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Mother Love
Calling upon the ancient Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone, Mother Love examines the love between mother and daughter, two tumblers locked in an eternal somersault: each mother a daughter, each daughter a potential mother. In settings as various as a patio in Arizona, the bistros and boulevards of Paris, the sun-drenched pyramids of Mexico―and directly from the Greek myth itself―Rita Dove explores this relationship and the dilemma of letting go.
77 pages, Paperback
First published May 17, 1995
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About the author
Rita Dove
95 books256 followersRita Dove, former U.S. Poet Laureate, Pulitzer Prize winner, and musician, lives in Charlottesville, where she is Commonwealth Professor of English at the University of Virginia.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 75 reviews
August 27, 2023
Rita Dove is probably one of my top five favorite living poets. Hands down. I've included my favorite poem from this book of poems below.
First, a little more about the author...
Rita Dove was the Poet Laureate of the U.S. from 1993-1995. In 1987 she earned herself a Pulitzer Prize for a collection of poetry based on her grandparents. She was the first poet in over a decade to give a reading at the White House in 1993, and has won fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the arts-- and then some.
Every few months I pull this book of poetry off my bedroom bookcase and read it at leisure each night. Based on the Homeric Hymn of Demeter, this collection of poems examines what it means to be robbed of safety, security, of certainty. Although the myth itself is rooted in a mother - daughter relationship between Demeter and Persephone, and the god Hades, who serves as the antagonist, the abductor-- this collection is really about uncertainty and loss. When the unthinkable happens to a child, there is no going back to the status quo. We cannot wish ourselves back to "before."
My favorite poem from this book of poetry is titled MISSING- and it's one of the most gorgeous examples of brilliant poetry to date. (see below)
Missing
I am the daughter who went out with the girls,
never checked back in and nothing marked my "last
known whereabouts," not a single glistening petal.
Horror is partial; it keeps you going. A lost
child is a fact hardening around its absence,
a knot in the breast purring Touch, and I will
come true. I was "returned," I watched her
watch as I babbled It could have been worse...
Who can tell
what penetrates? Pity is the brutal
discipline. Now I understand she can never
die, just as nothing can bring me back ----
I am the one who comes and goes;
I am the football that hovers.
- Rita Dove, 1995
(from Mother Love)
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐+++++
First, a little more about the author...
Rita Dove was the Poet Laureate of the U.S. from 1993-1995. In 1987 she earned herself a Pulitzer Prize for a collection of poetry based on her grandparents. She was the first poet in over a decade to give a reading at the White House in 1993, and has won fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the arts-- and then some.
Every few months I pull this book of poetry off my bedroom bookcase and read it at leisure each night. Based on the Homeric Hymn of Demeter, this collection of poems examines what it means to be robbed of safety, security, of certainty. Although the myth itself is rooted in a mother - daughter relationship between Demeter and Persephone, and the god Hades, who serves as the antagonist, the abductor-- this collection is really about uncertainty and loss. When the unthinkable happens to a child, there is no going back to the status quo. We cannot wish ourselves back to "before."
My favorite poem from this book of poetry is titled MISSING- and it's one of the most gorgeous examples of brilliant poetry to date. (see below)
Missing
I am the daughter who went out with the girls,
never checked back in and nothing marked my "last
known whereabouts," not a single glistening petal.
Horror is partial; it keeps you going. A lost
child is a fact hardening around its absence,
a knot in the breast purring Touch, and I will
come true. I was "returned," I watched her
watch as I babbled It could have been worse...
Who can tell
what penetrates? Pity is the brutal
discipline. Now I understand she can never
die, just as nothing can bring me back ----
I am the one who comes and goes;
I am the football that hovers.
- Rita Dove, 1995
(from Mother Love)
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐+++++
June 1, 2024
A beautiful book that draws from the story of Demeter and Persephone. Focus being on mothers and daughters, and the grief and pain suffered from separation and violence. Looking forward to reading more of Rita Dove.
