Dramatic Monologue of Rita Dove
Voices of Dramatic Monologues - A Poetry Comparison
Nearly all of Rita Dove’s poetry deals with aspects of history. Shakespeare, Boccaccio, and Dove’s grandparents are topics of her poetry. Dove puts a light on the small truths of life that have more meaning than the actual historical facts. In a time when African-American poetry has been criticized for too much introspection, Rita Dove has taken an approach to emotion and the person as human. Dove’s poetry is not about being black, but about being alive. In Rita Dove autobiography she mention she was born in Akron, Ohio in 1952. She was a Presidential Scholar in 1970. She attended Miami University of Ohio, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree; she continued her education by earning a Master of Fine Arts at the University of Iowa. She is a poet, novelist, short story author, essayist, playwright, newspaper columnist and editor. She also created a song cycle for soprano and orchestra music. Despite the diversity, her literary excellence is honored over and over. The four poems this essay will investigate are all dramatic monologues that have a historical basis and employ the power and immediacy of direct speech. The poems to be examined will be “The House Slave,” “Requiem for the Croppies,” “The Czar’s Last Christmas Letter: A Barn in the Urals” and “A Letter from Phillis Wheatley.” Although each poem exhibits a unique voice and topic, the poems share some characteristics, particularly the use of history, form, voice and diction. This essay will begin with an examination of each poem individually, with specific attention to the voices of the characters. It will then turn to a comparison of the four poems. The first poem to be discussed is Rita Dove’s “The House Slave.” In this five-stanza poem, the speaker, a house slave, conveys an immeasurable sense of loneliness and despair. Dove uses simple lines and common diction (including the slang “Massa” [Dove, 7]) to bestow
Nearly all of Rita Dove’s poetry deals with aspects of history. Shakespeare, Boccaccio, and Dove’s grandparents are topics of her poetry. Dove puts a light on the small truths of life that have more meaning than the actual historical facts. In a time when African-American poetry has been criticized for too much introspection, Rita Dove has taken an approach to emotion and the person as human. Dove’s poetry is not about being black, but about being alive. In Rita Dove autobiography she mention she was born in Akron, Ohio in 1952. She was a Presidential Scholar in 1970. She attended Miami University of Ohio, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree; she continued her education by earning a Master of Fine Arts at the University of Iowa. She is a poet, novelist, short story author, essayist, playwright, newspaper columnist and editor. She also created a song cycle for soprano and orchestra music. Despite the diversity, her literary excellence is honored over and over. The four poems this essay will investigate are all dramatic monologues that have a historical basis and employ the power and immediacy of direct speech. The poems to be examined will be “The House Slave,” “Requiem for the Croppies,” “The Czar’s Last Christmas Letter: A Barn in the Urals” and “A Letter from Phillis Wheatley.” Although each poem exhibits a unique voice and topic, the poems share some characteristics, particularly the use of history, form, voice and diction. This essay will begin with an examination of each poem individually, with specific attention to the voices of the characters. It will then turn to a comparison of the four poems. The first poem to be discussed is Rita Dove’s “The House Slave.” In this five-stanza poem, the speaker, a house slave, conveys an immeasurable sense of loneliness and despair. Dove uses simple lines and common diction (including the slang “Massa” [Dove, 7]) to bestow
Cited: Dove, R. (2004). American Smooth Poems. New York: W Richard Ellmann and Robert O’Clair. 1989. 861 - 862 “A Letter from Phillis Wheatley.” Modern Poems: A Norton Introduction, Richard Ellmann and Robert O?Clair. 1989. 489 - 490.