Persephone Abducted

“Persephone Abducted” is recognized as a ‘non- traditional’ sonnet that

describes the abduction of a girl from an ambiguous point of view and
explores the grief of the mother who cannot fathom her loss. The tone is one of
sympathy, defiance and even cynicism, while the entire atmosphere is quite
serious and reflective and represents the themes of power vs. powerlessness
and the struggle with grief.
Two major devices that convey the message of this poem are:
 Allusion: The poem alludes to Demeter and Persephone and gives some
context on Demeter’s intense emotions during that period of time. We
can assume that people try to comfort her, but the hurt and sorrow
worsens, and nothing will take away the pain except the return of her
daughter. The loss of Persephone and Demeter’s rage and grief blur with
other stories of mothers and daughters, evoking all daughters’
departures, whether voluntary or involuntary, temporary or permanent.
 Imagery: The poet uses various images to convey the frantic
mannerisms of the mother when she discovers that her daughter is
gone. The reader sees that the speaker takes the mother’s side, saying
that ‘no one can tell a mother how to act’, thus sympathizing with her.
In the final two lines of the poem, issues of social inequality are outlined in
that those in power or in a higher class use their influence for evil, while those
below them suffer at their hands (reference to slavery). Rita Dove composes
this poem not only to show just how strong a mother’s love is, but to show that
lower classes and the upper classes will have the same amount of valid grief if
their loved one has vanished.
Golden Oldie
Rita Dove's sonnet, "Golden Oldie" demonstrates the power of using a non-
traditional sonnet. Without rhyme or a regular rhythm, this poem,
nevertheless, capture a simple dramatic time in the life of a young woman at
the peak of her journey through life.
The speaker of "Golden Oldie" is seemingly a young woman who has arrived
home, but upon hearing a song on the radio that she enjoys, she "gets stalled
in the driveway-swaying." We recognize the simile "like a blind pianist caught
in a tune meant for more than two hands playing", which describes that the
song was meant for a couple to relate to, or simply two persons in an intimate
relationship to enjoy. The speaker then describes the singer of the tune as "a
young girl dying to feel alive, to discover a pain majestic enough to live by.” In
this description, however, the reader realizes that the speaker is describing
herself instead of the singer’s lyrical persona. In the latter section of the
sonnet, the song is revealed by the words, "Baby, where did our love go?" The
speaker then reports that she turns off the air conditioning, to no doubt to
hear the song better. She leans back and despite the "film of sweat," she enjoys
listening to the "lament". Despite her identifying with this song, she finds
some irony in the identification because she was “without a clue who her lover
might be, or where to start looking."
Hades’ Pitch
From the start, the poem takes a rather explicit tone with rather sexual
undertones as seen from the first line ‘If I could just touch your uncle, he
whispers…’ Such undertones set the pace for the poem’s beginning. The
poem’s form is rather simple and consists of fourteen lines with no breaks and
stanzas. It is as if Dove tries to redefine the typical sonnet format by
portraying the poem this way. She uses absolutely no rhyme scheme, which
isn’t quite shocking as the poem sounds much more narrative and revealing
this way.
“Hades’ Pitch” is a fascinating poem to read because even though it is from
Persephone’s perspective, it is one of the few times that we get to hear from
Hades. He is doing exactly what the title implies – making a pitch to
Persephone, and the pitch is an effort to get her to sleep with him. This poem
offers a lot of insight to both characters. The line “He was good with words,
words that went straight to the liver” implies that Hades is a sweet talker.
Alcohol also goes straight to the liver, so it appears that Persephone gets
drunk off Hades’ words. Persephone then questions if she is interested in
Hades because he really is such a sweet talker, or because she is bored in the
underworld. This is an interesting perspective on Persephone – it appears that
she has been in the underworld for quite some time is she is considering
sleeping with her kidnapper out of boredom.
The idea of lost innocence was developed early in Mother Love, and
Persephone clearly has lost her innocence if she feels this way about her
kidnapper. One can imagine how Demeter would feel about her daughter
losing her innocence, and Dove addresses this in the closing lines of the poem.
Dove alludes and refers to hell when she says, ‘drapes licked with fire and
hell.” This allusion and reference are very striking and particularly grisly. By
making such allusions she enhances the poem. From the line “she sighs just as
her mother aboveground stumbles, is caught by the fetlock – bereft in an
instant – while the Great Man drives home his desire.’, we see that Demeter is
very connected to her daughter in this moment. Just as Persephone gives in to
Hades, Demeter trips. Dove has made these two connected, highlighting the
theme of mother and daughter.