February 12, 2025
i loved this poetry collection so so much and i will single-handedly be resurrecting this gem. there were multiple layers to each poem and it was an amazing experience trying to decipher and peel away the layers in conjunction with the beautiful flower imagery evoked and incorporated throughout the poems.
i will definitely be rereading because one read is not enough to fully appreciate what rita dove does in this. so happy i found this new favorite and it reminded me why i love poetry so much.
i will definitely be rereading because one read is not enough to fully appreciate what rita dove does in this. so happy i found this new favorite and it reminded me why i love poetry so much.
April 24, 2018
Just pulled this collection off my shelves and dove into it, and by the third poem or so wondered what took me so long to find it and actually read it.
The poems in this volume are tough but delicate. Dove's use of imagery and voice are stunning; I'm drawn into the ways in which Dove weaves her personal experience (or invented narrative experience that is vivid enough to seem personal) into the Persephone-Demeter mythology. I'm particularly keen on the ways in which Dove alludes to versions of the self in time -- the young self in Paris, for instance, vs. the older self in the US -- linking Demeter/mother to Persephone/daughter in rich and compelling ways.
Dove's ability to capture the darkness *and* the ecstasy of mother love is what binds all of these poems together. Whether you're a bio-parent or a parent-by-proxy, you understand the dangerous essence of that parental love, and how it opens us to potentially fatal grief. Dove reminds me of that, and though her poems hold that darkness fully, they also offer me the hope/love that redeems it.
The poems in this volume are tough but delicate. Dove's use of imagery and voice are stunning; I'm drawn into the ways in which Dove weaves her personal experience (or invented narrative experience that is vivid enough to seem personal) into the Persephone-Demeter mythology. I'm particularly keen on the ways in which Dove alludes to versions of the self in time -- the young self in Paris, for instance, vs. the older self in the US -- linking Demeter/mother to Persephone/daughter in rich and compelling ways.
Dove's ability to capture the darkness *and* the ecstasy of mother love is what binds all of these poems together. Whether you're a bio-parent or a parent-by-proxy, you understand the dangerous essence of that parental love, and how it opens us to potentially fatal grief. Dove reminds me of that, and though her poems hold that darkness fully, they also offer me the hope/love that redeems it.
January 6, 2020
There are no curses--only mirrors
held up to the shoulder of gods and mortals.
And so I give up this fate, too.
Believe in yourself,
go ahead--see where it gets you.
Grounded in the Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone this taut collection reflects both a weary apprehension and a gesture of defiance. Rural rumination bleeds into Parisian bacchanal and all along there's a self-limiting humility in effect. I was struck by that. Not all the lines or even words proved smooth and interlocking. The jagged quality spoke then to an unnamed future, an involuntary revision. Reflecting on this I think I need to revisit the final poem, its wayward path may speak to something obscured.
held up to the shoulder of gods and mortals.
And so I give up this fate, too.
Believe in yourself,
go ahead--see where it gets you.
Grounded in the Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone this taut collection reflects both a weary apprehension and a gesture of defiance. Rural rumination bleeds into Parisian bacchanal and all along there's a self-limiting humility in effect. I was struck by that. Not all the lines or even words proved smooth and interlocking. The jagged quality spoke then to an unnamed future, an involuntary revision. Reflecting on this I think I need to revisit the final poem, its wayward path may speak to something obscured.
January 19, 2013
Rita Dove manages to elevate the sonnet, effortlessly. With mythology at her disposal, she weaves a narrative that is equal parts contemporary, historic and elegy. A reimagining of the tale of Demeter, Persephone and Hades, Ms. Dove charts lust along the wheel of history right along with grief, longing, and dread.
April 12, 2015
Picked this up on the poetry month table at the library. Really cool, seamless crossing of borders throughout worlds--Greek mythology, tourism, everyday life.
June 28, 2024
I don’t read much poetry but I thought the theme of mother-daughter love would strike a chord. This was not at all what I expected.
It might have been helpful had I been familiar with the story of Persephone and Demeter because that is the true theme. I did Google it about halfway in and that helped.
