreted.
Another interesting aspect in this poem was the quote from the Boycott Flier from December 5th, 1955, published 4 days after the Rosa Parks bus resistance incident. It cites the “Claudette Colbert” case, I interpreted it as an error in the spelling of her last name. It signifies how little importance she was given and Dove placing it at the beginning of the poem is to attract attention towards it. It could be a purposeful error in order to hide her identity. Colvin was arrested on March 2nd, 1955 when she hadn't given up her seat.
What comes into mind with the word “parsley”? Out of context, it means simply a herb or a spice. But with the motif of the green vegetable in the excerpt from, "The Farming of Bones" (by Edwidge Danticat) and the poem, “Parsley” (by Rita Dove) it signifies a deeper meaning. Researching into the context of the excerpt, Danticat and Dove base their works on the Parsley Massacre in 1937. Ordered by the Dominican Republic Dictator, Rafael Trujillo, soldiers killed those who could not roll the “r” in the Spanish word for parsley: “perejil”. This allowed soldiers to differentiate between Dominicans to be spared, and Haitians to be executed. Dove uses anaphora throughout the first section, “1. The Cane Fields” (Dove 1) and repeats these words with different phrasing in “2. The Palace” (21). Dove writes the same words, “Out of the swamp the cane appears” (4) at the end of several stanzas in the first section but adjusts the punctuation. Repeating the phrase without capitalization and with a comma, “out of the swamp, the cane appears” (10), and again but the comma replaced by a period, “out of the swap. The cane appears” (16), adds to the reader’s feeling of anxiety. Repetition of the phrase suggests a premonition, and the use of enjambment at the end of these lines leads to feelings of uncertainty. This mood conveys the fear felt by the Haitian workers in “The Cane Fields” (1) who were asked to name the herb and executed for their lack of the trill. The image evoked by “swamp” is one of negativity, because of it’s association with opaque waters and danger from lurking predators. “Cane” means sugarcane, describing the workers in the field, but may connotate punishment as in canes used for beating. In the last stanza of the first section, Dove restates the phrase but with capitalization and breaks the pattern of enjambment: “Out of the swamp the cane appears.” (20). With the capitalization, no comma, and period at the end of the line, Dove strikes the reader into a mood of finality. The deletion of the comma forces the reader to go through the line without a chance to pause, similar to how the Haitians’ deaths came without warning. The curt line also conveys the length of the massacre: five days, and yet about 20,000 slaughtered. Rita Dove’s anaphoras in, “Parsley” expresses the fear Haitians felt in the Parsley Massacre.
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DeleteI really like your analysis of the line "Out of the swamp the cane appears." I agree that this anaphora creates a tone of anxiety because the line is repeated at the end of four of the six stanzas. Each time it is repeated, the punctuation is slightly different so that the reader knows the line is coming (as you mentioned) but cannot know exactly how it will appear. The anticipation and anxiety felt by the reader is similar to that felt by the Haitians, who did not know when they would be forced to speak the word "perejil" but knew, as they waited, that they would not be able to. Another repeated line that supports your idea that anaphora expresses the fear that the Haitians felt is the line "There is a parrot imitating spring." This line is used four times throughout the poem. However, in the second stanza, the line is "Like a parrot imitating spring,” using “like” instead of “there is.” This line has a similar effect on the reader as the line you previously mentioned because its location in the stanza changes throughout the poem, creating a sense of uncertainty.
DeleteIn the poem Parsley, Rita Dove writes a haunting piece on the murder of 20,000 Black Haitians in the Dominican Republic through the use of violent and fanatical diction. In the excerpt The Farming of Bones, the main characters are chased and tortured for being unable to roll the "r" in the word perejil, the Spanish word for parsley, the same event Dove bases her poem on. The first section, 1. The Cane Fields, Dove writes through the perspective of the Haitian victims and she uses specific word choice to establish a tone of intensity. She writes, “screaming” (7), “punches” (7), “lashed” (16) in the first section to display the horrors that the Haitians experienced while laboring in the cane fields and the massacres that they witnessed. In the second section titled 2. The Palace, Dove writes about Trujillo, the dictator that ordered the cruel killings. She juxtaposes his obsessive love for his mother with his disturbing encounters in the battlefield. He has an extreme affection for his parrot, who symbolizes his dead mother. Dove writes that he requests pastries for it, “dusted with sugar on a bed of lace” (43) illustrating his ability to feel deeply for this creature as well as his affinity for his mom. In the same octet, Dove describes the boots he wears on his first day in battle, “splashed with mud and urine” (46) which juxtaposes the fancy, beautiful display he had made for his pet. The stanza continues with him commenting “how stupid” (48) a soldier looked when he came to him in the middle of war. The contradiction between Trujillo’s sensitive, affectionate side and his cruel, harsh side shows his psychotic tendencies. His fixation with his mother and the letter R is apparent with “she / could roll an R like a queen” (59-60). He is determined to murder anyone who disgraces his memory of his mother. Dove reiterates his love for her through “My mother, my love in death” (68), which she writes in Spanish and English to show that his infatuation has no boundaries. His fervent feelings towards his mother and his horrifying misuse of power as a dictator are exhibited through the particular word choice Rita Dove uses.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your take on what the parrot symbolized. However, i also saw it as resembling wealth. The parrot is inside with Trujillo, while outside, slaving in the fields, are the Haitians who will eventually meet their termination at Trujillo's hands. The division between the rich and the poor in this poem and in the actual historical event are seen in the massacre itself in many ways. Thus, the parrot in Parsley is also a symbol for a willingness to only spend money on ones self.
DeleteI agree with you how Dove’s diction creates tone of intensity. In addition to “fanatical diction” I noticed a consonance of “p” sounds in clusters throughout the poem which added to an intense tone. For example in the first section: “parrot”, (Dove 2) “palace”, (3) “parsley”,(3) “swamp” (4) and “appears” (4) all have a solid “p” sound. Near the end of “Parsley” Dove utilizes consonance again: “parrot”, (62) “parody”, (63) “pale”, (64) and “disappear”, (65). This staccato sound forms a sharp and tense mood for the reader, and allows the reader to get closer to the view of the victims.
DeleteI like your analysis on Dove's use of contradiction between the general's sensitive side and psychotic tendencies. I saw it being used throughout the poem, for example in the lines "in the palace, its feathers parsley green/Out of the swamp the cane appears", she uses a positive place and then changed it to a negative scenery. The constant juxtaposition of these sceneries and qualities had a larger impact on me as a reader.
DeleteI found the poem “Parsley” to represent the different effects and stages of Trujillo’s role during the Parsley Massacre of 1937. In the beginning of the poem, Rita Dove shows the side of General Trujillo that is intimidating and terrorizing, but continued to show the side of him that was sensitive and defenceless. Using a motif, Dove uses “the cane” to resemble the weakness and instability of Trujillo's reign through various symbolic images. In the first section of the poem, “The Cane Fields”, there is repetition of a single phrase, “Out of the swamp the cane appears”. The swamp can make it seem as if something is holding someone down, and this something could be the world of isolation and poverty in which the Haitians lived and worked. The cane, in this section, may represent how this world of theirs is quite frequently disrupted by Trujillo’s anti beliefs in Haitian cruelty. Thus, this phrase can be interpreted as the sugarcane harvested by the enslaved Haitians. It seems as though one of the Haitians biggest fears is the rod used for physical punishment, and i found that this phrase could also resemble that as well. Some words that caught my eye were, “He laughs, teeth shining out of the swamp”, creating a negative description of Trujillo. It may refer to Haitians desire to bring his down in his regime. In the next section of the poem, “The Palace”, Dove mentions that Trujillo, “Planted her walking cane at the grave/ and it flowered, each spring stolidly forming/ four-star blossoms.” “Flowers” are associated with growth, and this can connect to the rise of Trujillo as a dictator. The words, “Four-star blossoms” creates a perfect image of a flower sprouting toward the sun and symbolizes a four-star general rising to power. There are many references to autumn and death, to signify the end of an era for Trujillo’s power, corresponding with how leaves fall during autumn. Parsley is a very important symbol in this poem. At first glance, everyone knows Parsley as a delicious herb on our Italian food. If it were to disappear, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. However, during the massacre, the word “Parsley” was a matter of life or death. This juxtaposition catches the reader's eye, as it seems like nothing important, but turns out to be catastrophic.
