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Rita Dove: American Smooth
Rita Dove is one of the most influential and accomplished writers in the history of American Literature and has quickly become one of my favorite poets. She uses her writing to help us overcome the differences that divide us like race, religion, and even gender. Her education and training as a musician and dancer have helped her link this talent with her exceptional writing abilities. Her love of dance, extensive work ethic, and passion for writing are all exposed in her poem “American Smooth.” Rita Dove uses ballroom dance in this composition to demonstrate everyday issues. Early in the poem, she writes, “Such perfect agony one learns to smile through, ecstatic mimicry being the sine qua non of American Smooth.” She is saying that we all need to work through the pain to find happiness. There are always going to be problems like racial discrimination and hatred, but if we work hard to eliminate these issues, America will
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Her poem “Believer,” combines her experience of living on the Gulf Coast with the disaster of Hurricane Katrina. She writes that “Four years gone, she’s still rebuilding the shed out back, and now the house is a museum of everything.” It is challenging to some people to forge ahead, and the belongings and photographs represent hope and future possibilities. She concludes her poem with the woman continuing to give to the church, even though she has lost almost everything. “First seek the kingdom of God, she tells me, and the rest will follow.” We all experience hardships in life and everyone needs someone to believe in that may bring them happiness. We can’t worry about the past because we can never change it. We need to enjoy the present and not continue to punish people for what may have happened in bygone days. We are here on Earth for a short while, and we all have to make the best of
The poem “Cozy Apologia” by Rita Dove, explores the idea of love, and modern routine, while alluding to the disastrous hurricane Floyd of 1999. This poem was written for her husband, Fred, as mentioned after the title of the poem. In the first stanza of this poem, Rita Dove uses imagery to display her immense love for her husband. Dove writes, “This lamp, the wind-still rain, the glossy blue/ My pen exudes” (Dove 2-3). The imagery in these two lines represent items and things that remind Dove of her husband. She says everything makes her think of him, and in these two lines we can see that even just a lamp, or the ink from her pen bring her thoughts of her husband. Her true love for Fred is shown through this. The second stanza, Rita Dove starts to explain how a hurricane brought back memories of her teenage relationships.
A storm such as Katrina undoubtedly ruined homes and lives with its destructive path. Chris Rose touches upon these instances of brokenness to elicit sympathy from his audience. Throughout the novel, mental illness rears its ugly head. Tales such as “Despair” reveal heart-wrenching stories emerging from a cycle of loss. This particular article is concerned with the pull of New Orleans, its whisper in your ear when you’ve departed that drags you home. Not home as a house, because everything physical associated with home has been swept away by the storm and is now gone. Rather, it is concerned with home as a feeling, that concept that there is none other than New Orleans. Even when there is nothing reminiscent of what you once knew, a true New Orleanian will seek a fresh start atop the foundation of rubbish. This is a foreign concept for those not native to New Orleans, and a New Orleanian girl married to a man from Atlanta found her relationship split as a result of flooding waters. She was adamant about staying, and he returned to where he was from. When he came back to New Orleans for her to try and make it work, they shared grim feelings and alcohol, the result of which was the emergence of a pact reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet. This couple decided they would kill themselves because they could see no light amongst the garbage and rot, and failure was draining them of any sense of optimism. She realized the fault in this agreement,
She was helping with student testing at Jackson Middle School located in Jackson, South Carolina when she first heard of the attacks on the Twin Towers. Her first reaction was disbelief. She said "she had never seen such horrible acts against our country in her lifetime." She did not know anyone personally that died or was injured on 9/11. She said, "you didn't have to know a person to feel the same sadness and loss that everyone else in our country felt on that day." She has since forgiven the terrorist that attacked our country and feels that the events of 9/11 have made us all more aware of what terrorist are and what terrorism is. She turns to her bible to find comfort in dealing with the events of
escape the wretches of poverty. Katrina’s story reflects the untold struggles of many women in
Carrie Watts was a countrywoman at heart. She loved the childhood home where she grew up and never liked the life of the city she was forced to live. She did not hide the fact that she was miserable living with her daughter-in-law. She appeared to be long suffering, a martyr, and given to fits and crying (Ebert, 1986). When given the right timing and occasion, she would open up like a flower, blooming for the first time. She found solace remembering her past life and held a candle to the time when she would go back to
Her goal was to move, not dance. She challenged the notions of what a quote on quote “female dancer” was and could do. Dance to her was an exploration, a celebration of life, and religious calling that required an absolute devotion (pg. 11, Freedman). She considered her dancers “acrobats of God”. An example of a dance which symbolized the “essentialized” body was Martha Graham’s Lamentation, choreographed in 1930, which served as an expression of what person’s grief, with Graham as the solo dancer in the piece. The costume, a tube-like stretchy piece of fabric, only allowed her face, hands, and feet to be seen, and, as Graham stated, “The garment that is worn is just a tube of material, but it is as though you were stretching inside your own skin.” In the beginning of the piece, she started out by sitting on a bench with her legs wide spread and arms held tight. Her head was going back and forth as if she was feeling sadness or maybe replaying thoughts in her head. By the way she was holding her hands so tight and close to her body, it symbolized the deep pain within her––the essence of her piece was grief, and she danced it from inside out. Russel Freedman, the author of Martha Graham A Dancers Life, stated, “She did not dance about grief, but sought “the thing itself”- the very embodiment of grief (p. 61).” Graham, dancing with strength and power, was encapsulated with her movement and was completely surrendered
“This Life” What is Rita Dove trying to say with this poem? How do people how this? The author of this poem Rita Dove. Rita born was born on August 28th, 1952 in Akron, Ohio. She lived with her mother and father.