This was not sweet and touching. It was pretty dark. Honestly, there’s quite a lot I couldn’t quite grasp. The form and structure were interesting. I found pieces of beauty and, in places, was able to grasp the gist of the message. But honestly, most of this went way over my head.
It might have been helpful had I been familiar with the story of Persephone and Demeter because that is the true theme. I did Google it about halfway in and that helped.
This was not sweet and touching. It was pretty dark. Honestly, there’s quite a lot I couldn’t quite grasp. The form and structure were interesting. I found pieces of beauty and, in places, was able to grasp the gist of the message. But honestly, most of this went way over my head.
April 5, 2022
Dove conjures up a feast with many of the poems based on the Demeter/Persephone myth.
August 3, 2024
One of my favorite poetry books
Want to read
August 10, 2024Darling I WILL finish you. Poem collection where it's like. one poem per day or more spaced out than that so you can really. feel the words on your insides.
Print copy is not with me at this time so changing to to-read.
Print copy is not with me at this time so changing to to-read.
September 1, 2024
13/26
I am so glad I finally read this. Can’t believe it’s almost 30 years old. Persephone and Demeter. Paris. Sicily. Yes.
I am so glad I finally read this. Can’t believe it’s almost 30 years old. Persephone and Demeter. Paris. Sicily. Yes.
Read
November 15, 2025more poetry!
August 3, 2025
A beautifully layered work of art.
September 7, 2023
Much has been said about the many ways to "violate" the sonnet in the service of American speech or modern love or whatever; I will simply say that I like how the sonnet comforts even while its prim borders (but what a pretty fence!) are stultifying; one is constantly bumping up against Order. The Demeter/Persephone cycle of betrayal and regeneration is ideally suited for this form since all three--mother-goddess, daughter-consort and poet--are struggling to sing in their chains.
"An Intact World"
Nothing can console me. You may bring silk
to make skin sigh, dispense yellow roses
in the manner of ripened dignitaries.
You can tell me repeatedly
I am unbearable (and I know this):
still, nothing turns the gold to corn,
nothing is sweet to the tooth crushing in.
I'll not ask for the impossible;
one learns to walk by walking.
In time I'll forget this empty brimming,
I may laugh again at
a bird, perhaps, chucking the nest--
but it will not be happiness,
for I have known that.
"Demeter Mourning"
Rita Dove's Mother Love is a compelling volume of poetry with a strong narrative. As we proceed, we explore the relationship between a mother and daughter in light of the myth of Demeter and Persephone. Many of the poems are sonnets, the "chains" Dove notes in her introduction, and she uses the form adroitly. The collection works as a whole; each sonnet provides insight into a bigger picture. The final poem ("Her Island") consists of eleven interrelated sonnets each standing alone with a specific focus while collectively maintaining an overarching narrative and bringing it to a satisfying denouement.
I enjoyed Dove's work and will be reading her Pulitzer Prize winning collection Thomas and Beulah next.
Through sunlight into flowers
she walked, and was pulled down.
A simple story, a mother's deepest
dread--that her child could drown
in sweetness.
Where the chariot went under
no one can fathom. Water keeps its horrors
while Sky proclaims his, hangs them
in stars. Only Earth--wild
mother we can never leave (even now
we've leaned against her, heads bowed
against the heat)--knows
no story's ever finished; it just goes
on, unnoticed in the dark that's all
around us: blazed stone, the ground closed.
from "Her Island"
"An Intact World"
Nothing can console me. You may bring silk
to make skin sigh, dispense yellow roses
in the manner of ripened dignitaries.
You can tell me repeatedly
I am unbearable (and I know this):
still, nothing turns the gold to corn,
nothing is sweet to the tooth crushing in.
I'll not ask for the impossible;
one learns to walk by walking.
In time I'll forget this empty brimming,
I may laugh again at
a bird, perhaps, chucking the nest--
but it will not be happiness,
for I have known that.