ReplyDeleteI really like your analysis of the leaves and the irony of the parsley. I also noticed how Dove contrasts the seasons in this poem. I thought that autumn and death are nearly synonymous, while the General's beloved parrot, as well as the pride he has of being his mother's son, is described with bright imagery found in the springtime. Dove characterizes his parrot with green features and writes that he "can roll an R" ( 61) to emphasize that he believes that those who can't perform this linguistic skill should be killed. Dove also scribes that he "remembers the tiny green sprigs / men of his village wore in their capes / to honor the birth of a son" (69-71) to illustrate how proud he is to be the son of his beloved mother, through highlighting green details.
DeleteNovember 5, 2015
ReplyDeleteRita Dove’s heart breaking poem Parsley is drawn from the devastating Parsley Massacre of 1953. This Massacre was where in a span of 2 days thousands upon thousands of Haitian citizens who happened to accidentally be on the Dominican border were brutally massacred. Rita Dove portrays this horrid event in her Poem Parsley where Rita Dove uses rich weather and season symbolism, repetition, and auditory imagery to create a gloomy tone. Rita dove repeatedly uses weather and climate imagery to make the reader feel uneasy along with placing the reader in the shoes of the thousands of innocent civilians being murdered. In the section ‘The Cane Fields’, Rita Dove uses weather and season symbolism in the first line, “There is a parrot imitating spring”. Spring typically symbolizes love, growth, birth, or a fresh start. Rita Dove’s use of a parrot, a foreign bird, is trying to imitate the idea of the Massacre causing a new start, a new birth for the nation. The symbolism of spring is later contradicted in the third stanza when Rita Dove says, “we lie down screaming as rain punches though”. Rain screaming and punching is very dark diction and imagery that causes the reader to feel hollow. This dark imagery and tone creates a weather idea of winter, a season known for gloominess, dark skies, harsh rain, and uneasy moods. Although the parrot may be trying to imitate spring, the reality is, their living in winter. The repetition Rita Dove uses of the expression “There is a parrot imitating spring” and “out of the swamps, the cane appears” add to the gloomy tone making the reader feel very uncomfortable and on edge. These two lines are reported in every stanza in the first section The Cane Fields. This adds to the rhythm and flow of the poem as well as adding emphasis. Lastly to exaggerate the sorrow of the Massacre, Rita Dove uses auditory imagery to make the reader hear the screams and sorrow of those being murdered. Auditory imagery is heard vividly on line 16, stanza 6, “lashed by wind and screaming.” The reader is able to hear the screams of those begging for their lives or screaming out in pain as the wind whips like a whip in the background. Another example of auditory imagery is in stanza 4, line 12, “the mountains we call in whispers Katalina.” Whispering always is intended to keep someone from hearing or for exclusion creating an uncomfortable tone and adding to the gloominess of the poem. Overall the poem Parsley, is terribly sad because it's a look into the horrors of a Massacre of innocent people but it's important to keep the reader informed on events we otherwise may not have been aware of. I also think the purpose of this gloomy and uncomfortable tone was to lead reads away from indifference. Rita Dove’s goal with Parsley was to make the reader feel so angry that they can't remain silent and crushed by the social norm or lost in the flow.
Cameron Kays
In “The Palace,” the second part of Rita Dove’s poem “Parsley,” Rita Dove juxtaposes Trujillo’s memories of his mother with his fixation on killing the Haitians to show the absurdity of the Parsley Massacre of 1937 and genocide in general. In the first stanza, Dove writes, “the general thinks/of his mother, how she died in the fall/and he planted her walking cane at the grave/and it flowered” (lines 4-6). The detail describing Trujillo planting the walking cane, which can also refer to sugarcane, suggests that he cared about his mother and was upset when she died. In the next stanza, however, Dove writes, “As he paces he wonders/Who can I kill today” (11-12). The use of a period instead of a question mark at the end of the question creates a definite tone and suggests that it is certain that Trujillo will kill someone that day, despite the fact that he was strongly affected by the death of his mother. Rita Dove increases the reader’s awareness of the effect his mother’s death had on Trujillo when she writes, “Ever since the morning/his mother collapsed in the kitchen/while baking skull-shaped candies/for the Day of the Dead, the general/has hated sweets” (17-21). His mother’s death had such a profound effect on Trujillo that no longer likes sweets because she was making them when she died, but he still desires the death of the Haitians, which might have caused survivors of the massacre to swear off parsley. The reason for Trujillo’s hypocrisy is his idea that the Haitians are inferior to the Dominicans: “God knows/his mother was no stupid woman; she/could roll an R like a queen” (38-40). The use of the word “queen” to describe Trujillo’s mother’s facility with language suggests that she was superior and ruled over the poor pronunciation of the Haitians. The last sentence of the poem points again towards Trujillo’s intention to carry out the massacre: “He will order many, this time, to be killed/for a single, beautiful word” (51-53). The use of caesurae in these last lines breaks up the sentence and creates a halting tone that shows that Trujillo’s love for his mother may cause him to reconsider his decision to have so many people killed. The poem ends with a period, which is the ultimate mark of finality, showing that Trujillo killed the Haitians anyway. His sadness over his mother’s death was not enough to keep from carrying out the massacre, and Rita Dove shows this by ending the poem with Trujillo’s orders instead of a description of his mother.
ReplyDeleteI think you bring up some very valid and interesting points about how Trujillo's mother's death almost prevented him from carrying out the massacre, but I also see the effect of his mother's death from a different point of view. I saw the line, "Who can I kill today" (12), as Trujillo voicing out his anger and need of revenge for his mother's death; he feels cheated because it has made him depressed, yet other people whose mothers are still with them remain blissfully happy. This idea is reinforced when it is told that "the general/has hated sweets" (20-21). His mother's death has caused him to develop a hatred for sweets, which are normally seen as a positive object. So, it would make sense that his hatred for sweets could also be transferred to another positive element, happy people. The genocide would be the perfect way for him to channel his hatred towards them.
DeleteThe poem “Parsley” by Rita Dove draws inspiration from the Parsley Massacre of 1937, a conflict that took place between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Haitians passing through the borderlands of the Dominican Republic were murdered by Dominican soldiers if they were found to be unable to pronounce the Spanish word for parsley, perejil, without a trill on the R. In the poem, Dove dives into the irony of using parsley as a symbol of death. In the first two lines of the poem, Dove writes, “There is a parrot imitating spring/in the palace, its feathers parsley green” (1-2). These two lines contain a plethora of positive imagery. Parrots are typically thought to be beautiful, smart creatures, and spring brings up connotations of thriving life and growth. In the second line, the trend continues with “palace”, which is associated with royalty and perfection. What is interesting here though, is that all of this positive imagery connects to parsley. The word is used in a positive sense here, because it is used to describe the parrot, which has already been established as a positive element in the previous line. Also, Dove utilizes color imagery when she writes “parsley green”; that phrase radiates naturalness. However at the very end of the poem, the word takes on a completely different meaning. Dove writes, “He will/order many, this time, to be killed/ for a single beautiful word” (71-72). The word that Dove refers to in this passage is parsley; it has gone from a symbol of well-being and positivity at the beginning of the poem to death in the form of a word at the end of the poem. The different meanings of the word parsley throughout the poem illustrate how words, people, objects, places, and so on can have different meanings to different people based on the context that they are placed in.
ReplyDeleteIn the poem "Parsley", Dove uses the words "green" or "freshness" as anaphora to convey a sense of irony. Green and freshness are usually associated with something new or perhaps freedom. By repeating these words in the poem, it created a sense of irony that the Hatians are not receiving enough freedom. The Hatians were suffering and dying but the world around them paid no attention to this atrocity, the world continued spinning and moved on. In the third stanza, the juxtaposition of green and suffering is presented, "we lie down screaming as rain punches through/and we come up green." These lines described clearly how the Hatians felt as the countries turned their backs and having a blind eye to their endless suffering. The juxtaposition created a tragic and cruel tone to the poem. This makes the readers to feel sympathy for the Hatians and causes the reader to feel angry like the Hatians. Rita Dove used this literary device to make sure the readers spiritually prevent these events from happening again. Aside from connecting with the reader the juxtaposition also explains the general's background and why he committed what he did. The general's mother, as described in the poem "how she died in the fall/and it flowered, each spring stolidly forming/four-star blossoms." From these lines the reader is able to understand that the general blames the Hatians for the death of her mother and wants revenge. While the general could have solved this without his aggressive and cruel action, the audience sees the reason behind his actions. Notice how Rita Dove used the same juxtaposition of greenness to describe both the general and the Haitians. This hints the connection between the two than what might be more clearly presented.
