Fifth Grade Autobiography

Rita Dove

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1989

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Symbols & Motifs

Poison Ivy

Dove introduces the brother’s presence in the photograph with a mention of a potentially uncomfortable detail: “My brother squats in poison ivy” (Line 3). Initially, this detail may read comically as many readers will be aware of the discomfort that awaits him as a result of this error in judgment. The speaker’s brother’s inability to differentiate innocent foliage from its itchier counterpart indicates that the children may be inexperienced in rural settings. Their grandparents, however, appear at ease at the lake, suggesting that the children are paying their grandparents a visit and heightening the emotionally precious tone of the memory for the speaker.

Hands

In this poem, hands have a positive connotation for the speaker of the poem, and they function as a symbol of active care and nurture. The speaker remembers their grandfather’s hands most clearly as he uses them early in the poem for fishing and for rolling tobacco. The speaker’s grandfather’s hands are capable and strong in these images, and they instill a sense of confidence and comfort in the young speaker. As well, the grandfather’s hands communicate a sense of his vitality; with his hands, he can do so much, and his hands suggest the potential for activity. This potential provides an emotional contrast when, later in the poem, the speaker reveals the knowledge that their grandfather has died. The images of the speaker’s grandfather’s hands early in the poem lead the reader to the final line of the poem: “but I remember his hands” (Line 22). Here, the hands symbolize the tenderness with which the grandfather treated his grandchildren as well as his strength.

Gifts

The symbol of a gift appears in the poem as a gesture of generosity and love between individuals who care for each other. The young speaker notices their grandfather’s tobacco “because I used to wrap it for him / every Christmas” (Lines 11-12). The four-year-old speaker’s pride in having participated in the act of wrapping the Christmas present for their grandfather shows both the bond between grandfather and grandchild and the family tradition of giving the grandfather tobacco for Christmas. The symbol of the tobacco gift enhances the reader’s appreciation of the theme of family, drawing attention to the time of Christmas, when families often gather, and the repetition of the tobacco gift, year after year.

The notion of gift-giving is also present at the end of the poem, when the speaker concludes with the final image of their grandfather: “I remember his hands” (Line 22). Because the reader is aware that the speaker of the poem eventually loses their grandfather, the sense of loss is poignant; they will not be able to experience their grandfather’s physical presence in their life, but the gifts of his attention and time will live on.