Rita Dove’s
Collected Poems 1974–2004 showcases the wide-ranging diversity that
earned her a Pulitzer Prize, the position of U.S. poet laureate, a
National Humanities Medal, and a National Medal of Art. Gathering
thirty years and seven books, this volume compiles Dove’s fresh
reflections on adolescence in The Yellow House on the Corner and her
irreverent musings in Museum. She sets the moving love story of
Thomas and Beulah against the backdrop of war, industrialization, and
the civil right struggles. The multifaceted gems of Grace Notes, the
exquisite reinvention of Greek myth in the sonnets of Mother Love,
the troubling rapids of recent history in On the Bus with Rosa Parks,
and the homage to America’s kaleidoscopic cultural heritage in
American Smooth all celebrate Dove’s mastery of narrative context
with lyrical finesse. With the “precise, singing lines” for which
the Washington Post praised her, Dove “has created fresh
configurations of the traditional and the experimental” (Poetry
magazine).