Autobiography: Reflections in the Mirror
Pamela J. Greene
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Give FeedbackLesson Plan V Rita Dove: Autobiography Through Family Memories
Introduce Rita Dove to your students with this background information. When Rita Dove won the Pulitzer prize for poetry in 1987, the second black winner in history, she was suddenly catapulted out of relative obscurity into national prominence. Although she had been writing poetry for nineteen years, her reputation existed mostly among fellow poets, until the appearance of her fourth book,
Thomas and Beulah
. This book is based loosely on the lives of her grandparents. Rita Dove felt that by writing about her grandparents she was really writing about herself. Dove was born in Akron, Ohio and teaches English at Arizona State University. Read aloud “Sunday Night at Grandfather’s” from Dove’s
Museum
Stimulate discussion by asking the students to define autobiography. Is it only an author writing about herself? How else can we tell people about ourselves, our lives? Suggest that one way to tell the reader who we are is by writing about our roots. After a group discussion of “Sunday Morning at Grandfather’s,” ask the students to think back and remember special moments, places or people from their past. Have them write any thoughts that come into their minds as they are remembering. Explain that they will write autobiographical poems that tell about themselves through exploring and relating an experience or memory from their childhood.