"Demeter Mourning"
Rita Dove's Mother Love is a compelling volume of poetry with a strong narrative. As we proceed, we explore the relationship between a mother and daughter in light of the myth of Demeter and Persephone. Many of the poems are sonnets, the "chains" Dove notes in her introduction, and she uses the form adroitly. The collection works as a whole; each sonnet provides insight into a bigger picture. The final poem ("Her Island") consists of eleven interrelated sonnets each standing alone with a specific focus while collectively maintaining an overarching narrative and bringing it to a satisfying denouement.
I enjoyed Dove's work and will be reading her Pulitzer Prize winning collection Thomas and Beulah next.
Through sunlight into flowers
she walked, and was pulled down.
A simple story, a mother's deepest
dread--that her child could drown
in sweetness.
Where the chariot went under
no one can fathom. Water keeps its horrors
while Sky proclaims his, hangs them
in stars. Only Earth--wild
mother we can never leave (even now
we've leaned against her, heads bowed
against the heat)--knows
no story's ever finished; it just goes
on, unnoticed in the dark that's all
around us: blazed stone, the ground closed.
from "Her Island"
January 31, 2018
another poet--she's a prof at UVA. I discovered through a poem on a mural on the side of a building that I saw during a run in Charlottesville. English professors here (UD) love her. I want to read her some of her other books.
Her poems here were loosely based on the Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone. Demeter is the mother and Hades kidnapped Persephone. Demeter negotiated that she got to keep Persephone for half the year (spring and summer) and Hades got her half the year (fall and winter). BTW, Demeter is the goddess of the seasons.
One of the neat things about this book of poetry is that she has written a large number of sonnets that are approachable.
Her poems here were loosely based on the Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone. Demeter is the mother and Hades kidnapped Persephone. Demeter negotiated that she got to keep Persephone for half the year (spring and summer) and Hades got her half the year (fall and winter). BTW, Demeter is the goddess of the seasons.
One of the neat things about this book of poetry is that she has written a large number of sonnets that are approachable.
May 11, 2025
This is my first exposure to Rita Dove. I like her style. Her imagery is interesting. I look forward to reading more by her. I've decided I like reading poetry books after all.
Update May 2025
I forgot I read this and read most of it again last night, six years after the first encounter. The foreword makes it clear some of the poems are inspired by the story of Demeter and Persephone. I missed that the first time around, or it didn't matter to me. I don't completely love it, but I do like it. I her poetry better than the last poet I read. It was interesting to read this on/near Mother's Day.
Update May 2025
I forgot I read this and read most of it again last night, six years after the first encounter. The foreword makes it clear some of the poems are inspired by the story of Demeter and Persephone. I missed that the first time around, or it didn't matter to me. I don't completely love it, but I do like it. I her poetry better than the last poet I read. It was interesting to read this on/near Mother's Day.
July 17, 2018
Rita Dove reimagines the myth of Hades, Demeter, and Persephone and interweaves them with Dove's contemporary world from 1995. While I admit that reimaging Greek mythology in contemporary terms wasn't necessarily an original conceit two decades ago when this was written, and even less so now, but re-visiting this I was struck by Dove's warm humanism in these poems: these feel like human voices more than archetypes. Dove's use of forms is subtle, particularly her sonnets. She also seems to weave in aging and changing perspectives very well.
August 9, 2020
It's a really great collection and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Dove is so precise with her words and structure. I admire that. It's easy to tell that she is an expert in the field, it shows. The whole collection is well thought out and put together. Nothing is done by accident or with little attention. I feel like there's a lot to learn from a master like herself, a true poet and literary genius.
January 27, 2022
In the sixth grade I was chased home by
the Gatlin kids, three skinny sisters
in rolled-down bobby socks. Hissing
Brainiac! and Mrs. Stingbeam!, they trod my heel.
I knew my body was no big deal
but never thought to retort: who's
calling who skinny? (Besides, I knew
they'd beat me up.) I survived
their shoves across the schoolyard
because my five-foot-zero mother drove up
in her Caddie to shake them down to size.