ReplyDeleteIn her poem “The House Slave”, Rita Dove uses imagery of an approaching dawn in order to symbolize to her audience the darkness of slavery. Her word choice in expressing imagery is prevalent in the first stanza when the author writes, “The first horn lifts its arm over the dew-lit grass” (1). Dew is defined as “tiny drops of water that form on cool surfaces at night” (Google), showing the importance of the setting in this poem. Dove wants the reader to understand the night time setting of this poem in order to emphasize the symbolism of the coming freedom from the wretched conditions of slavery. Further emphasizing her setting Dove again references night in the second stanza: “I watch them driven into the vague before-dawn / while their mistress sleeps like an ivory toothpick” (5-6). The simile “their mistress sleeps like an ivory toothpick” expresses the malnourishment of slaves. A frail, thin object, such as a toothpick, symbolizes physical weakness, which was a symptom of slavery, further worsening slavery’s impact on the slave. The narrator of the poem, a slave, describes the terrors her sister endures as she is molested by the slave owners. This also adds to the despair the narrator suffers, explaining the closing line of the poem when she states, “It is not yet daylight” (15). While remaining in the darkness of night, the author acknowledges daylight in her future. Although the terrors she suffers in the present are intolerable, she still possesses a hope for light. The wording “not yet” addresses her hope and her belief that daylight will one day come, allowing her to focus surviving through the night. Rita Dove’s use of setting and imagery symbolize the inhumane situation of slavery and the hope slaves possess for freedom.
ReplyDeleteI just realized I did the wrong assignment, however, feel free to comment if you want to add to my analysis!
ReplyDeleteIn the section Politics of History, a poem called “Parsley” along with an excerpt from Farming of the Bones is present. In the first section of the poem Parsley, “The cane fields”, Rita Dove uses literary devices such as consonance, anaphora and nature imagery to express a tone of hopelessness through the Haitians accepting their situation. Throughout the section the word ‘r’ and ‘p’ is used continuously. The use of this is ironic because the Haitians had troubles pronouncing the r is perejil, but by writing the poem in first person she is able to create verbal irony. There is anaphora used in each stanza, the lines being “There is a parrot imitating spring” and “Out of the swamp the cane appears”. The repetition symbolises how the killings because a routine and there was nothing that could surprise them anymore. In the phrase, “There is a parrot imitating spring” , the parrot could represent a better life or a fresh start but however hard they try, they will continue ‘imitating’ it rather than achieving it. Further in the poem, the parrot belongs to the general and it being let out onto the cane fields, can be connected to the ‘flight is freedom’ maxim. As the people being murdered watch the parrot above them soar, it is a mockery to their situation. Lastly, Dove uses nature imagery to display the severity and harshness of their condition. For example in “we lie down screaming as rain punches through” and “in our dreams, lashed by wind and streaming.”. The adjectives used are forceful and convey a feeling of weariness among the people.
ReplyDeleteRita dove also uses punctuation to accentuate the gloominess by not capitalising the first word of the three stanzas in between but capitalising ‘El General’. It can stand for repression or submissive behaviour and the dominance of Trujillo.
I like how you pointed out how Haitians had troubles pronouncing the r is perejil is ironic. I never thought of it that way. and how by repeating that "There is a parrot imitating spring” symbolize how the killings because a routine. I think part of the reason why parrot represent a better life or a fresh start, is because of their color green.
DeleteRita Dove captures the essence of the elusive fox in the poem Quick. Through mysterious language and the couplet structure, Dove creates a tone of awe and admires the brilliant creature. She uses alluring diction to convey the enchanting qualities of the baby fox, writing “he peers from the culvert… / vacant eyes” (3-4). His eyes show no emotion and are impassive, causing the reader to be curious about him and his true feelings. Depicting where the mother fox was, Dove pens “crested / in moonshine the fabled silhouette” (7-8) to enhance the mystical aura surrounding these animals. The dark imagery emphasizes that we don’t truly know what the fox looks like; they are nocturnal creatures and are the stealthiest of predators. We can see her silhouette but that doesn’t give us the full picture. Dove writes “O to be gone / like that, no grief nor though / of love” (14-6) to demonstrate how envious she is of the fox and its utter freedom and independence. The fox is a furtive creature and does whatever it pleases. Dove ends the poem with alliteration, “---pure purpose poured into flight” (16-7) to reiterate the solitary lifestyle they lead; their main goal is to protect themselves. The baby fox - described in the first three stanzas - sees his mother, but instead of helping him, she runs away. The smooth rhythm of this line reinforces the tone of respect; the awe and inspiration in the narrator’s language is palpable. When pronounced, the words emit a whisper, issuing an intimate look at the animal.
ReplyDeleteThe poem contains eight couplets in eight separate stanzas, juxtaposing the title of the poem, Quick. The combination of the prolonged length of the poem and the vivid imagery, exhibits the spectator’s stream of consciousness while watching the foxes. As if Dove was just trying to catch a glimpse of the animal, but caught up in the beauty and magic of it, she couldn’t look away. The title also signifies that a fox has a lasting impression on those who merely get a quick look at it. This piece exhibits a more magical and mystical side to the fox, contrary to most of the stereotypical characteristics given to it – such as deceitful, sly, and cunning. Instead Dove portrays them as enigmatic, and their sheer independence and undeniable confidence is something to be admired.
This is an insightful analysis of the poem, but I would like to add some additional analysis of the structure of the poem. You write that the length of the poem is juxtaposed with the title of the poem, but the short stanzas seem to contribute to the mood created by the word "quick." Because each stanza is only two short lines, the reader is able to move through the poem very quickly. In comparison with the actual number of words in the poem, there is a significant amount of white space created by the stanza breaks. The last stanza of the poem is only a single line ("poured into flight."), which makes it stand out from the other stanzas. The poem comes to an abrupt end as though the fox has run away before a second line could be written about it. This structure complements the title, "Quick," because it exemplifies how quickly the fox has vanished from view.
DeleteIn 'Fox', Rita Dove portrays a very confident woman through the use of diction, which resembles pridefulness elements as well as independence as she reflects on her house burning down. Dove uses the repetition of "she" to illustrate Dove's growing independence after the tragedy that greatly impacted her life. Dove states, "She knew what she was and so was capable of anything anyone could imagine", She 'knew' what her capabilities were, therefore she was comfortable with herself and what she could potentially achieve. By 'knowing oneself', the character shows the ability to go through life and have no fear of error or mistakes. The repeated, "she knew”, “she was”, “she loved" shows how even after she lost everything, she was determined and strong. Imagination is mentioned many times throughout the poem, and this may be tied in to give the reader a sense of how much Rita Dove could achieve since ‘she was capable of anything anyone could imagine'. Her confidence was not affected by the tragedy and she proves, in the contrary, that she still has potential to achieve the greatness she had before her house was burned down. Using juxtaposition, Dove states, "..there/for the taking/ imagine" (8-10) with "She imagined/ nothing". This juxtaposition of opposites suggests that even though bad things happen, good things can come out of it. In Dove's case, she lost her house, but she gained the love of dancing. Dove symbolizes herself as not only a fox throughout this poem, but also as the slang term for it, “foxy”. Foxes are stereotyped as quick, keen, sneaky, and even somewhat defiant; a description that Dove uses of herself in the poem. She describes herself as strong and determined and the 'fox' implies her passion for dancing. At the end of the last stanza it says, "she loved/ nothing more than what she had,/ which was enough/ for her". This conveys that Rita Dove does not dwell on the sorrow of losing her house, and instead, finds value in what she currently has. This makes her strong and independent "which was more/ than any man/ could handle".
ReplyDeleteI really like how your analysis connected to Rita Dove's personal life, regarding her home burning down. I also thought that the anaphora of "she" could be generalized for other women as well. Dove is describing a confident and independent woman, that no man can handle (no one could ever tame her; she is a wild and free spirit). She is so sure of herself and desired nothing; she is fully content. The title of the poem could symbolize the woman as the intelligent, solitary creature.
