222 Contemporary Literature, 1970 to Present
the series of poems titled “On the Bus with Rosa Parks” (in the collection of
the same title). Students might investigate one or several of these figures in
order to compare Dove’s poetic representations with biographical details, pay-
ing particular attention to her use of historical accuracies and departures from
them. Why does Dove choose certain details and not others from the his-
torical record? What themes do her chosen details allow her to elaborate? Pat
Righelato’s essay “Rita Dove and the Art of History” (in “Rita Dove: American
Poet,” pp. 760–775) offers insight into Dove’s use and elaboration of history.- In a 2006 interview with Robb St. Lawrence, Dove discussed the thought she
puts into her arrangement of poems within a collection, her structuring of the
male/female voices on two sides of the page in “Rhumba” (found in American
Smooth), the importance of epigraphs to her, her use of “almost dramatic mono-
logues”—in other words, many issues having to do with the structural, formal
side of her poetry. Students might find it interesting to explore one of these
questions of structure and form in any of her collections. For instance, possible
approaches could focus on the “almost dramatic monologues” of Thomas and
Beulah, where the voice is third-person but with very strong first person ele-
ments; her adaptation of the sonnet cycle in Mother Love to suit her purposes; or
the importance of the epigraphs from Tuvok the Vulcan of the Star Trek televi-
sion series to how the reader moves through the poems in American Smooth. She
also discusses with St. Lawrence the ways in which the rhythms of speech can be
incorporated into poetry, and how Langston Hughes achieved that. One could
analyze her own interpolation of speech rhythm into her poetry, or compare how
she does this with how it appears in poetry by Hughes. - About Dove’s first three collections Elizabeth Alexander observes, “The right
to speak, in Dove’s poems, is preceded by her articulation of her right to think
beyond the immediate world she lives in and the limited expectations of a domi-
nant culture.” Alexander focuses her study on the confines of domesticity and
gender norms. For example, she notes that “Canary in Bloom,” the second part
of Thomas and Beulah, “explores that tension between confined domestic space
and outside vistas.” John Shoptaw also investigates how the historical separation
of genders contributes to this collection. Students might apply the insights of
Alexander and Shoptaw to Dove’s other works that feature female experience in
order to analyze how they register restrictions related to gender while at the same
time suggesting alternatives. Students might ask similar questions about images
of confinement and restrictions related to race in Dove’s work.
RESOURCES
Primary Works
Earl G. Ingersoll, ed., Conversations with Rita Dove ( Jackson: University Press of
Mississippi, 2003).
A selection of interviews spanning the years 1905 to 2002 in which Dove dis-
cusses her work, inspirations and interests, including music, crossword puzzles,
and dancing.