Rita Dove
Encyclopedia
Rita Frances Dove is an American poet and author. From 1993-1995 she served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress
, a position now popularly known as "U.S. Poet Laureate". She was the first, and to date only, African-American to be appointed since the position was created by an act of Congress in 1986 out of the previous "consultant in poetry" position (1937-86). Dove also received an appointment as "special consultant in poetry" for the Library of Congress's bicentennial year from 1999-2000. Dove is the second African American to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
, in 1987, and she served as the Poet Laureate of Virginia
from 2004-2006.
to Ray Dove, the first African American chemist to work in the U.S. tire industry (as research chemist at Goodyear
), and Elvira Hord, who achieved honors in high school and would share her passion for reading with her daughter. In 1970 Dove graduated from Buchtel High School
as a Presidential Scholar, making her one of the 100 top American high school graduates that year. Later, Dove graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. from Miami University
in 1973 and received her MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop
at the University of Iowa
in 1977. In 1974 she held a Fulbright Scholarship from Eberhard Karls Universität, Tübingen, Germany.
from 1981 to 1989. She received the 1987 Pulitzer Prize in poetry, and in 1993, at age 40, she was named Poet Laureate of the United States. by the Librarian of Congress, an office she held from 1993 to 1995 as the youngest person, and as the first and to date only African American
. Gwendolyn Brooks
had been the last Consultant in Poetry in 1985-86, prior to U.S. Congress' action renaming the position Poet Laureate.
Since 1989 she has been teaching at the University of Virginia
in Charlottesville
, where she holds the chair of Commonwealth Professor of English.
Rita Dove served as Special Bicentennial Consultant in Poetry at the Library of Congress
in 1999/2000, along with Louise Glück
and W. S. Merwin
. In 2004 then-governor Mark Warner
of Virginia
appointed her to a two-year position as Poet Laureate of the Commonwealth of Virginia. In her public posts, Dove concentrated on spreading the word about poetry and increasing public awareness of the benefits of literature. As Poet Laureate of Virginia
, she also brought together writers to explore the African diaspora through the eyes of its artists.
Dove’s work cannot be confined to a specific era or school in contemporary literature; her wide-ranging topics and the precise poetic language with which she captures complex emotions defy easy categorization. Her most famous work to date is Thomas and Beulah, published by Carnegie-Mellon University Press in 1986, a collection of poems loosely based on the lives of her maternal grandparents, for which she received the Pulitzer Prize in 1987. She has published nine volumes of poetry, a book of short stories (Fifth Sunday, 1985), a collection of essays (The Poet's World, 1995), and a novel Through the Ivory Gate (1992).
In 1994 she published a play The Darker Face of the Earth; revised stage version 1996), which premiered at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival
in Ashland, Oregon
in 1996 (first European production: Royal National Theatre
, London, 1999). She collaborated with composer John Williams
on the song cycle "Seven for Luck" (first performance: Boston Symphony, Tanglewood
, 1998, conducted by the composer). For "America's Millennium", the White House
's 1999/2000 New Year's celebration, Ms. Dove contributed — in a live reading at the Lincoln Memorial
, accompanied by John Williams's music — a poem to Steven Spielberg's documentary The Unfinished Journey. Dove's latest collection of poetry, Sonata Mulattica, was published in 2009.
Besides her Pulitzer Prize, she has received numerous literary and academic honors, among them 22 honorary doctorates, the 1996 National Humanities Medal / Charles Frankel
Prize, the 3rd Annual Heinz Award
in the Arts and Humanities in 1997, and most recently, the 2006 Commonwealth Award of Distinguished Service in Literature, the 2008 Library of Virginia
Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2009 Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal and the 2009 Premio Capri (Italy). From 1994-2000 she was a senator (member of the governing board) of the national academic honor society Phi Beta Kappa, and she is currently a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets
(2006-2012). She has been a featured poet at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival
on many occasions, most recently in 2010.
Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress
The Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress—commonly referred to as the United States Poet Laureate—serves as the nation's official poet. During his or her term, the Poet Laureate seeks to raise the national consciousness to a greater appreciation of the reading and writing of...
, a position now popularly known as "U.S. Poet Laureate". She was the first, and to date only, African-American to be appointed since the position was created by an act of Congress in 1986 out of the previous "consultant in poetry" position (1937-86). Dove also received an appointment as "special consultant in poetry" for the Library of Congress's bicentennial year from 1999-2000. Dove is the second African American to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
The Pulitzer Prize in Poetry has been presented since 1922 for a distinguished volume of original verse by an American author. However, special citations for poetry were presented in 1918 and 1919.-Winners:...
