Thomas and Beulah
1986 poetry collection
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Thomas and Beulah is a book of poems by American poet Rita Dove that tells the semi-fictionalized chronological story of her maternal grandparents during the Great Migration,[1] the focus being on her grandfather (Thomas, his name in the book as well as in real life) in the first half and her grandmother (named Beulah in the book, although her real name was Georgianna) in the second.[citation needed] It won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for poetry,[2] making Dove the second African American to win the award after Gwendolyn Brooks won in 1950.[3]
| |
| Author | Rita Dove |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Ray A. Dove |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Poetry |
| Publisher | Carnegie Mellon University Press |
| Publication date | 1986 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 80 pp. |
| ISBN | 0-88748-021-7 (Paperback) |
| OCLC | 24955131 |
| Dewey Decimal | 811/.54 20 |
| LC Class | PS3554.O884 T47 1986 |
| Preceded by | Fifth Sunday |
| Followed by | Grace Notes |
Contents
I. Mandolin
- The Event[a]
- Variation on Pain[a]
- Jiving[a]
- Straw Hat[b]
- Courtship[a]
- Refrain[a]
- Variation on Guilt[a]
- Nothing Down[c]
- The Zeppelin Factory[a]
- Under the Viaduct, 1932[b]
- Lightnin' Blues[d]
- Compendium[a]
- Definition in the Face of Unnamed Fury[a]
- Aircraft[e]
- Aurora Borealis[a]
- Variation on Gaining a Son
- One Volume Missing[b]
- The Charm[a]
- Gospel[f]
- Roast Possum[b]
- The Stroke[a]
- The Satisfaction Coal Company[d]
- Thomas at the Wheel[c]
II. Canary in Bloom
- Taking in Wash[g]
- Magic[h]
- Courtship, Diligence[i]
- Promises
- Dusting[j][k][l]
- A Hill of Beans[m]
- Weathering Out[n]
- Motherhood
- Anniversary
- The House on Bishop Street
- Daystar[n]
- Obedience
- The Great Palaces of Versailles[j]
- Pomade[j][k]
- Headdress
- Sunday Greens[h]
- Recovery
- Nightmare
- Wingfoot Lake[m]
- Company
- The Oriental Ballerina[i][j]
III. Chronology
Critics
Malin Pereira has argued that one of the central functions of Thomas and Beulah is to redefine what "home" means in a cosmopolitan context, such as the kind in which many African Americans found themselves after the Great Migration.[4]
Notes
- Also featured in a chapbook titled Mandolin in Ohio Review, 28
- Also featured in The Reaper.
- Also featured in Paris Review.
- Also featured in Georgia Review.
- Also featured in Ploughshares.
- Also shared in Nimrod International Journal of Poetry & Prose
- Also featured in New England Review and Bread Loaf Quarterly.
- Also featured in New American Poets of the Eighties, Wampeter Press, 1984
- Also featured in Pushcart Prize: VII, Pushcart Press, 1984, Museum, Carnegie-Mellon University Press, 1983, and The Morrow Anthology of Younger American Poets, 1985.
- Also featured in The Bread Loaf Anthology of Contemporary American Poetry, University Press of New England, 1985
- Also featured in Agni Review.