Parents pushed her academically
Loved poetry since an early age
Graduated from Miami University in Ohio with an English Degree under her belt
Won scholarship to study in Germany
Taught creative writing at Arizona State
Appointed poet Laureate of the United States and Consultant to Poetry to United States Congress (was youngest, and first African-American to recieve this high honor for writing)
Works
Thomas and Beluah (1987 Prize for Poetry)
On the Bus With Rosa Parks
By Rita Dove
Don't lower your eyes
or stare straight ahead to where
you think you ought to be going
don't mutter oh no
not another one
get a job fly a kite
go bury a bone
with her old fashioned sandals
with her leaden skirts
with her stained cheeks and whiskers and
heaped up trinkets
she has risen among us in blunt reproach
she has fitted her hair under a hand-me-down cap
and spruced it up with feathers and stars
slung over her shoulder she bears
the rainbowed layers of charity and murmurs
all of you even the least of you
don't cross to the other side of the square
don't think of another item to fit on a
tourist's agenda
consider her drenched gaze her shining brow
she who has bought mercy into the streets
and will not retire politely to the potter's field
having assumed the thick skin of this town
it's gritten exhaust it's sunscorch and blear
she rests in her weathered plumage
bigboned resolute
dont think you can ever forget her
don't even try
she's not going to budge
no choice but to grant her space
crown her with sky
for she is one of many
and she is each of us
Through this poem, Dove is expressing the American Spirit through the image of the Statue of Liberty. She describes how what she stands for, her spirit, is apart of all of us and can't be restrained or confined.