, in 1987, and she served as the Poet Laureate of Virginia
Poet Laureate of Virginia
The position of Poet Laureate of Virginia was established December 18, 1936 by the General Assembly.Originally the Poet Laureate of Virginia was appointed without outside consultation by the General Assembly, usually for one year. The procedure was later changed and most recently codified in 1998...
from 2004-2006.
Early years
Dove was born in Akron, OhioAkron, Ohio
Akron , is the fifth largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Summit County. It is located in the Great Lakes region approximately south of Lake Erie along the Little Cuyahoga River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 199,110. The Akron Metropolitan...
to Ray Dove, the first African American chemist to work in the U.S. tire industry (as research chemist at Goodyear
Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company was founded in 1898 by Frank Seiberling. Goodyear manufactures tires for automobiles, commercial trucks, light trucks, SUVs, race cars, airplanes, farm equipment and heavy earth-mover machinery....
), and Elvira Hord, who achieved honors in high school and would share her passion for reading with her daughter. In 1970 Dove graduated from Buchtel High School
Buchtel High School
John R. Buchtel High School is a public high school in Akron, Ohio. It is one of seven high schools in the Akron Public Schools district. It is commonly known as Buchtel High School.-History:...
as a Presidential Scholar, making her one of the 100 top American high school graduates that year. Later, Dove graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. from Miami University
Miami University
Miami University is a coeducational public research university located in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the 10th oldest public university in the United States and the second oldest university in Ohio, founded four years after Ohio University. In its 2012 edition, U.S...
in 1973 and received her MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop
Iowa Writers' Workshop
The Program in Creative Writing, more commonly known as the Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa, is a highly regarded graduate-level creative writing program in the United States...
at the University of Iowa
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
in 1977. In 1974 she held a Fulbright Scholarship from Eberhard Karls Universität, Tübingen, Germany.
Career
Dove taught creative writing at Arizona State UniversityArizona State University
Arizona State University is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the State of Arizona...
from 1981 to 1989. She received the 1987 Pulitzer Prize in poetry, and in 1993, at age 40, she was named Poet Laureate of the United States. by the Librarian of Congress, an office she held from 1993 to 1995 as the youngest person, and as the first and to date only African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
. Gwendolyn Brooks
Gwendolyn Brooks
Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks was an American poet. She was appointed Poet Laureate of Illinois in 1968 and Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1985.-Biography:...
had been the last Consultant in Poetry in 1985-86, prior to U.S. Congress' action renaming the position Poet Laureate.
Since 1989 she has been teaching at the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
in Charlottesville
Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville is an independent city geographically surrounded by but separate from Albemarle County in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom.The official population estimate for...
, where she holds the chair of Commonwealth Professor of English.
Rita Dove served as Special Bicentennial Consultant in Poetry at the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
in 1999/2000, along with Louise Glück
Louise Glück
Louise Elisabeth Glück is an American poet of Hungarian Jewish heritage. She was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 2003, after serving as a Special Bicentennial Consultant three years prior in 2000....
and W. S. Merwin
W. S. Merwin
William Stanley Merwin is an American poet, credited with over 30 books of poetry, translation and prose. During the 1960s anti-war movement, Merwin's unique craft was thematically characterized by indirect, unpunctuated narration. In the 1980s and 1990s, Merwin's writing influence derived from...
. In 2004 then-governor Mark Warner
Mark Warner
Mark Robert Warner is an American politician and businessman, currently serving in the United States Senate as the junior senator from the Commonwealth of Virginia. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Warner was the 69th governor of Virginia from 2002 to 2006 and is the honorary chairman of...
of Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
appointed her to a two-year position as Poet Laureate of the Commonwealth of Virginia. In her public posts, Dove concentrated on spreading the word about poetry and increasing public awareness of the benefits of literature. As Poet Laureate of Virginia
Poet Laureate of Virginia
The position of Poet Laureate of Virginia was established December 18, 1936 by the General Assembly.Originally the Poet Laureate of Virginia was appointed without outside consultation by the General Assembly, usually for one year. The procedure was later changed and most recently codified in 1998...
, she also brought together writers to explore the African diaspora through the eyes of its artists.
Dove’s work cannot be confined to a specific era or school in contemporary literature; her wide-ranging topics and the precise poetic language with which she captures complex emotions defy easy categorization. Her most famous work to date is Thomas and Beulah, published by Carnegie-Mellon University Press in 1986, a collection of poems loosely based on the lives of her maternal grandparents, for which she received the Pulitzer Prize in 1987. She has published nine volumes of poetry, a book of short stories (Fifth Sunday, 1985), a collection of essays (The Poet's World, 1995), and a novel Through the Ivory Gate (1992).
