Review A Poem Daystar by Rita Dove

Categories: Poems

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In the poem “Daystar” Rita Dove uses different stylistics devices and language means to create a message of the poem and appeal to readers emotions. Using stylistic devices the poetess hides themes and motives giving only a slight hint to readers about the symbolic meaning of the objects and words. Rita Dove uses language means to convey the unique message and shape the atmosphere of the poem. Thesis Dove persuades the readers to think over eternal truths and virtues of a common woman, her daily tasks and routine work typical for every mother and wife.

Rita Dove depicts events and life struggle through women’s eyes.

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The readers feel that it is not a voice of the author, but a voice of the woman who really bears enormous burden of housekeeping. Dove communicates with the readers through the character of a woman. Persona in the poetry is a prototype of a particular person within a class, culture, background, etc. Rita Dove refers to the woman as “she” underlining unimportance of her social status and background.

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And as the most important, this stylistic device helps the author to shaped physical reality and psychological state of the woman: “she was nothing, pure nothing” (Dove).

Rita Dove uses connotation and denotation to create tension in the poem. For instance, the phrase “the little room for thinking” has both connotative and denotative meaning. The desire to escape from the reality creates the feeling of fatality, and for this reason the woman tries to find the place “that was hers for an hours”.

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Also, “the little room for thinking” can be interpreted as both personal freedom and evolution of emotional perception of the world. The title “daystar” has a double meaning: direct and indirect.

On the one hand, it means “sun” and “light”, but on the other hand it symbolizes the role of a wife and a mother in the family. The title reflects the main idea of the poem connected with experience of a mother. This title suggests neither positive nor negative experience, but informs readers about importance of her daily duties for the entire family. The readers derive the meaning of this symbol from the context and events depicted by the author: “the children’s snap”, “diapers steaming on the line” (Dove).

Imagery is another language device used by the author to shape the poem. Rita Dove uses fresh and vivid words to intensify, clarify and enrich meaning of the poem, for instance “a floating maple leaf”, “lugged a chair”, etc. It is possible to say that the images thus present an idea in terms of physical sensation. On the other hand, imagery shapes the poem creating feelings of dissatisfaction and cynical indifference. A successful image helps to make the readers feel the writer's grasp of the object and situation she is dealing with, gives her grasp of it with precision, vividness, force, economy; and to make such an impact on the readers, its content, the stuff of which it is made. For instance, the image of "building a palace" means dreams of the women and her life hopes.

Ambiguity helps the author to concentrate on a hidden meaning of the poem and disengage from traditional interpretation of the mother’s role. Ambiguity helps to look at social values through unique perception of the world typical for mothers. Strength of the work is its deep philosophical meaning depicted through the theme of gaily life of the mother exhausted by her duties. “Other days she stared until she / was assured when she closed / her eyes she'd only see her own / vivid blood” (Dove). The woman is caught in her social role and cannot go beyond this predetermined status.

The symbolic interpretation of the events, comparison and contrast between the meaning of dark and light helps the writer to hold a reader’s attention. The differences are slight, and need special attention of the reader to grasp the idea. The difference in the mood has a particular metaphoric meaning, which adds pathos to the whole poem: “She would open her eyes / and think of the place that was hers / for an hour, ‘ in the middle of the day” (Dove). The other problem is that the woman tries to escape from her daily tasks in new settings as the only possible way to overcome enormous emotional pressure. “She had an hour, at best, ‘before Liza appeared pouting from the top of the stairs” (Dove).

This is a free verse poem which bears resemble with a short story. Almost every rhyming word has significance in that it is associated with one or another of the main thought-feelings of the poem: daily tasks and role of the mother, despair and tiredness. The diction of the words is one of the essential elements used by Rita Dove to suggest the inevitability of daily tasks and routine work for the woman. Two stressed words put together imitate emotions and feelings of the mother, for instance “And just what was mother doing / out back with the field mice? / Why, building a palace” (Dove). Rhetorical questions help to shape and give a clarity and edge to the content, to the thought and feelings. Deep human emotions embroil reality and imaginary world of the nameless woman, but Dove leaves it to readers to decide her thoughts and feelings.

In sum, the stylistic devices are employed by the author to enliven the narration, make it more vivid and palpable. Dove creates a powerful and true-to-life story about real experience of mothers exhausted by daily tasks. The unique combination of stylistic devices can be regarded as Dove’s style of writing which helps her to create powerful images of the woman and her daily life. Dove’s use of imagery and tone is a profoundly significant part of her style. Though Dove main¬tains, both directly in his choice of theme and indirectly in his empathetic attitude, an overwhelming faith in love and importance of a mother as symbolized by a “daystar”.