Vacation Summary
Rita Dove

Vacation Overview

Rita Dove's poem "Vacation" was published as part of the collection On the Wing: American Poems of Air and Space edited by Karen Olsen. "Vacation" is an observant, meditative and minimalist poem in the modernist tradition. Dove's poetic style is playful and wry as well as gentle and contemplative, engaging with simple social phenomena and their effects on the human psyche. "Vacation" thematically deals with notions of contemporary anonymity, collective experiences of modernity, and the spiritual uplift of travel.