The House Slave is a poem written by Rita Dove, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and former United States Poet Laureate. The poem tells the story of a house slave named Lucy, who is the narrator of the poem.
In the poem, Lucy describes her life as a house slave, the close relationship she has with her mistress, and the guilt and shame that she feels for being a slave. She speaks of the privileges that come with being a house slave, such as being able to sleep indoors and wear fine clothing, but also the constant fear of punishment and the separation from her family.
Despite the luxuries of her life, Lucy is deeply aware of the injustice of slavery and the violence that it perpetuates. She speaks of the whip marks on her back and the scars on her flesh, the terror of being sold away from her family and loved ones, and the constant threat of punishment for the slightest transgression.
Through the poem, Dove paints a powerful and poignant picture of the complicated and often paradoxical nature of slavery. Lucy's life is one of both comfort and oppression, privilege and degradation, and her struggles and triumphs are a testament to the strength and resilience of the human spirit.
In conclusion, The House Slave is a powerful and thought-provoking poem that explores the complex and often contradictory nature of slavery through the eyes of a house slave. Dove's poignant and evocative language brings Lucy's story to life, and her message is one of hope and resilience in the face of injustice and oppression.
Rita Dove Analysis
They are dismissed with no further instruction. Cite this page as follows: "Rita Dove - Achievements" Poets and Poetry in America Ed. Pure class is what that is. The poet shows that these duties have denied the homemaker the life she desires to live on her own. Drama The Darker Face of the Earth: A Verse Play in Fourteen Scenes, Story Line Press, Pasadena, 1994 Novel Through the Ivory Gate, Pantheon Books, New York, 1992 Short fiction Fifth Sunday, University of Kentucky, Lexington, 1985.
What is an analysis of the poem "The House Slave"?
Dove lived as a house slave and she had a lot of freedom that a slave in the field did not enjoy. Born in Akron, Ohio, Rita Dove 1952 was the daughter of one of the first African-American chemists allowed to work in the tire industry. Field slaves sole purpose was production. Their generation was spectacular, forming the group of the last minority groups who lived before the civil rights movement. In 1980, she debuted with The Yellow House on the Corner, a collection that immediately won her great acclaim.
The house slave rita dove Free Essays
Furthermore, the white slave owners have immense power over them as well. In 1986, Thomas and Beulah appeared, a novel in verse that would win her the Pulitzer Prize for poetry the next year. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2003. This sentiment means that the woman lacks the energy to lift her seat after working with exhausting tasks. Dove states that diapers were streaming in line.
Imagery manifests itself from her statement that the field workers had whip curls across their backs. From 1993 until 1995, Dove was the American Poet Laureate. Furthermore, slavery also hurts Dove when field workers face physical torture from their masters. It is the typical stay-at-home mom ideology and the lack of time to focus on personal matters. Moreover, The House Slave shows that blacks are suffering from mistreatment related to White dominance. She served as poet laureate consultant in poetry to the Library of Congress from 1993 to 1995 and poet laureate of the Commonwealth of Virginia from 2004 to 2006. The house slave, 2016, Web.