A fifth grade autobiography

I was four in this photograph fishing
with my grandparents at a lake in Michigan.
My brother squats in poison ivy.
His Davy Crockett cap
sits squared on his head so the raccoon tail
flounces down the back of his sailor suit.

My grandfather sits to the far right
in a folding chair,
and I know his left hand is on
the tobacco in his pants pocket
because I used to wrap it for him
every Christmas.

For ready-to-use classroom materials, please consider one of our poem units, which provide teachers with strategic comprehension and literary device questions, discussion starters, writing prompts, and creative pre-built activities. Grandmother's hips
bulge from the brush, she's leaning
into the ice chest, sun through the trees
printing her dress with soft
luminous paws.

I am staring jealously at my brother;
the day before he rode his first horse, alone.
I was strapped in a basket
behind my grandfather.
He smelled of lemons.

Review and plan more easily with poet biography, literary device analysis, essay topics, and more.

Note: This rich poem-study resource for teacher and student support does not contain  activities, quiz or discussion questions. She edited the Penguin Anthology of 20th-Century American Poetry, which appeared in 2011, and her Collected Poems: 1974-2004 was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2016.

Dove was named America’s seventh poet laureate in 1993.

After remembering the older man’s lemony smell, the speaker notes that by the time they write the poem, their grandfather has died. Poetry Foundation.

Summary

“Fifth Grade Autobiography” begins as the speaker situates the reader within a specific moment in the speaker’s life. Build rich lessons on the poem’s multiple symbols, motifs, and themes such as “The Passage of Time” and “Family”.

Featured content also includes:

• Comprehensive biography of the poet
• 3 literary devices
• 7 curated further reading suggestions & multimedia resources 
• Contextual Analysis section with 1 contextual lenses

✏️ How to use:  

Created to provide a thorough review and to support students’ deep understanding of "Fifth Grade Autobiography", our literature guide quickly refreshes teachers on the poet’s life as well as essential themes, symbols and motifs.

Dove is currently the Henry Hoyns Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

Poem Text

Dove, Rita. They describe their brother’s “Davy Crockett cap” (Line 4), a boy’s accessory that resembles the raccoon-skin hat said to have been worn by the nineteenth-century frontiersman who bears its name.

The second stanza introduces the speaker’s grandparents individually, beginning with their grandfather, “in a folding chair” (Line 8).

In particular, “Fifth Grade Autobiography” crystallizes a memory of the speaker’s grandfather, who has died.

Poet Biography

Rita Dove was born in Akron, Ohio in 1952. They then concentrate on their grandmother for the last four and one-half lines of the stanza. She served as poet laureate until 1995.

In addition to poetry, Dove has written a wide range of fiction and plays, and she has served as a lyricist for a number of composers. The presence of a family photograph inspires the memory, and the imagined school assignment of the title frames the poem as an autobiography of the speaker.

The poem first appeared in Dove’s fourth collection, 1989’s Grace Notes.

The poem plays with notions of time as the speaker presents the poem as a recollection from fifth grade, while also relating the emotions in the poem to a time period beyond the photograph. They know this detail because “I used to wrap it for him / every Christmas” (Lines 11-12), but the speaker does not actually see their grandfather’s hand in this location.

An avid reader even as a child, she credits her parents with instilling in her the desire to read books of all kinds. In particular, the speaker notes the “sun through the trees / printing her dress with soft / luminous paws” (Lines 14-16).

In the third stanza, the speaker turns their attention to their brother, asserting how they are “staring jealously” (Line 17) at their brother because “the day before he rode his first horse, alone” (Line 18), while the four-year-old speaker “was strapped in a basket / behind my grandfather” (Lines 19-20).