Study Help Full Glossary

allegory a literary work or visual imagery that functions on two or more levels of meaning by comparing objects to symbols outside the scope of the work. alliteration the repetition of consonant sounds, even those spelled differently. allusion a brief or indirect reference to something or someone known to most […]

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The Poets Cathy Song (1955- )

About the Poet A Hawaiian of Chinese and Korean ancestry, Cathy Song centers her verse on island themes and activities and understated pastoral settings. Her language is standard English inset with words and phrases from Pacific and Asian sources. She has gained credence for lifting the mundane from homely backgrounds […]

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The Poets Rita Dove (1952- )

About the Poet The first black and youngest author to serve as poetry consultant to the Library of Congress, Rita Frances Dove considers herself the heir of Phillis Wheatley, slave poet of the colonial era. A complex intellectual, Dove has edited Callaloo, Gettysburg Review, and TriQuarterly and served at Harvard […]

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The Poets Joy Harjo (1951- )

About the Poet Feminist screenwriter and poet Joy Harjo relishes the role of “historicist,” a form of storytelling that recaptures lost elements of history. Typically listed alongside native writers Paula Gunn Allen, Mary Crow Dog, Wendy Rose, and Linda Hogan, she strives for imagery that exists outside the bounds of […]

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The Poets Wendy Rose (1948- )

About the Poet A blend of poet, historian, painter, illustrator, and anthropologist, Wendy Rose rejects marginalization. Issued under her birth name Bronwen Elizabeth Edwards and the pseudonym Chiron Khanshendel, as well as Rose, her realistic writings, watercolors, and pen-and-ink sketches defy those who relegate native American artisans to a passing […]

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The Poets Amiri Baraka (1934- )

About the Poet A model of the self-made African-American national, poet and propagandist Imamu Amiri Baraka is a leading exponent of black nationalism and latent black talent. Baraka, who was originally named Everett LeRoi Jones, earned a reputation for militancy among radical contemporaries Stokely Carmichael, Huey P. Newton, and the […]

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