Dim Lady

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2002

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Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Further Reading & Resources

Francesco Petrarca, or Petrarch, was an Italian poet born in 1304. Petrarch’s collection of love poems for a woman named Laura immortalized the Petrarchan sonnet form and his idealized love for Laura, a woman he never actually met. Petrarch is often erroneously credited with the invention of the sonnet; in actuality, obscure Italian poet Giacomo da Lentini engineered the sonnet structure more than one hundred years before Petrarch mastered the form.

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“Sonnet 130” by William Shakespeare (1609)

English playwright and poet William Shakespeare wrote this sonnet in 1609. One of a 154-sonnet series, the poem is a satire of many contemporary conventions of courtly love poems that were fashionable. Mullen’s “Dim Lady” is an homage to this sonnet, which similarly downplays the attractive qualities of a Dark Lady whilst emphasizing the emotional connection between speaker and beloved.

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“A Carafe That is a Blind Glass” by Gertrude Stein (1914)

Language poets like Mullen often credit avant-garde American poet and modernist icon Gertrude Stein as an inspiration. Stein, who lived from 1874 to 1946, was also a playwright and novelist. The influence of Stein on Language poetry can be identified in the shared goal of breaking with tradition and creating a new form of poetry that reflects the times in which the poet lives.

“Synesthetes at the Writers House” by Bernadette Mayer

Bernadette Mayer, an American poet of the New York school acclaimed for her unique and innovative approach, uses descriptive language and random thoughts to express what it is like to live with synesthesia. Her impersonal approach and her attention to each line are consistent with Language poetry; Mayer’s work has been compared to that of Gertrude Stein.

Further Literary Resources

"A Tree Grows in LA: ‘Urban’ Meets Pastoral In 366 Short Poems" by Carmen Giménez Smith (2013)

This 2013 book review of Mullen’s Urban Tumbleweed: Notes from a Tanka Diary (2013) offers both praise and commentary. A tanka is a 31-syllable poem form, of centuries-old Japanese heritage. The book of poetry contains 366 tankas that contain descriptions of Mullen’s life in Los Angeles as well as travels elsewhere, and she links urban settings with impressions of nature throughout the short works.

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A Conversation with Harryette Mullen by Farah Griffin, Michael Magee, and Kristen Gallagher (1997)

In this transcript of an interview with Mullen on the University of Pennsylvania website, the conversation reveals much about the poet’s affinity for Language poetry. Mullen discusses her work in detail, and sheoutlines her approach to working with students and other poets.

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"Barbara Henning’s Looking Up Harryette Mullen: Interviews on Sleeping with the Dictionary and Other Works." by Patricia Spears Jones (2011)

In this book review, Spears Jones explores this work which makes public a collaboration between Mullen and poet Barbara Henning . Titled Looking Up Harryette Mullen: Interviews on Sleeping with the Dictionary and Other Works (2011), the book contains correspondence between the two poets, including images of post cards they sent to each other, and an interview with Mullen. This review in online magazine Bomb offers more details about this work that documents the creative process of two exemplary poets.

Interview with Harryette Mullen by Cynthia Hogue (1999)

Mullen speaks with Bucknell University English department faculty member Cynthia Hogue in this interview published in “Postmodern Culture, Journal of Interdisciplinary Thought on Contemporary Cultures.” Mullen describes her early start as a writer as well as her educational path to becoming a writer and a professor of English. In the same publication, a conversation between Mullen and Arlene R. Keizer, titled “Incidents in the Lives of Two Postmodern Black Feminists,” reveals their thoughts on how Black writers can influence the postmodern literary movement in the United States.

Listen to Poem

Listen to Harryette Mullen recite “Dim Lady”

In this recording of Harryette Mullen’s 2005 appearance on Cross Cultural Poetics, a radio program produced in the campus studios of Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, host Leonard Schwartz invites the poet to recite “Dim Lady.”