Rita Dove

Rita Dove 1952-, American poet, b. Akron, Ohio. Her first poetry collection, Ten Poems, was published in 1977. Her verse is at once concise, precise, and evocative. History as seen from an African-American perspective is perhaps her most important theme: the history of her country, as in the slavery poem sequence of The Yellow House on the Corner (1980), and the history of her own family, as in the Pulitzer Prize-winning volume Thomas and Beulah (1986), her grandparents' life story in verse. In her many collections, Dove also writes compellingly of mother-daughter relations, e.g., Mother Love (1995), everyday life, travel, and the aesthetic experience itself. From 1993 to 1995 she was U.S. poet laureate, the first African American to hold the post. An English professor at the Univ. of Virginia, Dove has also written short stories, a play, and a novel.

Dove, Rita (1952– ), American poet, born in Akron, Ohio. Her collections include The Yellow House on the Corner (1980), Thomas and Beulah (1986), Grace Notes (1989), and Mother Love (1995), a powerful lyrical exploration in varied 14-line stanzas of the resonance of the Demeter/Persephone myth, rich in classical allusion, personal emotion, and contemporary colouring. Through the Ivory Gate (1992) is a novel. She was the USA Poet Laureate during 1993–5, and since then has published On the Bus with Rosa Parks: Poems (1999).

Dove, Rita (1952– ),born in Akron, Ohio, and educated at Miami University and the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop, soon began her career of publishing her poetry. The list begins with Ten Poems (1977), continues with The Only Dark Spot in the Sky (1980); The Yellow House on the Corner (1980); Mandolin (1982); Museum (1983); Thomas and Beulah (1986, Pulitzer Prize)—lyrics about her grandparents, two black people from the rural South emigrating to industrial Akron, and experiencing there some early 20th‐century U.S. history, including the Depression; and Grace Notes (1989). Fifth Sunday (1985) collects prose stories, and Through the Ivory Gate (1992) is a novel. She was chosen Poet Laureate by the Librarian of Congress for the term 1993–94, the youngest poet to be so honored, and the first black woman.