Selected Poems of Rita Dove - Softcover

Dove, Rita

 
9780679750802: Selected Poems of Rita Dove
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0679750800 ISBN 13: 9780679750802
Publisher: Pantheon Books Inc, 1993

Synopsis

Here in one volume is a selection of the extraordinary poems of Rita Dove, who, as the nation''s Poet Laureate from 1993 to 1995, brought poetry into the lives of millions of people.  Along with a new introduction and poem, Selected Poems comprises Dove''s collections The Yellow House on the Corner, which includes a group of poems devoted to the themes of slavery and freedom; Museum, intimate ruminations on home and the world; and finally, Thomas and Beulah, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1987, a verse cycle loosely based on her grandparents'' lives.  Precisely yet intensely felt, resonant with the voices of ordinary people, Rita Dove''s Selected Poems is marked by lyric intensity and compassionate storytelling.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author

Riat Dove, Poet Laureate of the United States from 1993 to 1995, was born and raised in Akron, Ohio. She has published the novel Through the Ivory Gate, a collection of stories, a verse drama, a book of essays and five books of poetry, among them Thomas and Beulah, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1987. The recipient of numerous literary fellowships and awards, she is Commonwealth Professor of English at the University of Virginia and lives near Charlottesville with her husband, Fred Viebahn, and their daughter, Aviva.

From the Back Cover

Here in one volume is a selection of the extraordinary poems of Rita Dove, who, as the nation's Poet Laureate from 1993 to 1995, brought poetry into the lives of millions of people. Along with a new introduction and poem, Selected Poems comprises Dove's collections The Yellow House on the Corner, which includes a group of poems devoted to the themes of slavery and freedom; Museum, intimate ruminations on home and the world; and finally, Thomas and Beulah, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1987, a verse cycle loosely based on her grandparents' lives. Precisely yet intensely felt, resonant with the voices of ordinary people, Rita Dove's Selected Poems is marked by lyric intensity and compassionate storytelling.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The Secret Garden

I was ill, lying on my bed of old papers,
when you came with white rabbits in your arms;
and the doves scattered upwards, flying to mothers,
and the snails sighed under their baggage of stone . . .

Now your tongue grows like celery between us;
Because of our love-cries, cabbage darkens in its nest;
the cauliflower thinks of her pale, plump children
and turns greenish-white in a light like the ocean's.

I was sick, fainting in the smell of teabags,
when you came with tomatoes, a good poetry.
I am being wooed.  I am being conquered
by a cliff of limestone that leaves chalk on my breasts.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Publisher
Pantheon Books Inc
Publication date
1993
Language
English
ISBN 10 
0679750800
ISBN 13 
9780679750802
Binding
Paperback
Edition number
1
Number of pages
240