DeleteRita Dove characterizes the narrator in the poem, “Fox”. She portrays her speaker as a cunning animal through diction and creative connotations, creating an dark, mysterious tone. In the first stanza, the author illustrates this tone through alliteration. She writes, “She knew what / she was and so / was capable” (1-3). In the first three sentences, Dove immediately sets the tone of the poem through repetition of sharp sounds in the words: “what” and “was”. This tone creates a perception for the reader that the narrator is sure of herself as a cunning individual. Further adding onto this characterization is the title of the poem, “Fox”. When the reader envisions a fox, connotations such as independent, clever, and tricky come to mind, foreshadowing the end of the second stanza. The author writes, “She loved / nothing more / than what she had / which was enough / for her, / which was more / than any man / could handle” (13-20). Dove’s use of anaphora emphasizes the diction used in the repeated line, “which was”. Alliteration once again captures the essence of a harsh tone through sharp sounds. Displaying an ominous tone through anaphora, the author emphasizes the mood of the poem. The last verse symbolizes a failed relationship. This conclusion can be drawn by the cunning language throughout the poem and Dove’s use of connotations to personify the narrator. Because of her independent characterization and fox-like qualities, she is unable to sustain a relationship that “any man could handle”. Throughout “Fox”, Dove’s utilization of alliteration and anaphora portrays the characterization of an independent and deceitful narrator.
ReplyDeleteI like your analysis, but rather than interpreting the last stanza as a failed relationship, I thought it represented how Dove felt liberated from the difficulties of romance and love because she had found dance. Dove writes "She loved / nothing more / than what she had, / which was enough / for her, / which was more / than any man / could handle" (13-20). By writing that "she loved what she had", Dove illustrates the strong sense of self that she had when she started to take up dancing. Since dancing was an outlet for her to express passion and commitment, she felt that she did not need the love of a man. She was perfectly happy on her own, because of her love for dance.
DeleteRita Dove’s, “American Smooth” depicts the beauty and the feeling of escape through ballroom dancing. Dove alludes to dance with the title, “American Smooth” a category of ballroom dance including foxtrot, tango, waltz, and Viennese waltz. But even without the background knowledge of dance, Dove makes it clear to the reader in the first line, “We were dancing—it must have / been a foxtrot or a waltz,” (Dove 1-2). Immediately opening with first person narration, it brings the reader into a more intimate relationship with the poem, and the past tense makes the reader feel feelings of reminiscence. Although “American Smooth” consist of a single 31 line long stanza, it could be broken into two parts between line fourteen and fifteen: “of American Smooth. / And because I was distracted” (14-15). Using an end-stop with a period, the reader senses not a beginning and end, but a change of direction. The speaker in the poem doesn’t remember what specific dance it was, but remembers the dancing was, “something romantic but / requiring restraint, / rise and fall” (3-5). Dove’s use of alliteration of the “r” creates a soft, lyrical sound to the poem and builds a rhythm, embodying the dance itself. Continuing, Dove writes, “precise / execution as we moved / into the next song without / stopping, two chests heaving / above a seven-league / stride” (5-10), the description of moving without a break is reinforced by Dove crafting the poem without line spacing. Doves applies alliteration again, but with the softer sound of “s”, continuing the lyrical feeling of the poem. Enjambment in this section furthers the feeling to the reader of breathlessness, as it doesn’t allow the reader to take a complete pause. An em dash halts the rhythm momentarily, “stride—such perfect agony / one learns to smile through,” (10-11), resembling a brief moment in dance where things stand still. It also brings attention to the oxymoron of, “perfect agony” (10). Despite the exhaustion of dance, it’s description of perfection and something one smiles through, conveys how dancing is not without effort but worth the, “agony” (10). Dove writes how the rapturous imitation in American Smooth is an important factor: “ecstatic mimicry / being the sine qua non / of American Smooth.” (12-14). The Latin phrase adds to the melodic tone of the poem; the Latin meaning an indispensable factor or element.
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DeleteDove changes direction from describing the dance itself, to the emotion it invokes in the second section. Part two begins with, “And because I was distracted / by the effort of / keeping my frame” (15-17), describing the concentration required by American Smooth and the parenthetical “(the leftward lean, head turned / just enough to gaze out / past your ear and always / smiling, smiling),” (18-21), reveals inner thoughts of focus. Another parenthetical with interrogatives “(for two measures? four?)—” (25-26) alludes to measures or bars in music, which keep time. The loss of time represents how the speaker was so deep in dancing, they lost track of the bar. The repetition of, “smiling”, reinforces how in their, “perfect agony”, one learns to smile through the fatigue. Dove also begins to use second person, referring to a “your” or the speaker’s partner. Because of the distraction, Dove writes, “I didn’t notice / how still you’d become until / we had done it” (22-24). The phrasing of, “how still you’d become” (23) causes a sober mood as stillness represents the partner reflecting on the moment. Dove utilizes an em dash again, describing the “it” in “we had done it” (24) where the dancers, “—achieved flight, / that swift and serene / magnificence, “ (26-28). Flight connecting to the maxim, “Flight is Freedom,” connotates escape and liberation through dance. Alliteration of, “swift and serene” (27) create a soothing and lyrical tone, conveying escape from the harshness of reality. Dove ends the poem with figurative language, “before the earth / remembered who we were / and brought us down.” (29-31). This signifies the end of the song, a tone of resolution, and the return to reality from the beauty of ballroom dance. Utilizing alliteration, enjambment, and end-stop, Dove crafts “American Smooth”, a poem portraying beauty and escape by dance.
I agree that this poem is conveying that working through pain can lead to the light at the end of the tunnel. I also perceived this poem as being about completely losing ones self in the moment, or in this case in another individual. The words, "Sine qua non" translate to, "indispensable condition". The narrator in this poem is talking about the person he/she is dancing with, and this portrays that they are not worried about the future, past, or anything troubling them at that time. They are lost in the moment.
DeleteAlong the lines of Sierra's comment, I also felt feelings of nostalgia throughout the poem. By using past tense, Dove creates a perfect memory which exists in the person's memory. In the last few lines, "before the earth/remembered who we were/ and brought us down", there is a sense of having to move on and somethings last in our memory forever. I agree with how the use of "perfect agony" expresses smiling through fatigue.
DeleteIn the poem “Quick”, Rita Dove compares the wonder that a baby bird has for its elegant mother to symbolize the confusing, awe-inspiring process of first learning to dance. Dove is symbolized by the baby bird; she is inexperienced, eager to learn, and kind of awkward. The experienced dancers she sees are represented by the mother bird; they are magnificent, masterful, and inspiring. The first line of the poem introduces the bird metaphor when Dove writes, “Look, a baby one! Wink of fuzz / in the headlights, and gray at that” (1-2). The “baby one” refers to the baby bird. The description of the bird as “a wink of fuzz” and “gray” plays two roles here: literally, it paints a picture of a newly born baby bird in the reader’s minds, but the words fuzz and gray create a tone of uncertainty, reflecting the feeling that someone gets when they try dancing for the first time. This tone of uncertainty is further reinforced in the next two lines, where Dove writes, “Now he peers from the culvert, / all the bobble and twitch, vacant eyes” (3-4). The word “vacant” continues the tone of uncertainty, but the words “peers” and “bobble” also add a new layer of curiosity to the overall tone. The curious tone embodies the youthful energy for discovery that one possesses when they are learning how to dance. Moving to the fourth stanza, after Dove describes the bird’s mother, writing, “On the hill, there––crested / in moonshine the fabled silhouette” (7-8). By using phrases that have connotations of perfection and elegance like “on the hill”, “crested in moonshine”, and “the fabled silhouette” to describe the mother bird, Dove shifts the tone to awe and wonder in the baby bird’s mind. The new tone reflects the feeling that a new dancer undergoes when they watch the intricate, masterful moves of an experienced dancer. Throughout the rest of the poem, Dove continues to describe the mother bird using this tone of awe. The title of the poem, “Quick”, represents how swiftly Dove became fascinated with dancing, and the poem describes the process of this infatuation through the metaphor of the birds.
ReplyDeleteThe other literary device that I saw in this poem was Dove's use of italicization. It affected mood and tone in this passage, making the poem seem more personal, as if seeing into the mind set of the speaker. The first line of the first stanza states, "Look, a baby one!" (1). The term "look" grabs the attention of the reader, similar to a dancer when they first appear on stage. The poem starts individualistic until the second dancer appears in the third stanza: "Where's mother?" (6). This phrase causes the reader to wonder why the person is dancing alone, giving an introduction to the entrance of the partner. Rita Dove's use of italics in this poem allows for a change in tone from individualistic, to dependent by comparing the dancers to a baby bird and its mother.
