![]() The Los Angeles Times described Dove’s book as an “ambitious effort, using multiple distinctive voices and perspectives to chronicle the complex tale ‘of light and shadow, / what we hear and the silence that follows.’” Poet Mark Doty called the work “richly imagined,” with “the sweep and vivid characters of a novel, but… written with a poet's economy, an eye for the exact detail.” Her Collected Poems: 1974-2004 (2016) is a finalist for the National Book Award. Each is an expression of grace performed within limits each an art weighted by history but malleable enough to form something utterly new.” Sonata Mulattica follows the tempestuous life of 18th century violinist Bridgetower, who took Europe by storm, had a famous sonata composed for him, and died in obscurity. Writing in the New York Times, Emily Nussbaum noted how dance and poetry connect for Dove: “For Dove, dance is an implicit parallel to poetry. She frequently writes about other art forms, including music in Sonata Mulattica and dance in the collection American Smooth (2004). Poet Brenda Shaughnessy noted that “Dove is a master at transforming a public or historic element-re-envisioning a spectacle and unearthing the heartfelt, wildly original private thoughts such historic moments always contain.”īut Dove’s work is known for its lyricism and beauty as well as its sense of history and political scope. In works like the verse-novel Thomas and Beulah (1986), which won the Pulitzer Prize, On the Bus with Rosa Parks (1999), a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and Sonata Mulattica (2009), Dove treats historical events with a personal touch, addressing her grandparents’ life and marriage in early 20th-century Ohio, the battles and triumphs of the Civil Rights era, and the forgotten career of black violinist and friend to Beethoven, George Polgreen Bridgetower. The book heralded the start of long and productive career, and it also announced the distinctive style that Dove continues to develop. Dove made her formal literary debut in 1980 with the poetry collection The Yellow House on the Corner, which received praise for its sense of history combined with individual detail. After graduating, Dove received a Fulbright to study at the University of Tübingen in West Germany, and later earned an MFA at the Iowa Writers' Workshop where she met her husband, the German writer Fred Viebahn. She was named a Presidential Scholar, one of the top one hundred high-school graduates in the country and attended Miami University in Ohio as a National Merit Scholar. Dove was encouraged to read widely by her parents, and excelled in school. Rita Dove was born in Akron, Ohio, the daughter of one of the first black chemists in the tire industry.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |