Rita Dove is a modern poet who is the first black and the youngest poet to receive the honor of being the poet laureate of the United States. She is an excellent writer; her choice of words, subjects, and tones are mesmerizing. In her poem “Adolescence—III,” she talks of a young girl’s daydreams and uses wonderful symbolism and imagery.

“Adolescence—III” by Rita Dove begins by stating that the speaker’s father is gone. The speaker appears to be a young girl, perhaps 12 or 13 years old. It is not clear what has happened to the father. He has either left the family or died. Later in the poem, it seems to suggest he left the family. It says, “I see my father coming toward us:/ He carries his tears in a bowl,” (ll. 21-22). Symbolically, this seems to suggest the speaker is dreaming that her father will return, carrying all of his regrets and sadness for leaving her and her mother.

            Imagery is used in lines 3-6, where the speaker compares her skin to the skin of tomatoes. She says she “Grew orange and softer, swelling out/ Starched cotton slips” (ll. 5-6). Dove also uses imagery when she talks about the “texture of twilight” in lines 7-8. She says, “The texture of twilight made me think of/ Lengths of Dotted Swiss” (ll. 7-8). Dotted Swiss is a light fabric that is often textured with small dots. Dove is relating the way the dusk appears to the speaker with yards of fabric the speaker used to own.

            In stanza 2, she says, “In my room/ I wrapped scarred knees in dresses/ That once went to big-band dances” (ll. 8-10). She is comparing her life now to what it used to be, before her father left. Once she did not have to work in the rows of tomatoes; she went to parties and dances. Now, with her father gone, she has scarred knees. The speaker continues to say, “Along the window-sill, the lipstick stubs/ Glittered in their steel shells” (ll. 12-13). These lines imply her lipstick has not been used in some time, reflecting her old lifestyle with her current one.