Nothing could get me into that car.
I took the long way home, swore
I'd show them all: I would grow up.
* * *
He only wanted me for happiness:
to walk in air
and not think so much,
to watch the smile
begun in his eyes
end on the lips
his eyes caressed.
He merely hoped, in darkness, to smell
rain; and though he saw how still
I sat to hold the rain untouched
inside me, he never asked
if I would stay. Which is why,
when the choice appeared,
I reached for it.
* * *
Everything's a metaphor, some wise
guy said, and his woman nodded, wisely.
Why was this such a discovery
to him? Why did history
happen only on the outside?
She'd watched an embryo track an arc
across her swollen belly from the inside
and knew she'd best
think knee, not tumor or burrowing mole, lest
it emerge a monster. Each craving marks
the soul: splashed white upon a temple the dish
of ice cream, coveted, broken in a wink,
or the pickle duplicated just behind the ear. Every wish
will find its symbol, the woman thinks.
the Gatlin kids, three skinny sisters
in rolled-down bobby socks. Hissing
Brainiac! and Mrs. Stingbeam!, they trod my heel.
I knew my body was no big deal
but never thought to retort: who's
calling who skinny? (Besides, I knew
they'd beat me up.) I survived
their shoves across the schoolyard
because my five-foot-zero mother drove up
in her Caddie to shake them down to size.
Nothing could get me into that car.
I took the long way home, swore
I'd show them all: I would grow up.
- Primer, pg. 7
* * *
He only wanted me for happiness:
to walk in air
and not think so much,
to watch the smile
begun in his eyes
end on the lips
his eyes caressed.
He merely hoped, in darkness, to smell
rain; and though he saw how still
I sat to hold the rain untouched
inside me, he never asked
if I would stay. Which is why,
when the choice appeared,
I reached for it.
- Wiederkehr, pg. 38
* * *
Everything's a metaphor, some wise
guy said, and his woman nodded, wisely.
Why was this such a discovery
to him? Why did history
happen only on the outside?
She'd watched an embryo track an arc
across her swollen belly from the inside
and knew she'd best
think knee, not tumor or burrowing mole, lest
it emerge a monster. Each craving marks
the soul: splashed white upon a temple the dish
of ice cream, coveted, broken in a wink,
or the pickle duplicated just behind the ear. Every wish
will find its symbol, the woman thinks.
- History, pg. 59
September 3, 2017
really loved the content & form of this one. and the note at the beginning about how the sonnet is this idealized utopian sort of space in the traditional sense which makes it sort of a gated off Eden that's not real - so Dove makes her sonnets in this realm of wrongness where everything echoes sharp or flat. plus I just loved the exploration of mother daughter relationship through the Persephone Demeter myths. there were a lot of really weighty poems and I love that feeling of having to stop after you've read something just to let it soak in...
also read Psyche in a Dress and this was like, what that book wanted to do, but way way better and more artfully & without the creepy glamourization of Persephone's half-life of servitude to Hades...
also read Psyche in a Dress and this was like, what that book wanted to do, but way way better and more artfully & without the creepy glamourization of Persephone's half-life of servitude to Hades...
May 10, 2024
“It was as if / I had been traveling all these years / without a body, until his hands found me— / and then there was just / the two of us forever: / one who wounded, / and one who served” - “Lost Brilliance”
In this collection, Dove weaves together the myth of Persephone and Demeter with realistic settings to depict the complex relationship between mothers and daughters. Her use of imagery throughout this collection left me awe-struck. There were some many lines that I highlighted and annotated.
“A mother’s deepest / dread—that her child could drown / in sweetness” - “Her Island”
“I’ve walked there too: he can’t give / you up, so you give in until you can’t live / without him. Like these blossoms, white sores / burst upon Earth’s ignorant flesh” - “Afield”
In this collection, Dove weaves together the myth of Persephone and Demeter with realistic settings to depict the complex relationship between mothers and daughters. Her use of imagery throughout this collection left me awe-struck. There were some many lines that I highlighted and annotated.