The poem begins with a young woman (the dancer), she craves attention and has big dreams of ultimately becoming famous. She is young, full of life, talented and gorgeous. However, the attention she craves is only fulfilled through performing on stage. This limits her, in all aspects of her life, because this uncontrollable desire could lead to her ultimately destruction. As a result, Barnes wrote, “Life had taken her and given her. One place to sing.” (Barnes). The dancer is trapped in this life not only by the opportunities life had given her but also for her own selfish desires. Yet, the thing she desires more than fame is love. Although her life is busy, with performing and partying she is in search for love. Barnes explained the dancers quest for love, “looked between the lights and wine. For one fine face…. found life only passion wide” was an unsuccessful one instead she only found lust. In other words, although she is looking for love she is looking for it in the wrong places, because she is trying looking in between the “lights” she letting her desire for fame interfere with her definition of love. She should look for someone who yearns to care for her spiritually, mentally and physically. Yet, what she aspires is for someone to love her that has status and wealth. To obtain what she wants she is
Gwendolyn Brooks is the female poet who has been most responsive to changes in the black community, particularly in the community’s vision of itself. The first African American to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize; she was considered one of America’s most distinguished poets well before the age of fifty. Known for her technical artistry, she has succeeded in forms as disparate as Italian terza rima and the blues. She has been praised for her wisdom and insight into the African Experience in America. Her works reflect both the paradises and the hells of the black people of the world. Her writing is objective, but her characters speak for themselves. Although the idiom is local, the message is universal. Brooks uses ordinary speech, only words that will strengthen, and richness of sound to create effective poetry.
Many people have given up trying and others have adjusted to the way that they have to live and their sense of being human still is nearly gone. So many people who are African Americans that come from poverty are still stuck there because they don’t know what else to do any they are or have been in jail. If this story were to have happened 100 years ago that whole family would have been killed or put in an asylum and tortured. Although they are still tortured by this sentence and although time is surely taking its time in changing things, a lot has changed and without these stories or poems a lot of this change wouldn’t have
Her tales of selflessness and immense faith in Christ have moved me to try and become someone who future generations can marvel and admire. Furthermore, her contributions to the Christian church further overshadow the fact that she began her long, rich, life in such desperate circumstances so much so that it is almost too much to believe that she spent most of her life as a visually-impaired individual. Her story brings to my mind a Latin phrase, Tu ne cede malis sed contra audentior ito, which translates into, Yield not to misfortunes, but advance all the more boldly against them. Even though I may not possess the literary talent that Fanny Crosby had yet, I will continue to strive to find the one thing I surpass all others in and maybe one day people will be reading my own chronicles for generations to
“The shelter is much nicer than the refugee camp. But now, we get a home after only five months.” Makida said. “God is working through LeighAnn, certainly. We are grateful and humbled.”
The waltz is a dance performed by two people who in tune with each other and should bring the two people closer together. However, the dance in this poem does not portray a loving and intimate dance but instead portrays the dark side of the waltz and sets the undertone mood of the poem that there is something darker and deeper going on than what you see on the surface. Theodore Roethke shapes the way the reader responses to reading the
These four years are split between two years in Chicago, Illinois and another two years in a congregation in Palo Alto, California. During this time, she attended weekly church services at which she prayed, sang, and cried alongside the congregation. She even participated in smaller “house groups,” which were devoted to Bible readings and discussions emphasizing what the passages told them about God and his character.
In the poem, one can detect the opposing thought of sardonic and affection based on the poet 's choice of words. The dancing can also have multiple meaning. The two dance an easygoing rendering of the waltz. This is associated with fun, entertainment, play and making connections. But when the poet stated that “such waltzing can’t be easy,” it’s a direct conflict to it’s original meaning, and it possibly foreshadows the poet’s own eventual understanding of rhythm which leads to the intangible feelings associated with his devotion to his father. Upon closer examination this poem does not necessarily lends itself to clarity but created an unsettling meaning because the words seems to be at odds with each