Cathy Song (born Cathy-Lynn Song; August 20, 1955) is an American poet who has won numerous awards including the Yale Series of Younger Poets Prize and the

Shelley Memorial Award The Shelley Memorial Award of the Poetry Society of America, was established by the will of Mary P. Sears, and named after the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. The prize is given to a living American poet selected with reference to genius and need, and is ...

from the

Poetry Society of America Poetry (from the Greek word '' poiesis'', "making") is a form of literary art that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, literal or surface-level meanings. Any partic ...

. She uses her heritage, coming from an Asian American culture, as the key compartment for her work.

Personal life and education

Cathy Song was born in Hawaii to Ella Song, a seamstress and Andrew Song, a airline pilot. Song's mother was an immigrant from China, while her father was born and raised in the US with roots in Korea. She grew up in the Waialae Kahala neighborhood on Oahu. She showed an early interest in writing and literature and was able to write at a high level in her youth. When she was eleven, Song wrote her first novel. During high school Song shifted her focus to music and began writing songs, as she wanted to be a songwriter like her idol

Joan Baez Joan Chandos Baez (, ; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing mo ...

. She also became interested in poetry and continued to write poems after high school. Song attended the

University of Hawaii at Manoa A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

, where she worked closely with the poet critic John Unterecker, who believed that Song's work would prosper once she reached the mainland. He convinced her to transfer to

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a Private university, private Women's colleges in the United States, historically women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henr ...

in Massachusetts, where she found further encouragement after reading

Georgia O'Keeffe Georgia Totto O'Keeffe (November 15, 1887 March 6, 1986) was an American Modernism, modernist painter and drafter, draftswoman whose career spanned seven decades and whose work remained largely independent of major art movements. Called the "M ...

's self titled studio book. Song would eventually incorporate artwork from this book into her first published book, ''Picture Bride''. After graduating from Wellesley with a Bachelor in English literature, Song went on to complete a Master of Arts degree at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

in 1981. During this time Song married her husband, Douglas Davenport. The two had their first child, a son, in Boston in 1983. Two years following their son's birth, they moved to Denver, because of Davenport's medical residency. During their time in Denver they had their second child, a daughter born in 1986. The following year they moved to Hawaii, where Song took on a job as a teacher. Song had a third child in 1991, another son. Song and her family built their home in

Volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most oft ...

on Hawaii Island. Song's husband, a former ER doctor, is a painter and ceramic artist.

Career

Song worked with the Hawaii literary journal '' Bamboo Ridge'' from its early days in 1978. In 1982 Song entered a rough draft of ''Picture Bride'' into a poetry competition ran by

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

. Song received the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award and Yale published her work the following year, proclaiming her a "pioneer among a generation reexamining its heritage." She followed this book with several poetry compilations, ''Squares of Light'' (1988), ''School Figures'' (1994), and ''The land of Bliss'' (2001). Song received several awards and honors, such as the

Pushcart Prize The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are ...

, and Richard Hugo has compared Song's poems in ''Picture Bride'' to flowers, stating that they are "colorful, sensual, and quiet, and they are offered almost shyly as bouquets to those moments in life that seemed minor but in retrospect count the most." In the early fall of 1994, Song was invited to travel to Korea and Hong Kong under the United States Information Agency's Arts America program.

Themes

Cathy Song's poetry is often directly related to Song's experiences of being a daughter, sister, and becoming a mother and wife. Song's poems explore her journey of womanhood with a specific emphasis on her relationship with the human body. Song has elaborated on the exploration and meaning of her body throughout her poetry in many literary devices such as repetition, symbolism, and metaphors. These underlying themes of womanhood are especially present in Cathy Song's Picture Bride. Cultural convergence is a prominent theme seen throughout Cathy Song's poetry as well. Cathy Song, an Asian-American poet, writes poetry that reflects both on the heritage of the east and west. Song dives deep into her journey as a modern-day woman with Chinese and Korean background, navigating through America, and her experiences along the way. "Family portraits, history and psychology" have a strong influence on Song's writings. Often in Song's poetry she focuses on the traditional gender roles of Asian women from the past. She channels these women and speaks for them in the modern day. In Song's "The Seamstress" this theme is evident. The theme of individuality and discovering one's self is present in specific works of Song. In Song's "The White Trumpet Flower" this is shown through a metaphor of a woman as a flower. A daughter who has been "created so by the genetic and familial legacy" attempts to establish her own independence "to make herself a different species than her mother." This metaphor paints a profuse image that portrays the struggles of a young girl who connects with her mother, but at the same time has a will for individuality and a sense of self. It is assumed that Song, herself, is the voice of this poem.

Awards and recognition

* Yale Series of Younger Poets Award (1982, for ''Picture Bride'') * Frederick Bock Prize from ''Poetry'' magazine *

(1993) * Hawaii Award for Literature (1993) * Elliot Cades Award for Literature *

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

grant (1997)

Bibliography

* ''Picture Bride''. New Haven: Yale UP, 1983. . * ''Frameless Windows, Squares of Light''. 1988. Repr. New York: Norton, 2003. . * ''School Figures''. Pittsburgh: U of Pittsburgh P, 1994. . * ''The Land of Bliss''. Pittsburgh: U of Pittsburgh P, 2001. . * ''Cloud Moving Hands''. Pittsburgh: U of Pittsburgh P, 2007. .

References