“A mother’s deepest / dread—that her child could drown / in sweetness” - “Her Island”
“I’ve walked there too: he can’t give / you up, so you give in until you can’t live / without him. Like these blossoms, white sores / burst upon Earth’s ignorant flesh” - “Afield”
February 5, 2019
In honor of Black History Month, I'm only reading books by black authors (unless otherwise required for a class) and to start this month off, I went with Rita Dove's Mother Love. I really liked it. I never thought of the mother-daughter aspect of the story of Persephone. It is often that we focus on the "love" between Hades and Persephone and ignore the relationship she had with her mother.
There were some great lines and great poems mixed in with a few meh. I'm also not a huge poetry reader (though I am trying to be) and this was a great introduction in poetry. All around great writer and so happy that I stumbled across her work.
There were some great lines and great poems mixed in with a few meh. I'm also not a huge poetry reader (though I am trying to be) and this was a great introduction in poetry. All around great writer and so happy that I stumbled across her work.
September 20, 2019
I'm all for a good concept collection and Rita Dove's definitely got one here: a poem series riffing on the myth of Persephone, sometimes zeroing in on a part of the story, other times using the tale as a way into other topics. The last section, a superb string of sonnet variations, takes a seemingly classroom exercise (the last line is the opener for each subsequent poem) to craft an intricate story that finds added drama from its use of repetition. Good luck penning something quite as satisfying with that device!
July 28, 2024
it's a book of poems about mother daughter relationships based around demeter and persephone. there is no world where i wasn't going to love this. the latin student in me was drooling over some of these poems. some of the imagery is a bit repetitive, but she is also writing a whole book of poems. i can barely write (a) poem. it was also nice that she made it more modern by showing little corners of her travels. i also picked this book out in a very cramped bookstore in fargo nd next to a guy who asked if a hot dog was a sandwich so i would say it's all v sentimental.
January 19, 2026
"I was ‘‘returned,” I watched her
watch as I babbled It could have been worse...
Who can tell
what penetrates? Pity is the brutal
discipline. Now I understand she can never
die, just as nothing can bring me back-"
mitología bajada a la vida moderna, el cuerpo femenino y racializado como territorio real donde ocurre la historia, maternidad, pérdida, envejecimiento, ¿inmortalidad por el dolor impuesto?
watch as I babbled It could have been worse...
Who can tell
what penetrates? Pity is the brutal
discipline. Now I understand she can never
die, just as nothing can bring me back-"
mitología bajada a la vida moderna, el cuerpo femenino y racializado como territorio real donde ocurre la historia, maternidad, pérdida, envejecimiento, ¿inmortalidad por el dolor impuesto?
August 31, 2023
one of my absolute favourite collections of poetry. tells such a complex and nuanced mother-daughter narration as well as stories of love, life, death, and grief through the lens of the story of persephone and demeter. rita dove simply transcends the written word with her highly visual, emotional text. highly recommend to lovers of myth and poetry both.
November 8, 2023
One of the better poets I’ve read in my poetry class. I would say either Brooks or Sexton is my favorite but Dove is still enjoyable. I like her way of mythic retellings more than H.D., they have more of a heart and soul. I personally found Demeter a little bit annoying. It sounds shitty to say this, but her grief was too repetitive. But I guess that’s how grief is.
March 12, 2024
i love mother rita dove!! she brilliantly, beautifully, and seamlessly weaves greek mythology, the classic english sonnet tradition, african-american identity, and modern day phenomena and diction together into a shockingly cohesive work (albeit a bit too heavy on specific allusions and references,,,hence the 4 rather than 5 stars)
March 28, 2025
3.5: This was an interesting revitalization of the Persephone/Demeter/Hades myth, but I think a natural consequence of such focused subject matter is that the story becomes stale. A lot of the poems felt very redundant. Kudos to Dove for examining this myth from so many angles and with varying degrees of fidelity and estrangement, but I was yawning a little by the end
Displaying 1 - 30 of 75 reviews