DeleteI really enjoyed your analization and interpretation of the poem Quick. I really like your idea of the bird comparison. I also really enjoy your analization of the color gray and how you connected it back to the baby bird.
DeleteWhen I read the poem “Quick”, it reminded me of the hit song “What Does the Fox Say?” by Ylvis, from a few years ago. The way Dove uses imagery to convey a sense of wonder of the fox just Ylvis do in their hit song. The lines “waving its flamboyant afterthought, she disappears: red swish or gray, too quick to tell,” create a sense of curiosity. The fox is famous for its ability to disappear in an instant, like the ghost of the forest. The main questions of the song-“What does the fox say?!”- is funny but at the same time, a valid one, because it is not common knowledge to know how a fox sounds like. Humans make onomatopoeias for common animals but there is no such onomatopoeia for the sound a fox makes. In both context, the authors use imagery to convey the wonders of the fox, nature’s most mysterious predator.
DeleteIn her poem “Fox,” Rita Dove creates an image of a strong, self-aware, confident woman. The poem is titled “Fox,” an animal that is described in Dove’s poem “Quick” as a “fabled silhouette” (8) and “pure purpose/poured into flight” (16-17). By using “Fox” as the title, Dove compares this woman to this powerful and elusive creature. The poem was written after Dove lost her house to a fire caused by lightning, and the poem can be read as autobiographical. Dove is describing the courage she found after being affected by tragedy. However, the poem is also a universal ode to all strong women. Dove uses intentionally vague phrasing--the subject is described only with a pronoun (“she”)--to create a poem that applies to myriad situations and women.
ReplyDeleteThe first stanza of the poem is two sentences stretched into ten lines. The shortness of the lines allows the reader to move quickly through the stanza. This sense of movement is enhanced by the seven lines ending in enjambment. The ease with which the reader can read the poem simulates the self-assuredness of the subject. This self-assuredness is seen in the only capitalized word in the poem: “She.” The capitalization places more emphasis on the subject of the poem than on any other image in the poem. Rita Dove begins the poem with a simple statement: “She knew what / she was” (1-2). The second sentence expands on this self-awareness, using the same structure as the first: “She loved what / she was” (7-8). With this anaphora, the poem builds on itself in a logical order, just as the women described must first know what she is to love what she is. Both sentences of the first stanza end in “imagine.” This word, used in the phrase, “and so / was capable / of anything / anyone / could imagine,” suggests the endless possibilities that this woman’s self-acceptance has created for her (2-6). The last line of the first stanza is simply “imagine,” which is a call for the reader to connect with this women and her potential (10). The first stanza of “Fox” has a confident tone, and is a description of a woman’s awareness of her strengths. It is juxtaposed with the second stanza, which focuses on this woman’s gratitude and humility despite her confidence.
The second stanza of “Fox” has the same number of lines and sentences as the first stanza. The lines are similarly short. This consistency shows that the two stanzas a merely parts of a cohesive whole. However, the first sentence of the second stanza, “She imagined / nothing,” contrasts with the last line of the first stanza (11-12). While the last line implores the reader to “imagine,” Dove writes that the subject herself imagined nothing, showing that she is humble despite her confidence and awareness. The repetition of “imagine” connects the first two stanzas together, despite their differing tones. Dove then expands on this woman’s humility: “She loved / nothing more / than what she had, / which was enough for her” (13-17). This combination of character traits—self-awareness, self-acceptance, humility, and gratitude, is “more / than any man / could handle” (18-20). Throughout the poem “Fox,” Dove uses anaphora and a consistent structure to describe all strong women. They are often called “foxy,” but they are much more nuanced than that.
I liked how you included background information about how “Fox” could be about an autobiography, which was a perspective I didn’t pick up upon first reading the curt poem. I agree more with the view that Dove wrote this as an ode to independent women, particularly because of the third person used throughout the poem. Along with being visually appealing, enjambment and the shortness of each line reinforces how the “she” doesn’t need extravagant words. The minimalist structure of the poem also conveys the line, “what she had, / which was enough for her,” (15-17).
DeleteNovember 9, 2015
ReplyDeleteThe poem that stood out to me the most among the American Smooth poems was the poem Quick. Throughout the poem quick, Rita Dove uses lots of animal imagery, color symbolism, pattern, and alliteration to create a flow and rhythm of a dance and it’s movement. The overall poem was very confusing but I was able to connect Rita Dove’s poem Quick to the famous story Cinderella, specifically the way Cinderella and the Prince interacted at the ball. I saw the first 3 stanzas as relating to, or discussing character traits of a man, or in the cinderella story, prince charming. I saw the second 3 stanzas s relating to, or discussing character traits of a female, or Cinderella. The last 3 stanzas seemed to be a overall narration or 3rd party reflecting on the previous events. I saw the first two lines in stanza one, “Look, a baby one! Wink of fuzz/ in the headlights, and gray at that.” (line 1 and 2, Stanza 1, Rita Dove), as a comparison of a young man experiencing his first dance, or ball, as in the story of Cinderella. The comparison of the young man to a baby animal stuck in the headlights was great imagery of how a young man alone at his first dance may appear. I also saw the imagery, “Wink of fuzz/ in the headlights,” and color symbolism, “and gray at that.” all connecting back to the idea of a blank stare or mindset towards the dance. In the story Cinderella, the prince had not wanted a ball, his father forced him to throw it in attempt to find a wife whom the prince had not wished to be burdened with at the moment. I go on to connect the fifth and sixth line, stanza three, to prince charming and/ or a young boy lost and confused at his first dance, “he’s been through this bit and switch/ all night. Where’s mother?” (line 5 and 6, Stanza 3, Rita Dove). These two lines are most commonly interpreted as a young man at his first dance nervous and unaware feeling exposed, “bait”, and constantly being thrown around a room, “switch/all night”. I connected this to how Prince Charming, before meeting Cinderella, was being tossed from woman to woman threw dance hoping to win over the heart of the prince of the kingdom. Also, the quote “Where’s mother” as an example of innocence, yet also Prince charming had lost his mother at a young age as the story of Cinderella lead the reader to believe. Connecting the poem Quick to the story Cinderella, Prince Charming at his moment may be wishing his mother was there to appease his father and let him live his life, like a rescue. However in stanza 4, the story shifts from talking about a male, Prince Charming, to a female character. I compared the female charactor to Cinderella due to the visual imagery of a bold woman covered in a ball gown portrayed on line eight, “in moonshine the fabled silhouette”. This line reminds me of when Cinderella is entering the palace and all eyes are on her. Then in line 11, “she disappears:” (line 11, stanza 6, Rita Dove). Cinderella too disappears leaving the story with a confusing aftermath and tone. The poem Quick was a longer poem but with short lines read very quick. Each line or stanza seemed to get smaller and more compacted as the poem drew to a close which I also compared to Cinderella and the countdown of the clock until midnight. Once the clock struck midnight the story was then left with a cold and empty tone and feeling, as this poem felt once concluded with the line, “poured into flight.” (line 17, Stanza 9, Rita Dove). Although I concluded the poem Quick by Rita Dove was about a dance, I felt the poem had many similar characteristics to the famous fairytale story of Cinderella.
Cameron Kays
ReplyDeleteIn the poem Quick by Rita Dove, she symbolises losses and hard decisions we must take in our lives through the fox and its cub. She was able to convey this through using literary devices such as colour imagery,end stops and inner thoughts. By using colour imagery such as, “afterthought she disappears:/red swish/or gray/too quick to tell” (lines 11,12 and 13) and “in the headlights, and gray at that”, Dove is able to attract the attention of the reader towards the use of the colours. By using red and gray, she juxtaposes a warm colour next to a cold one. This could be interpreted as a positive feeling, or warmth being changed to one of distance. Dove uses end stops throughout the poem such as full stops,cola and commas throughout the poem. In lines such as “in the headlights, and gray at that.” (line 2) and “all bobble and twitch, vacant eyes” (line 4). This created a tone of finality and something being definite or unchangeable. It adds to the effect of a concrete decision being taken and there is no going back. By using inner thoughts, in the lines “Look a baby one! Wink of fuzz” (line 1) and “all night. Where’s mother?” (line 6), it makes the connection between a human perspective and animal. We personify animals in order to understand them while they may not be that different. In the line “On the hill, there-crested/in moonshine the fabled silhouette,” (lines 7 and 8), it was the pain the mother wolf felt being let out through a catharsis by howling at the moon. Lastly the final couplet and one line following it, “like that, no grief not thought/of love-pure purpose/ poured into flight” (lines 15, 16 and 17), added to the overall theme of loss because it is as though the mother wolf is trying to block out all the emotions she was feeling to flee the situation. She could be fleeing for the betterment of her child or as a need for self perseveration. Whatever the reason is, it was a hard decision for her to have made.
