Connie Dove Analysis

In Tim Burton’s critically acclaimed film, Alice In Wonderland, main character Alice is expected to conform to heroine-esque characteristics that the Wonderlanders expect her to be. However she protests their wishes declaring, “From the moment I fell down that rabbit hole I've been told where I must go and who I must be. I've been shrunk, stretched, scratched, and stuffed into a teapot. I've been accused of being Alice and of not being Alice but this is my dream. I'll decide where it goes from here.” In the Victorian society Alice lives in, the female voice is much underestimated. In fact, she goes down the rabbit hole in an effort to escape her pre-arranged marriage. However, in the end, Alice rises above the female expectations by using a

In her 1989 poem, “Canary”, Dove examines the life of Billie Holiday, a prime example of a woman who suffers greatly on the inside, yet promotes to the world her seemingly satisfying lifestyle to the world. The speaker explains how “Billie Holiday’s burned voice/had as many shadows as lights”(Dove 1). The burned voice dove describes promotes a vibe of experience and pain, but ultimately endurance to reach destiny. In connection to Dove’s overall expression in her poetry, along with her success she also brought upon herself much criticism. In “Rita Dove: Crossing Boundaries” Ekaterini illustrates how Dove’s poetry not only historically crosses social boundaries, but also crosses the boundaries of today. She explains how “in many of Dove’s poems she presents the female side which has been suppressed and excluded by traditional history that usually glorifies male achievements.”(Ekaterini 424). However, throughout this continuous pressure, Dove perceives the light at the end of the tunnel. A further example of this endurance she retains can be found in her 2004 poem, “American Smooth”. In “Review of Rita Dove’s American Smooth” Byrne explains how “the speaker reveals her thoughts about the precision of execution necessary to dance with energy and yet give the audience an impression of ease”(Byrne 7). In examining the poem the speaker does stay true to this hypothesis as she explains the “such perfect agony,/one learns to smile through”(Dove 1). In connection to the real world, most audiences do not realize how much breakthrough it takes to make a dance routine appear so simple. Similar to Dove’s life, as much criticism and pressure she faced to present her works in a way that could be easily categorized or stereotyped, she found her own burning voice, and used