Rita Dove - Sonnet in Primary Colours

Literary Analysis

A sonnet is a poem comprised of fourteen lines. Rita Dove’s Sonnet in Primary colours is a
sonnet. The primary colours are the group of colours from which all other colours can be
obtained from buy mixing them together. These are colours that cannot be created through the
mix of other colours. They are colours in their own right. The three primary colours are red,
yellow and blue. The poet is describing a woman (Frida) who is a Mexican painter. She paints
beautiful self portraits and is known for using many primary colours in her said self portraits.
The dash in poetry can have many meanings and effects. In the poem Sonnet in Primary Colours
the poet uses a lot of dashes. A dash can be used to apply emphasis to a certain word or idea. The
dash silences the poem for a second, allowing for one idea to be thought of at a different level, or
it can create a more powerful fusion of two thoughts. Rita dove uses it beautifully “who painted
herself a present – wildflowers entwining the plaster corset”. These dashes bring the reader in to
a more intimate and close relationship with the writer, allowing the full effect to be carried out.
The theme of this poem is one of grief.

“This is for the woman with one black wing”

The poet immediately introduces us to a character i.e. Frida. The one black wing refers to the
unibrow which Frida has “perched over her eyes”

“Erect among parrots” – Visual imagery

Erect means upright in posture or position. The woman stands out among other people from her
painting which make her appear to be more beautiful than the others with her art of painting. In
the story of Ceres and Persephone, Persephone is abducted in the garden while picking flowers;
she sees this one beautiful flower and goes to get it. She does not know that that particular flower
would be symbolic to her demise. This visual imagery can also refer to the flower, the erect
flower which caught Persephone’s eyes in the garden. Parrots are known to be noisy or talkative
but through the use of visual imagery, the woman’s value has been brought out.

“Stern petticoats of the peasant”

A petticoat is a woman’s light undergarment in the form of an underskirt or including a bodice

supported by shoulder straps. Frida wore extremely pretty petticoats, which influenced “The
Frosted Petticoat” wedding theme and dress inspired by her stylish worn petticoats and the way
in which she wore them.

“Who painted herself a present”- Alliteration

Alliteration refers to the repetition of initial word sounds. The repetition of the sounds gives
some musicality when reading. Frida was a Mexican self portrait artist and painted many famous
painting such as the two Fridas and was considered one of Mexico’s greatest artists.
“Wildflowers entwining the plastic corset”

On September 17 1925 Frida and Gomez Arias were travelling together on a bus when the
vehicle collided with a streetcar. As a result of the collision, Kahlo was impaled by a steel
handrail, which went into her hip and came out the other side. She suffered several serious
injuries as a result, including fractures in her spine and pelvis. After this accident Frida had to
wear a plastic corset to keep her spine in place which had her in immense pain (the flaming
pillar). In 1944 Frida painted The Broken Column, which depicted a nearly nude Frida split
down the middle revealing her spine as a shattered decorative column. She also wears a surgical
brace and her skin is studded with tacks or nails. Again, Kahlo shared her physical challenges
through her art. Around this time, she had several surgeries and wore special corsets to try to fix
her back. The plastic corset became her spine’s home.

“The priestess in the romance of mirrors” – personification

Romance is to gain the love of court. The personal attributes given to the mirror (the form of
romancing) gives the reader a visual image. Frida was extremely politically active and was
admired as a feminist icon. She held a high rank in society hence ‘the priestess’.

“Each night she lay down in pain and rose”

After being diagnosed with gangrene in her right foot, Kahlo spent nine months in the hospital
and had several operations during this time. She was immense pain in the hospital ‘each night
she lay down in pain and rose.’ This could also refer to Demeter’s pain and grief for the loss of
her daughter. She would go to sleep grieving and in pain and arise the same hoping to see her
again.

“Celluloid butterflies of her beloved dead”- Alliteration

By the repetition of the l sound, it gives the poem some sense of musicality when reading. In
1932, Frida incorporated more graphic and surrealistic elements in her work. In her
painting, Henry Ford Hospital 1932, a naked Kahlo appears on a hospital bed with several items
a foetus, a snail, a flower, a pelvis and others floating around her connected to her by red, vein
like strings. As with her earlier self-portraits, the work was deeply personal, telling the story of
her second miscarriage hence ‘her beloved dead.’
“Lenin and Marx and Stalin arrayed at the footstead”

Frida and her husband were huge Marxist and believed in his theories and his preaching’s. Frida
and her husband Rivera’s time in New York City in 1933 was surrounded by controversy.
Commissioned by Nelson Rockefeller, Rivera created a mural entitled Man at the Crossroads in
the RCA Building at Rockefeller Centre. Rockefeller halted the work on the project after Rivera
included a portrait of communist leader Vladimir Lenin in the mural, which was later painted
over. Frida and Diego Rivera went through periods of separation, but they joined together to help
exiled Soviet communist Leon Trotsky and his wife Natalia in 1937. The Trotsky’s came to stay
with them at the Blue House for a time in 1937 as Trotsky had received asylum in Mexico. Once
a rival of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, Trotsky feared that he would be assassinated by his old
nemesis. Kahlo and Trotsky reportedly had a brief affair during this time.

“And rose to her easel, the hundred dogs panting

Like children along the gravelled walks of the garden”- Simile

There is a comparison between the sounds of hundred dogs panting to the sound of children
along the gravelled walks of the garden. Hundred dogs of panting would sound extremely loud
and powerful, just as loud and children running on gravelled walk in the garden. An easel is a
frame or tripod used for supporting an artist’s work so she rose to her easel with a strong power
just as the sound. The hundred dogs panting could also refer to Hades chariot and it being pulled
by large dogs in some paintings.

“Diego’s love a skull in the circular window”

Diego Rivera was Frida’s husband and was also a great artist. For his part, Diego painted about
three thousand works in the studio, including most of his easel work in their home which was
also an art studio. This particular space was to house their collection of skulls and Judas, as well
as many works of pre-Columbian art and Mexican crafts. The house, every corner was
surrounded in mirrors.

“Of the thumbprint searing her immutable brow”

The thumbprint, Frida’s thumbprint was said to be indisputably good looking, inclusive of her
beautiful eyebrows which sums up everything about the woman. Immutable means unchanging
over time or unable to be changed, so her brows were unchanging, she refused to change her
brow because it defined her.