DOVE, Rita.

£2,000 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

The Yellow House on the Corner. First edition, first printing, uncommon cloth issue. In her first full volume of poetry, the future US poet laureate established her vivid and lyrical style, and began her ruminations on the topics of family, personal struggle, and the Black American experience. Rita Dove was ranked one of the top hundred high-school students in the USA in 1970, and she was named a presidential scholar. When she was appointed poet laureate in 1993, she was the youngest person and first ever African American to hold the post. Beginning with The Yellow House on the Corner in 1980, her poetry aimed "to create harmony out of disjunction", as she explored her "fragmented and hybrid cultural heritage" to find "not only frustration and invisibility, but also richness" (Steffen, pp. 164-65). Dove's first volume reflected largely on her childhood and personal experiences; by her final poem, "Ö", her focus had moved to look outwards, anticipating her future, more political work.

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