Thomas and Beulah: Poems
by Rita Dove
List Price:
Our Price: $8.33
You Save: $4.62 (36%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $7.42 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Rita DoveEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1987-09
ISBN: 0887480217
Number of pages: 79
Publisher: Carnegie-Mellon University Press
Book Reviews of Thomas and Beulah: Poems
Book Review: Different Views
Summary: 5 Stars
The collected poems of Rita Dove in the book "Thomas and Beulah" are about the lives of 2 people. These poems also tell two sides of a story. Rita Dove is a 1987 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. This book of poems is refreshingly different and I strongly recommend it. This book tells a story with these poems. Everything is in sequence from the 1900's, which is when Thomas and Beulah were born, to the 1960's when Beulah passes on. This book tells the lives of a married black couple back in the day. And is separated by "Mandolin", which is Thomas' side, then "Canary in Bloom", which is Beulah's side of the story.An example of what both people think about the same situation is in the poem "Courtship" on Thomas' side. This is when he wants to please her and so he "warps the yellow silk still warm from his throat around her shoulders (he mad good money; he could buy another.)" On the other side though of what Beulah is feeling in "Courtship, Diligence" is that all she sees is " a yellow scarf run[ing] though his fingers" she also says that "she'd much prefer a scent in a sky-colored flask" and "not that scarf, bright as butter." With that, you can clearly see how the two people are feeling. Thomas is thinking the yellow scarf is something expensive of his that he can give, and Beulah doesn't like it. You have two sides of a story and what each person is feeling and thinking. Through out the book it is the same from. From Thomas' death and how he was feeling then and what Beulah was thinking and feeling at that time too. This book is like a balance between two people. A balance needed for a marriage and it shows the complexity of two lives that see each other and the world in two different ways.
But there is also a closeness that the reader gets because this book draws them in from the realistic situations. In example, from the poem "Variation on Guilt", Beulah is having a baby and he really wants a baby boy. He's scared to find out what she will have and when the doctor comes out and sees a "smirk" on his face he knows it's a girl and "he doesn't feel a thing" but is "weak with rage." This book is really interesting because you can go into the lives of the married couple and know more about their feelings and emotions than what Thomas and Beulah know about each other. Their relationship and building a family is sometimes complex, simple, yet it is still only a shallow view of their lives. From beginning to end this book always keeps you interested. And with the description of how each person had passed away and their experiences brings the reader a little bit closer to them.
Poetry Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Poetry Books
FOUR QUARTETS.by T. S. Eliot
Faber & Faber; Published: 1944; Hardcover; Book
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyamby Omar Khayyam
St. Martin's Press; Published: 1983-08-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.75
Price in other shops:
The Priapus Poems: EROTIC EPIGRAMS FROM ANCIENT ROMEUniversity of Illinois Press; Published: 1999-05-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $180.00
Beowulfby Seamus Heaney
Penguin Books; Published: 2000-09-28; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $14.91
Void of Course (Poets, Penguin)by Jim Carroll
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1998-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.94
Price in other shops:
Speaking of Siva (Penguin Classics)by Anonymous
Penguin Classics; Published: 1973-08-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.67
Price in other shops:
A Night Without Armor : Poemsby Jewel
It Books; Published: 1999-08-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.79
Price in other shops:
Given Sugar, Given Salt: Poemsby Jane Hirshfield
Harper Perennial; Published: 2002-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.46
Price in other shops:
Letters Home: Correspondence 1950-1963by Sylvia Plath
Harper Perennial; Published: 1992-04-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.23
Price in other shops:
Yeats Folklore and Occultismby Frank Kinahan
Unwin Hyman; Published: 1988-10; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops:
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
Noxby Anne Carson
New Directions; Published: 2010-04-27; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $22.16
Price in other shops:
The Norton Introduction to PoetryW. W. Norton & Company; Published: 2006-10-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $35.00
Short Cuts: Selected Storiesby Raymond Carver
Vintage; Published: 1993-09-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.49
Price in other shops:
Head Off & Split: Poemsby Nikky Finney
Triquarterly; Published: 2011-02-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.58
Price in other shops:
English Romantic Poetry: An Anthology (Dover Thrift Editions)by William Blake, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats
Dover Publications; Dover Publications; Published: 1996-11-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.86
Price in other shops:
Blood Dazzlerby Patricia Smith
Coffee House Press; Published: 2008-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.32
Price in other shops:
Monoculture: How One Story is Changing Everythingby F S Michaels
Red Clover; Published: 2011-05-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.54
Price in other shops:
Native Guard: Poemsby Natasha Trethewey
Mariner Books; Published: 2007-04-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.99
Price in other shops:
Jazzby Toni Morrison
Vintage; Published: 2004-06-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.77
Price in other shops:
The Penguin Anthology of Twentieth-Century American PoetryPenguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2011-10-25; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $22.35
Price in other shops: