Her Island by Rita Dove

Mother Love by Rita Dove views the violated world through the myth of
Demeter and her daughter, Persephone, who was abducted by the god of
the underworld and forever after had to spend six months by Hades's side
and six months on earth. In Mother Love one finds variations on the
Persephone-Demeter myth because what interests Dove are the mother-
daughter relationships and daughter-husband relationships. These are
further complicated by cultural relationships. The last poem, "Her Island,"
is a series of 11 sonnets that circle around a visit to Sicily (Persephone's
island) by Dove, who is African American, with her German husband.

Tile:
“Her Island” gives the impression that the poet is isolated and away from
her usual place of residence and in place where she can reflect on her life.
The poet use of harsh words in the lines following the title “The heat, the
stench of things, the unutterable boredom of it all….” Not only emphasizes
the discomfort experienced by the poet on her island but the inter turmoil
of the poet which is reflected in the harshness of the environment.

The poem begins with the poet describing the environment on her island,
“Around us blazed stones, closed ground. Waiter’s lounge, stricken with
sirocco, ice cream disintegrates to a sticky residue fit for flies and auts.
Summer, the dead season.” The poets use of the pronoun “us” indicates that
she is with someone. Given the context of the book “Mother Love”, one can
concur that she is with her daughter. The poet also goes on to effectively
utilize “Heat” as a symbol to represent the inescapable pain, hurt and
anguish that is experienced by the poet and her daughter. The poets use of
the words “closed ground” indicates the extent to which herself and her
daughter is trapped by the pain which is represented by the heat. She then
goes on to describe the effect of the heat and its capabilities. The poet
understands that the pain and turmoil experienced has the potential to
“disintegrate” their fragile minds to the point of hurting them severely. The
poet them personifies summer as the “dead season”. Summer, usually a
time used for enjoying outdoor activities is no longer alive. It becomes
meaningless amidst the turbulent circumstances.

The poet then gives her readers a hint as to where she and her daughter is
located. “The temples of Agrigento” are in Sicily (Italy). She uses a simile to
compare these ancient structures of gods and goddesses of Greek
mythology to a widow “ocher stained” extracted “wisdom teeth”. These
structures have existed for centuries and has survived intense heat, rain
and coldness which is a testament to their durability and strength. As such
she makes this comparison to emphasizes the strength of her daughter
while dealing with the turmoil and anguish of her partner. Her wisdom
teeth become a symbol of her strength and the pain she endured as this to
survived evolution from pre-historic time.

The first stanza therefore establishes the problem….it speaks mainly to the
pain the mother is seeing her daughter endure which she herself feel as
represented by the presents of heat everywhere they go.

Stanza Two-
This stanza opens with the poet describing what she is seeing as they
aimlessly “wander” around. It can be deduced that they are in a resort as
depicted by the “orange peels and wax wrappings flecked with grease”.
Their guidebook is blank from the heat of the sun. This is because the of
turmoil experienced as it is neatly impossible to focus on these sites during
their vacation. The heat even impedes them from looking into the
“bottomless air”, a symbol of freedom and hope which seems unattainable
due to the heat. However, the poet goes on to explain that although her
“heaven” which is representative of the happiness her daughter should
experience in a health relationship is “torched” ie plagued with hurt and
pain, there is still hope as represented by the “blue slashes”. The mother
finally acknowledges, that although she can feel the pain just as much as the
daughter feels pain, “nothing with come” form her intervening between her
daughter and her partner.
Please pay attention to the Poetic Elements Used:
Structure
Diction and Syntax
Stetting
Literary Devices
Tone Mood
Themes