Rita Dove's poem, "Daystar", is one of several poems found in Dove's poetic sequence entitled "Thomas and Beulah". "Daystar", depicts the life of the Dove's grandmother, as her poetic sequence focuses on the lives of her grandparents Rita Dove, 'Pulitzer Prize winner and former poet laureate of the United States, is known for exploring issues of family dynamics and life. African-American identity…” (“Rita Dove”) She was born Rita Dove on August 28, 1952 in Akron, Ohio, to a chemist father and a housewife mother Dove's poetic writings appeared after. graduating from high school and beginning to attend Miami University in Oxford, Ohio With high honors in English, Dove studied in Germany on a U.S. government scholarship. She then returned to the United States. to earn her MFA from the Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa ("Rita Dove"). After a master's degree, Dove published the collection "Thomas and Beulah". The collection, centered on the lives of his grandparents, won a Pulitzer Prize. (Erskine) Dove's "Daystar" was published in 1987. Although it was published in 1987, the poem was actually set in the early 20th century, a time when many women were shouldering the responsibility of being a “wife-mother” (Georgoudaki 427 -428). Although women gained equal rights, lower-class African American women were still expected to stay at home and care for the family. The 20th century was a time of change, as many new inventions and movements that played an important role in our lives began. here. In the early 20th century, the women's movement arose and women began to emphasize the need for equal rights. Women finally left the middle of paper......&site=lrc-plusGeorgoudaki, Ekaterini. “Rita Dove: Crossing Borders. » Callaloo 14.2 (1991): 419-433. JSTOR. Internet. March 31, 2010. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2931640?seq=9&Search=yes&term=crossing&term=boundaries&term=rita&term=dove&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Drita%2Bdove%253Acrossing%2Bboundaries%26x %3D0%26y%3D0%26wc%3Don&item=2&ttl=160&returnArticleService=showArticle&resultsServiceName=doBasicResultsFromArticle “Rita Dove”. Contemporary black biography. 2010. Biographical Resource Center. Internet. March 31, 2010. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC?vrsn=149&OP=contains&locID=linc clin_vcc&srchtp=name&ca=1&c=1&AI=U13027512&NA=rita+dove&ste=12&tbst=prp&tab=1&docNum=K1606004614&bCont s=59" Woman History in America." International Women's Center. Compton's NewMedia, Inc., 1995. Web. March 31 2010. .