The poem is written in a first person point of view, so the story could be a person projecting their life onto the ones of a wolf and its cub. It is uncertain whether the cub belongs to the wold or not which adds to the feeling of a person going through loss and projecting it upon animals.
In contrast to the end stops being used, the structure of the poem itself are short couplets which accentuate the tone of fleeting moments and contribute to the idea that we must let go of things which we hold dear.
In the poem “Fox Trot Fridays”, Dove to create a musical rhythm to the poem, by using several literary/poetic devices. I looked up the meaning of fox trot, and it turns out to be a type of dance that is very smooth and progressive. I also looked up Nat King Cole, in the fourth stanza, was a man known for his swing, local jazz and traditional pop. In the third stanza, the "quick-quick with a heel-ball-toe," give the reader a feeling of actual dancing shoes tapping the floor. This creates musical, rhythmic tone. Notice how all the words used in this stanza are mostly one syllable words, this illustrates speed of the dance/poem because the foxtrot is a fast dance. Alliteration is used in the next stanza to convey the elegance of dancing. The Rita Dove wrote, “as Nat King Cole’s slow satin smile,” The repeated sound of s in this stanza creates a graceful tone. In the previous stanza, the juxtaposition of the sharp diction along with the smooth s sound conveys the idea that the dance is elegant and graceful, at the same time rhythmic. In the fifth and sixth stanza, Dove wrote, “one day at a time: / one man and / one women,” This creates a tome of peacefulness. Rita Dove is hinting that by dancing, it helps the reader take their mind away from something. Rita Dove personified many qualities of dancing in this poem.
ReplyDeleteIn The Abduction, Rita Dove artfully describes the story of Solomon Northrup, a free Black man who is deceived, abducted and traded to be a slave. The first two stanzas illustrate how content the narrator feels before all of this occurs, through an exclamation point – “Harrison!” (2) - and the acquisition of companions, “Brown and Hamilton” (5). These men, who he believes are musical performers, are the men who trick him into becoming a slave. The next line foreshadows this event with “Why should I have doubted them?” (6) and Dove continues on to describe the successes they had as traveling musicians. They made copious amounts of money and Northrup loved what he was doing. The carefree and joyful tone in these two stanzas illustrates how hoodwinked he is by Brown and Hamilton.
ReplyDeleteIn the next stanza, the tone of the poem is shifted from happy and hopeful to eerie and sinister. The line “Then the wine, like a pink lake, tipped” (11) symbolizes Northrup’s free life coming to an end. The pink color imagery illustrates how bright and merry his life was, but now it will never be the same. Dove writes “the sky swiveled, clicked into place” (12) to represent the reality of Brown and Hamilton’s deception finally setting in. In the beginning stanzas, he had been leading a pleasant existence with these men, but finally their trickery is revealed and Northrup is jolted into slavery. “I floated on water I could not drink” symbolizes the journey he is forced to take to become a slave. The final line of the poem, “I woke and found myself alone, in darkness and in chains” (15) demonstrates an ominous tone, the complete opposite of the beginning of the poem. He is without companions and has no color in his life; there is no pink, just darkness.
To further indicate the abrupt, terrifying change in Northrup’s life, Dove decreases the number of lines in each successive stanza. The first stanza, a quintet, represents the fullness and freedom the narrator possesses. With the foreshadowing as emphasis, the following quatrain showcases his diminished happiness. The next triplet exhibits the change in tone and the reality he faces as a black man. The couplet demonstrates the disappearance of his once pleasant and independent life. Finally, the last line signifies the complete loss of freedom he experiences. The decreasing length ultimately shows his gradual transition from a free man to an enslaved one.
Dove’s structure of losing one line for each progressive stanza was one of the first thing I noticed in “The Abduction”. I also interpreted it as representing the destruction of Solomon Northrup’s life from one of freedom to enslavement. The shortness of the poem also conveys how quickly Northrup was taken into slavery, despite carrying around his “free papers” (Dove 4). The first stanza on the surface felt cheerful with positive connotations of “great” (2), “violin” (4), and friends” (5), it’s overpowered by a foreboding undercurrent, causing the reader to feel unsettled. While “bells” (1) can be associated with a joyous occasion, it is also associated with death, and the negative connotation of cannons and a house with crepe, a fabric worn for mourning, sets the eerie tone throughout the poem.
DeleteI really enjoyed your analysis on how the decreasing stanza lengths represent the diminishing hope and freedom of Solomon Northrup. I noticed a line in the second to last stanza that supports this idea that you have. Dove writes, "Though the pillow / was stone, I climbed no ladders in that sleep" (13-14). This line demonstrates how even something as sacred as sleep is being harmed by the changes and loss of freedom in Northrup's life. The phrase "I climbed no ladders in that sleep" serves as a metaphor for the extent of Northrup's troubles. Ladders often have the connotation advancement and progress. By utilizing this metaphor, Dove demonstrates how the abduction has caused him to regress rather than progress in his life.
DeleteI also enjoyed how you noticed the decreasing lines, because i noticed that too! Not only does this resemble a diminishing hope, but the final stanza portrays Solomon's devastating reality of being back in chains. The decreasing number of verses gives insight to the numbing horrors of living as a slave, "I floated on water I could not drink. Though the pillow/was stone, I climbed no ladders in that sleep." (Dove 13-14). Solomon slowly becomes paralyzed with fear as he realizes that he can never truly be free.
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ReplyDeleteIn the section Slavery, one of the poems was The House Slave. I read it through the viewpoint of Belinda, from the poem Belinda’s Petition. In Belinda’s Petition, in the line “since the age of twelve a Slave.”, her experiences were described in the poem The House Slave. Dove uses weather imagery to set the mood, similes and verbs at the begging of the second, third, fourth and fifth triplet to set a harsh and unforgiving scenery. Dove utilises weather imagery throughout the poem to describe the time and their surroundings. The poem starts of with “The first horn lifts it arm over the dew-lit grass” (line 1) , this sets an image of a positive and pretty appearance but is quickly changed to a scene of the slave quarters in the next line. In the line,“I watch them driven into the vague before-dawn”(line 5), there is a feeling of uncertainty and dawn is generally foggy which creates a mysterious effect. In the last triplet , “and as the fields unfold to whiteness” (line 13) and “I weep.It is not yet daylight” (line 15) shows how early it is and “fields unfold to whiteness” can be a metaphor to show how foggy it is. The last line sounds like a complain made by a youngster which symbolises how naive and miserable the children working feel. Through the use of similes such as “while their mistress sleeps like an ivory toothpick” (line 6) and “and they spill like bees among to fat flowers,” (line 14), Dove is able to show the hierarchy present. Their mistress is compared to an ivory toothpick which sets an image of someone rich and delicate, juxtaposed by the slaves who are compared to bees, small in size which can be translated into inferiority. By comparing them to bees, it is also a group where individuals aren't recognised and these humans are stripped of their personalities. Through Dove’s use of verbs at the beginning of lines, she is able to create a feeling of extreme sadness and hopelessness. In the lines, “I watch them driven into vague before-dawn” (line 4), “I cannot fall asleep again. At the second horn,” (line 7), “I lie on my cot, shivering in the early heat,” (line 9) and “I weep. It is not yet daylight.” (line 12), there is a tone of forcefulness and further accentuates the bleakness of the situation the slaves were in. They had no choice but to continue living the way they did.
ReplyDeleteAlong with using verbs, Dove also brings up Belinda’s sister, who is working out in the field. The narrator cannot help her, all she can do is lie their helpless. The narrator is not out there working, possibly because her shift begins later in the day.
