Rita Dove, Sonata Mulattica

Cecilia Donohue (Independent Scholar - North America)
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For her thirteenth full-length literary publication and tenth volume of verse, American poet Rita Dove has found inspiration in the biography of Classical/Romantic Period musician George Polgreen Bridgetower (1780-1860). A biracial violinist of African-Polish parentage, Bridgetower may be familiar only to music historians, yet this accomplished instrumentalist achieved a measurable degree of celebrity and popularity with the upper strata of European society during the late 1700s and early 1800s. The entire volume of

Sonata Mulattica

(2009) is devoted to events (accompanied by some imagined incidents) in Bridgetower's life and career, related by Dove in a variety of verse styles. Her word choices are characterized by clarity and directness, as she informs readers in no uncertain terms of…

717 words

Citation: Donohue, Cecilia. "Sonata Mulattica". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 August 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=26981, accessed 29 March 2024.]

26981 Sonata Mulattica 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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