Quotes by Rita Dove

About Rita Dove:

Rita Frances Dove is an American poet and author. From 1993 to 1995 she served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. She is the first African American to have been appointed since the position was created by an act of Congress in 1986 from the previous "consultant in poetry" position (1937–86). Dove also received an appointment as "special consultant in poetry" for the Library of Congress's bicentennial year from 1999 to 2000. Dove is the second African American to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, in 1987, and she served as the Poet Laureate of Virginia from 2004 to 2006.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

I was pirouette and flourish, I was filigree and flame. How could I count my blessings when I didn't know their names?

Rita Dove

I was apprehensive. I feared every time I talked about poetry, it would be filtered through the lens of race, sex, and age.

Rita Dove

One definition of eternity is that we are not alone on this planet, that there are those who've gone before and those who will come, and that there is a community of spirits.

Rita Dove

I thought, after the Pulitzer, at least nothing will surprise me quite that much in my life. And another one happened. It was quite amazing.

Rita Dove

For years, I had heard about the lack of interest in literature in the U.S. and I had complained about it. I failed to understand how people could fail to be moved by art.

Rita Dove

I'm a night person. My best times are midnight to six, actually.

Rita Dove

I prefer to explore the most intimate moments, the smaller, crystallized details we all hinge our lives on.

Rita Dove

I loved to write when I was a child. I wrote, but I always thought it was something that you did as a child, then you put away childish things.

Rita Dove

Being true to yourself really means being true to all the complexities of the human spirit.

Rita Dove

The American Dream is a phrase we'll have to wrestle with all of our lives. It means a lot of things to different people. I think we're redefining it now.

Rita Dove

When we are touched by something it's as if we're being brushed by an angel's wings.

Rita Dove

Libraries are where it all begins.

Rita Dove

Under adversity, under oppression, the words begin to fail, the easy words begin to fail. In order to convey things accurately, the human being is almost forced to find the most precise words possible, which is a precondition for literature.

Rita Dove

I grew up in Ohio, where civil-rights accomplishments had already begun to accelerate before Martin Luther King appeared. In hindsight, we know that many people, black and white, were instrumental in changing the Jim Crow status quo on all levels.

Rita Dove

It makes me furious to hear haters of all skin colors - especially Christian, Jewish, and Muslim fundamentalists - deride other people because of their different beliefs and lifestyles.

Rita Dove

What writing does is to reveal.

Rita Dove

Being Poet Laureate made me realize I was capable of a larger voice. There is a more public utterance I can make as a poet.

Rita Dove

For many years, I thought a poem was a whisper overheard, not an aria heard.

Rita Dove

I carry a notebook with me everywhere. But that's only the first step.

Rita Dove

I keep the drafts of each poem in color-coded folders. I pick up the folders according to how I feel about that color that day.

Rita Dove

Author Bio

  • NameRita Dove
  • DescriptionAmerican poet and author (1952)
  • BornAugust 28, 1952
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionPoet; Author
  • WorksThomas And Beulah
  • AwardsNational Medal Of Arts; Pulitzer Prize For Poetry; National Humanities Medal