In 1994 she published a play The Darker Face of the Earth; revised stage version 1996), which premiered at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival
Oregon Shakespeare Festival
The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is a regional repertory theatre in Ashland, Oregon, United States. The festival annually produces eleven plays on three stages during a season that lasts from February to October...
in Ashland, Oregon
Ashland, Oregon
Ashland is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States, near Interstate 5 and the California border, and located in the south end of the Rogue Valley. It was named after Ashland County, Ohio, point of origin of Abel Helman and other founders, and secondarily for Ashland, Kentucky, where other...
in 1996 (first European production: Royal National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
, London, 1999). She collaborated with composer John Williams
John Williams
John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...
on the song cycle "Seven for Luck" (first performance: Boston Symphony, Tanglewood
Tanglewood
Tanglewood is an estate and music venue in Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It is the home of the annual summer Tanglewood Music Festival and the Tanglewood Jazz Festival, and has been the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home since 1937. It was the venue of the Berkshire Festival.- History...
, 1998, conducted by the composer). For "America's Millennium", the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
's 1999/2000 New Year's celebration, Ms. Dove contributed — in a live reading at the Lincoln Memorial
Lincoln Memorial
The Lincoln Memorial is an American memorial built to honor the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It is located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The architect was Henry Bacon, the sculptor of the main statue was Daniel Chester French, and the painter of the interior...
, accompanied by John Williams's music — a poem to Steven Spielberg's documentary The Unfinished Journey. Dove's latest collection of poetry, Sonata Mulattica, was published in 2009.
Besides her Pulitzer Prize, she has received numerous literary and academic honors, among them 22 honorary doctorates, the 1996 National Humanities Medal / Charles Frankel
Charles Frankel
Charles Frankel was an American philosopher.Born in to a Jewish family in New York City, he was the son of Abraham Philip and Estelle Edith Frankel. He married Helen Beatrice Lehman on August 17, 1941. Together they had two children, Susan and Carl.Frankel was educated at Columbia, Charles...
Prize, the 3rd Annual Heinz Award
Heinz Award
The Heinz Award is an award currently given annually to ten honorees by the Heinz Family Foundation. The Heinz Awards recognize outstanding individuals for their contributions in the five areas of: Arts and Humanities, the Environment, the Human Condition, Public Policy, and Technology, the Economy...
in the Arts and Humanities in 1997, and most recently, the 2006 Commonwealth Award of Distinguished Service in Literature, the 2008 Library of Virginia
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia, is the library agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia, its archival agency, and the reference library at the seat of government. The Library moved into a new building in 1997 and is located at 800 East Broad Street, 2 blocks from the Virginia State...
Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2009 Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal and the 2009 Premio Capri (Italy). From 1994-2000 she was a senator (member of the governing board) of the national academic honor society Phi Beta Kappa, and she is currently a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets
Academy of American Poets
The Academy of American Poets is a non-profit organization dedicated to the art of poetry. The Academy was incorporated as a "membership corporation" in New York State in 1934...
(2006-2012). She has been a featured poet at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival
Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival
The biennial Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival is the largest poetry event in North America.-Background:The four-day celebrations of poetry have been called “poetry heaven” by the 1995–1997 US Poet Laureate Robert Hass, “a new Woodstock” by the Christian Science Monitor, and “Wordstock” by The...
on many occasions, most recently in 2010.
Personal life
Dove married Fred Viebahn, a German-born writer, in 1979. Their daughter Aviva was born in 1983. The couple are avid ballroom dancers, and have participated in a number of showcase performances. Dove and her husband live in Charlottesville, Virginia.External links
- The Rita Dove Homepage at University of Virginia, with resource listing of video, articles etc. Retrieved 2010-11-02
- Audio: Rita Dove at the Key West Literary Seminar, 2010: "How Does a Shadow Shine?". Retrieved 2010-11-02
- Poems by Rita Dove and biography at PoetryFoundation.org Retrieved 2010-11-02
- Interview: Rita Dove at the Academy of American Poets. Poems, audio, interviews. Retrieved 2010-11-02
- The New Yorker poem November 24, 2008 The Bridgetower By Rita Dove. Retrieved 2010-11-02
- Essays, poems, interview about Dove at Modern American Poetry University of Illinois. Retrieved 2010-11-02
- "Rita Dove on the Future of Literature". The Smithsonian, August 2010