Collected Poems: 1974-2004

Collected Poems: 1974-2004

<p><strong>A Finalist for the 2016 National Book Award for Poetry</strong><br /><br /><br /><br />Three decades of powerful lyric poetry from a virtuoso of the English language in one unabridged volume.</p><br /><p>Rita Dove’s <em>Collected Poems 1974–2004</em> 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 <em>The Yellow House on the Corner</em> and her irreverent musings in <em>Museum</em>. She sets the moving love story of <em>Thomas and Beulah</em> against the backdrop of war, industrialization, and the civil right struggles. The multifaceted gems of <em>Grace Notes</em>, the exquisite reinvention of Greek myth in the sonnets of <em>Mother Love</em>, the troubling rapids of recent history in <em>On the Bus with Rosa Parks</em>, and the homage to America’s kaleidoscopic cultural heritage in <em>American Smooth</em> all celebrate Dove’s mastery of narrative context with lyrical finesse. With the “precise, singing lines” for which the <em>Washington Post</em> praised her, Dove “has created fresh configurations of the traditional and the experimental” (<em>Poetry</em> magazine).</p>