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, 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. It won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for poetry, making Dove the second African American to win the award after Gwendolyn Brooks won in 1950.
Contents
I. Mandolin
The Event Variation on Pain Jiving Straw Hat Courtship Refrain Variation on Guilt Nothing Down The Zeppelin Factory Under the Viaduct, 1932 Lightnin' Blues Compendium Definition in the Face of Unnamed Fury Aircraft Aurora Borealis Variation on Gaining a Son One Volume Missing The Charm Gospel Roast Possum The Stroke The Satisfaction Coal Company Thomas at the Wheel
II. Canary in Bloom
Taking in Wash Magic Courtship, Diligence Promises Dusting A Hill of Beans Weathering Out Motherhood Anniversary The House on Bishop Street Daystar Obedience The Great Palaces of Versailles Pomade Headdress Sunday Greens Recovery Nightmare Wingfoot Lake Company The Oriental Ballerina
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.
Notes
References
External links Online poem, Straw Hat, from Thomas and Beulah by Rita Dove at alittlepoetry.com