I really liked your analysis of the bees and the weather imagery! Throughout this poem, I sensed a tone of anguish and anxiousness, for the narrator of the poem - who I interpreted as the house slave - is merely a spectator to the atrocities the field workers and her sister face. She wants desperately to help the people around her, as she hears them whipped and beaten, but she can only watch from afar. I also thought that the length of the poem demonstrates how long each day was for a slave. "I weep. It is not yet daylight" (12) emphasizes how hard emotionally it was to be a slave. Through the continuous use of triplets, Dove showcases that every day was the same; a struggle they had to endure.
DeleteI never thought of how the triplets could demonstrate how long each day was. That is very interesting and the use of three lines can also indicate, daytime, midday and night. It also adds to the feeling of a routine life with no hope for the future and by using such a strict structure, it accentuates the feeling.
DeleteOne thing that really stood out to me while I read "The House Slave" was the consonance of "s" in every line of the poem. The recurring "s" sounds exemplified the cyclic nature of the house slave's life, which is fitting because the entire poem is essentially a generalized description of what happens each morning -- a cycle of torture that hasn't ended yet with the "daylight" that is freedom.
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ReplyDeleteRita Dove writes about an African-American writer and abolitionist, titling the poem,“David Walker (1785-1830)”. Most of Dove’s poems about historical figures have titles alluding to the person or their first name, for example the poem, “Rosa” about Rosa Parks. The directness of the title is reminiscent of Walker’s uncensored emotion in his antislavery pamphlet. Perhaps because David Walker is not widely known, Dove chose to highlight the entirety of his name and date of birth and death, leaving no ambiguity as to the subject of the poem. Dove structured the poem to follow Walker’s life starting from his life in Boston to his death. David Walker, born in Wilmington, North Carolina, was born to a free mother and an enslaved father, and therefore born free. Dove alludes to his free status writing, “Free to travel, he still couldn’t be shown how lucky / he was: They strip and beat and drag us about like rattlesnakes.” (Dove 1-3). The italics signifies the perspective of David Walker, and throughout the poem, it portrays his frustration and pain, unsettling the reader. There’s a little sarcasm in the first line, where Walker is depicted as ungrateful for his freedom when he’s “beat. . .like rattlesnakes”(2-3). Dove uses simile to compare the treatment of African-Americans to the treatment of rattlesnakes, which are feared, similar to how the possibility of slaves revolting caused fear among slaveowners. This simile and negative connotations of “beat” and “drag”creates a harsh tone to poem. Walker moved to Boston, where he became an owner of a secondhand clothes store. Again, Dove utilizes allusion describing the location of Walker’s shop, “Home on Brattle Street” (3). Dove continues to describe his shop, “Compass needles, / eloquent as tuning forks, shivered, pointing north.” (5-6). The compass “pointing north” alludes to freedom, and hope for greater opportunities, and represents Walker’s aid to former slaves.
ReplyDeleteAnguish from slavery in the south and discrimination in the north, Walker published a pamphlet, “Walker's Appeal. . .to the Coloured Citizens of the World. . .and. . .to Those of the United States of America” in 1829. These pamphlets were smuggled into the south, “On the faith of an eye-wink, pamphlets were stuffed, / into trouser pocket. Pamphlets transported / in the coat linings of itinerant seamen,” (9-11). In this second stanza, the alliteration of “p” creates a sharper tone, conveying Walker’s inflammatory writing. Dove juxtaposes the situation of African-Americans to the wealthy in the third stanza with, “We are the most wretched, degraded and abject set / of beings that ever lived since the world began.” (16-17). Evoking an intense pain and sense of injustice to the reader, Dove then uses visual and sound imagery to describe luxury, “The jewelled canaries in the lecture halls tittered,” (18). One of the shortest lines in the poem, Dove writes, “Every half-step was no step at all” (21) relaying that even though some may be free, they aren’t free in the true sense as Walker and blacks faced discrimination. In the last stanza, two more editions are published, and Walker is found dead. Again in italics, “perfectly appalled. / Humanity, kindness and the fear of the Lord does not consist in protecting devils.” (26-28). Dove uses religious references, similar to how Walker referred to the Bible in this pamphlet. This conveys the frustration of Walker, where he demanded immediate abolition. Before many abolitionists sought for gradual abolition, which Walker believed that it was “protecting devils” (28) the devils referring to those who were pro slavery. Extremely controversial for his advocation of violence, a reward was posted for his death (some speculate poisoning, others tuberculosis) and was later found dead in Boston, only, “A month—” (28) later of the release of his later editions in 1930.
Rita Dove’s “Belinda’s Petition” portrays a mocking yet appreciative tone. Dove describes Belinda as proud in the third and fourth stanza. When Belinda said “I am Belinda, an African…”, she didn’t say African American, because she was proud of being an African. Also, Dove carefully chose to let the Senate and House of Representative know that she was an African. This shows that she was fearless and not scared of the fact that they might judge her. The words, “honorable”, “pitiable”, and “plead” show the tone of mockery, like Belinda was using sarcasm at the US government by seeming considerate. Belinda has alike qualities to Dove because they both find a way to fight against their misery and try to do something to improve their situation. Dove wants the reader to feel that Belinda isn't simply a gloomy slave that is worthy of pity, she wants to appear that even in most difficult of times, she, and everyone else must rise, deal with the problem at hand, and fight back, as Belinda did. This petition is connected to Dove's personal sadness throughout her life, when her house burned down. Dove capitalizes nouns mid sentence while using sarcastic dictions. By capitalizing unnecessary nouns and adjectives, Dove creates a burdensome and crucial tone on these words to make the reader, which could be the Senate and House of Representatives, take a second look at these capitalized words. It causes the reader to stop and think about why they are being stressed throughout the poem. I noticed that the capitalized words were things that Dove was very passionate about throughout her life, such as, “Accusation”, “Ignorant”, and “Banks”. The word “Banks” could have been mentioned to shed light on the event of the time of when she was captured near the banks of Rio de Volta in Ghana by white men and was taken to the middle passage. Also, the capitalized words create the tone of anger throughout the poem, as capitalized letters usually correspond with yelling.
ReplyDeleteIn her poem “The Abduction”, Rita Dove utilizes juxtaposition of positive and negative imagery to illustrate how quickly the dreams of freedom could be crushed for a slave. The poem is narrated from the perspective of Solomon Northrup, a newly freed slave making a living with his new “friends” Brown and Hamilton in Washington D.C. The opening quintet is almost completely full of positive imagery. Dove writes, “The citizenry of Washington / clotted the avenue––I among them, Solomon Northrup” (2-3). By including the phrase “I among them”, Dove conveys Northrup’s pure joy of finally being able to live a normal, slavery free life among the people of Washington. In the next line, Dove writes, “free papers in my pocket, violin / under my arm, my new friends Brown and Hamilton by my side” (4-5). Many of the words in these two lines carry heavy positive connotations. Through the use of this positive imagery, Dove is able to make the audience feel genuinely happy for Northrup; he’s finally living free, and he’s enjoying every second of it. The second stanza, a quatrain, maintains the positive tone of the first stanza, but there is an inkling of doubt that begins to develop. Dove opens the stanza with the line, “Why should I have doubted them? The wages were good” (6). By revealing that Northrup had fears earlier on that his attempt at freedom wouldn’t work out, Dove plants the seeds of negativity that will sprout up in the next stanza. Meanwhile, the cheery atmosphere is maintained in the rest of the stanza as Dove describes Northrup’s new life. The third stanza, a triplet, is where the situation takes a turn for the worse. Dove writes “then the wine, like a pink lake, tipped” (11). In this sentence, Dove uses the wine to symbolize Northrup’s pleasurable new life. The tipping of wine, however, symbolizes the corruption of his newfound freedom. This creates a tone of irreversible tragedy in the readers. The fifth and final stanza, a single line, concludes Northrup’s descent back from freedom to slavery when Dove writes, “I woke and found myself alone, in darkness and in chains” (15). So, by choosing to fill the poem with more positive imagery, but ending with negative imagery, Dove conveys to her audience just how easily a freed slave's big, false sense of hope could be spoiled.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your analysis of the symbol of the wine in this poem. Before Solomon Northrup was taken back into slavery, he was drugged by Brown and Hamilton. The wine in this poem can also refer to his tainted drink. The line following the description of the wine, "I was lifted--the sky swivelled, clicked into place," can refer to the disorienting feeling that Northrup felt after he was drugged and put on the ship to Louisiana. The word "swivelled" connotes dizziness and a sense of disorientation. The second part of the line, "clicked into place" shows that Northrup has finally realized what has happened to him. The word "clicked" is almost onomatopoeic, and bears a resemblance to the sound made by chains clinking together.
DeleteIn her poem “Belinda’s Petition,” Rita Dove alludes to a petition made by a real woman. Belinda was a slave in Massachusetts, and she petitioned the Massachusetts legislature for her freedom following the American Revolution. Rita Dove uses erratic capitalization to emphasis certain nouns, such as “Slave,” “Time,” “Life,” and “Nation,” but this could also be a reference to Belinda’s likely inability to read or write (4-7). The capitalization lends realism to the poem because it reflects patterns of capitalization used in older English. The second stanza of the poem describes the hypocrisy found in the American Revolution. Dove’s use of the capitalized phrase, “the Binds of Tyranny,” creates a mocking tone because it overemphasizes the effects of the American Revolution on freedom in the country. The United States was free from the tyranny of the British, but the only people who benefited were white men, as slavery was still legal. Belinda points out this contradiction in the lines, “pure Air being the sole Advantage / of which I can boast in my present Condition” (11-12). Belinda was taken from her home in Ghana when she was a young child, and the third stanza points to this. The repetition and capitalization of the word “Ignorant” points toward the way whites during that time period thought of black slaves. Dove ends the poem with a question for the Massachusetts Legislature: “How might / I have known of Men with Faces like the Moon, / who would ride toward me steadily for twelve Years? (18-20). The “Men with Faces like the Moon” refers to the white men who took Belinda from her home, as the moon is white. Ending the poem with a question lends it ambiguity and uncertainty. The reader cannot know what happened to Belinda by reading this poem. Rita Dove is calling readers to consider how they would respond to such a petition and how they would respond to the pleas of African Americans today.
ReplyDeleteI really like your interpretation of lines 11-12, where Belinda writes, “pure Air being the sole Advantage / of which I can boast in my present Condition”. I interpreted this line as sarcasm. The author uses a hyperbole of boasting in her present Condition, since slavery reaps no benefits for the slave. Dove capitalizes the word “Condition” to put emphasis on the inhumane condition of slavery which Belinda is suffering through, due to the “Binds of Tyranny” over slaves, which was being enforced by the U.S. government. This is ironic as the poem alludes to a time of freedom for Americans during the Revolutionary War: “Lately your Countrymen have severed / the Binds of Tyranny. I would hope / you would consider the Same for me” (8-10). Throughout the second stanza, Dove’s use of capitalization and irony emphasizes the inhumanity of slavery in America during the 1700s.
DeleteThe poem "The House Slave” was interesting to me because it showed me the difference between a house slave and a field slave. Rita Dove uses strong imagery, similes, and symbolism to create a bitter and helpless tone to reflect the emotions of the house slave. The line "I watch them driven into the vague," and "The whip curls across the backs of the laggards--" illustrate the reality of being a spectator, unable to help and frustrating. Because of the special position the narrator is, a house slave, he/she is able to see the struggles from their people but this only caused them to feel more pain in the end. Dove also displays this strong sense of empathy through imagery of pain because the whippings are so real to the house slaves that they can almost feel it themselves. In addition to imagery, Dove employs simile. She writes, "Their mistress sleeps like an ivory toothpick," this shows the bitterness of the house slave towards the mistress by explaining how fragile the house slave thinks she is. In the final line that goes, "I weep. It is not yet daylight," the daylight could literally means daytime, but I think it metaphorically symbolizes freedom and a better life. The house slave weeps because every day she wakes up; she must face the reality that freedom is beyond his or her reach.
ReplyDeleteThroughout her poem “Parsley”, Rita Dove captures the fear the Haitian migrant workers felt towards the Dominican general in the Parsley Massacre. During the massacre, the Dominican Republic expelled Haitians from their country based on their pronunciation of the word perejil, or “Parsley”. In “The Cane Fields”, Dove writes through the perspective of a Haitian migrant worker with fear of the general. The first stanza characterizes the general with wealth and beauty as she writes, “There is a parrot imitating spring / in the palace, its feathers parsley green” (1-2). Dove alludes to the Parsley Massacre by comparing the parrots feathers to parsley. The imagery of green connotates to images of wealth, beauty, and power, such as the luxury which the general experiences in the palace. In the second and third stanzas, the author contrasts the Haitians to the Dominicans as she writes, “Like a parrot imitating spring, we lie down screaming as rain punches through / and we come up green” (6-8). Dove’s use of weather imagery allows for a change in tone, showing the spring time to be one of sadness and grey skies rather than sun. Rain is often a symbol for a storm, such as the massacre of thousands of Haitians by the Dominican general. The Haitians also lie down to avoid the “punches” of the rain, alluding to the persecution they experienced during the massacre and characterizing the general of the Dominicans with violence. El General’s characterization continues into the fifth stanza through imagery: “He laughs, teeth shining / out of the swamp” (14-15). Here, the general is seen as a predator with his teeth shining for all the Haitians to see. Dove elaborates this as he emerges out of a swamp, a muddy, thick enviroment, with shining teeth, contrasting his appearance to that of the swamp. “His laugh” is one of mockery as he witnesses the death of thousands of Haitians, yet he remains blind to the evil he is causing. The next line emulsifies the Haitians terror as, “The cane appears / in our dreams, lashed by wind and streaming. / And we lie down. For every drop of blood / there is a parrot imitating spring. / Out of the swamp the cane appears” (15-18). Weather imagery again illustrates the wrath of the Dominicans as they storm over the Haitians, who take refuge in lying down in terror. Dove uses a metaphor to contrast this persecution” “For every drop of blood,” alluding to the dying Haitians, “there is a parrot imitating spring”. The author uses anaphora of the “parrot imitating spring” throughout the poem to show the inhumane actions done by the Dominicans, who are hungry for the wealth and power, which the green parrot symbolizes. Throughout her poem “Parsley”, Dove alludes to the class differences between the Haitians and Dominicans to represent the inhumanity of the Parsley Massacre.
ReplyDeleteNovember 14, 2015
ReplyDeleteIn the poem “The situation is intolerable”, by Rita Dove, she compares the situation and discrimination of black men and women during the civil rights movement to a sword in battle and missionary stars to exaggerate the need for change and create an empowering tone. Rita Dove not only starts her poem, “The situation is intolerable” with the word Intolerable, but it’s in the title. The title of the poem is calling to all the black men and women who are being discriminated against and demanding change. Rita Dove, in stanza 1 line 4, starts her poem out saying, “a righteous sword advancing/ onto the field of battle/ in the name of the Lord…”. This line is a metaphor comparing black men and women to a swords. The symbolism of a sword is to give feeling of pride. Swords are strong, unbreakable, and determined, all the things these black men and woman should be. Rita Dove uses an oxymoron while describing the sword, “a righteous sword”, to exaggerate to the reader the idea that those who are battling for black freedom of discrimination and equality are doing the right thing along with the idea that blacks aren’t using violence as the sword typically implies, but using righteousness. The end of line seven also says that the black men and women are battling in the name of the Lord. They are fighting this battle for what is right, if they weren't, they wouldn’t be battling in the name of the Lord, the one who has the ability to cast judgement. Rita Dove then further goes on to compare those leading this social revolution, civil right era to missionary stars, “but the stars-/ tiny, missionary stars-/ on high, serene, studding/ the inky brow of heaven,” (Stanza 2, line 11-14, RIta Dove). The purpose of using a metaphor to compare those willing to lead black men and women to missionary stars is to once again emphasize the idea that black men and women needed to step up to make a equal future for themselves. The narrator in the poem appears to be calling out all the men and women who haven’t contributed to helping the goal of civil rights. The narrator is angry with the situation they’ve been placed into and are frustrated with the lack of effort around them to spark social change. By comparing black men and women to missionary stars, the narrator is repeating the idea that God is on their side and they are doing the right and just thing. This idea is also proved in the line, “studding the inky brow of heaven” (line 24, Rita Dove). Heaven’s inky brow is strong visual imagery and personification that paints a picture of heaven as a man, God, and his questioning eyebrow as he looks upon the lack of care at the intolerable situation. This comparison of black men and women to stars, along with the imagery of heaven’s eyebrow creates a blond, strong, and passionate tone that causes the reader to feel inspired to spark change for the intolerable situation. Rita Dove’s poem “The situation is intolerable”, is a call to help and a call to change among the black community that inspires the reader through the it’s rich literary devices and bold, strong tone, to take charge and improve your life.
Cameron Kays