American Poetry: Elizabeth Bishop - Essay Example

American Poetry – Elizabeth Bishop Written with a grace and flow that paints an alarmingly clear picture of more than just the obvious words, Elizabeth Bishop’s poetry depends upon the use of adjectives and other literary devices to develop voice. Not only do these devices enable the poet to develop a story focused upon the question of identity, but it is through these devices that the life of the poet emerges, making statements of alienation, isolation and frustration even while discussing something as innocuous seeming as the moon. Not scrimping on the use of extended metaphors to express her ideas, Bishop is a master of the lyrical phrase. By looking at poems such as “Filling Station,” “Night City,” “Five Flights Up,” and “One Art,” one can get a sense of how the use of adjectives within her poetry provides Bishop with the power to capture life experiences in allegorical settings. “Filling Station” is a playful exchange on how words that sound the same but have different meanings can lead one into much deeper thoughts than the surface seems to indicate. After describing the very dirty conditions of this family filling station in which everything is “oil-soaked, oil-permeated / to a disturbing, over-all / black translucency” (3-5), she finally arrives at some comic books that provide a little color as “They lie / upon a big dim doily / draping a taboret” (23-25). The repetitive nature of the dirty and oily theme has the reader progressing through the poem in a rather sing-song sort of way. The metaphysical question, “Why, oh why, the doily?” (30), echoes the repetitive form of the word oily with a sharply different meaning and seems to grow, unlike the doily itself, naturally from the rest of the poem. This doily has been “Embroidered in a daisy stitch, / with marguerites, I think” (31-32). Bishop makes the observation that someone had to embroider the daisy, someone had to water the plant that sits next to it, yet that someone doesn’t seem to be affected by the overwhelming pervasiveness of the oil surrounding these things, even going so far as to arrange the oil cans “so that they softly say: / ESSO – SO – SO – SO / to high-strung automobiles” (38-40). The postmodern idea of the individual arising from the objectifying influences of the city can be read into these lines as the flimsy embroidered doily does its best to hold up under the weight of the metropolis’ dirt and grime and the people work not to make the environment comfortable or clean, but simply to meet the needs of the “high-strung automobiles,” reducing humanity to nothing more than the tools with which the mechanics of modern society repairs breakdowns in the system. With these descriptive phrases removed and reduced down to their most component parts, these underlying images and ideas are lost forever. The final line of the poem, “Somebody loves us all,” serves to neatly sum up this experience in the idea that although we are all alone in trying to deal with the dirt, perhaps there is someone out there leaving small traces of their actions, echoing Bishop’s own internal struggle to believe in a higher power. An important note to keep in mind when reading “Night City” is that it is a poem expressed from the vantage point of an overhead plane looking down on the fantastical lights and activity of a city at night, taking the literal perspective of a higher power. Bishop immediately sets up the idea that this is no wonderland of beauty and culture she is looking down upon, but is rather a unique kind of hellish landscape, unfit for decent human feet and dangerous to approach. “No foot could endure it / Shoes are too thin / Broken glass, broken bottles / Heaps of them burn” (1-4). In these expressions, the sharpness of the glass shards causes the mind’s eye to wince as the poet continues to express the poisonous atmosphere she views below while still retaining her ability to recognize the alluring beauty that has led to the ruin of many, where “bright turgid blood” (18) expands like “clots of gold” (20) and “green and luminous / silicate rivers” (23-24) run in sparkling wonder to light up the nightscape. However, this beauty can only be appreciated from a safe distance. Close up, “one tycoon / wept by himself” (26-27) having lost all his light, “a blackened moon” (28) while “Another cried / a skyscraper up” (29-30) far beyond the hearing or vision of anyone else. It is in this detached view of the city, as well as the lonely cries of the tycoons that the city takes on a sense of loneliness and despair in addition to its hellish landscape. It “fights for air / in a dread vacuum” (34-35) that promises no relief, no comfort and no hope while the plane, the “careful creature”, walks alone far above, flashing red and green, sharp contrasts of their own yet more comforting than the lurid colors below, as it continues on. This sense of distance and loneliness is somewhat echoed in “Five Flights Up”, although the author here has a different purpose in mind. In addition to expressing a solitary existence, she is also expressing the tremendous burden of guilt and shame she must carry alone. While the source of this guilt and shame is unstated, this too becomes universal among humankind in the bodiless voice of the dog’s owner. The loneliness of the scene is established in the first lines, as the “unknown bird sits on his usual branch” (2), a solitary figure without name, classification or belonging. His one claim to life is that he has a usual branch, yet even this is presented not as a part of a living tree, but rather a solitary finger, disembodied and alone. Likewise, the “little dog next door barks in his sleep / inquiringly, just once” (3-4). There are no other dogs around to answer him, no other sounds to disturb him. Even his bark, just once, is alone in the dark quiet of pre-dawn. The coming of the dawn and the spread of the light causes each animal to react differently. The bird accepts it as a new day, still just sitting on his branch, while the little dog joyfully greets the sun, carefree and happy in the bliss of the day. However, any joy of this supreme animal-like innocence is immediately questioned by the human voice, “You ought to be ashamed!” (17). This harsh statement, coming so quickly upon the rise of the sun, reminds the reader that while the dog might be able to completely forget the cares and problems of yesterday, the human being must always remember, must always awaken to a new day still troubled by the issues that were faced yesterday and remains dogged by the persistence of memory. This is highlighted further as the dog and the bird continue to find a new beginning in the new day, but the author makes the parenthetical comment, “A yesterday I find almost impossible to lift” (26). She cannot greet the new day with joy because she cannot escape her memories and she cannot escape the guilt of the past. Finally, entering the world of “One Art”, Bishop exudes a sense of loss that is impossible to avoid. From the first line, “The art of losing isn’t hard to master” (1), she delivers what seems to be almost a lecture, given by one with a great deal of experience, regarding how one can begin to lose everything that was once precious to them. This is emphasized with her assertion that “so many things seem filled with the intent / to be lost that their loss is no disaster” (2-3), while the lecturing tone is taken up with the directive, “Lose something every day. Accept the fluster / of lost door keys” (4-5). To become an expert, it is further suggested that the reader practice “losing farther, losing faster” (7), and the content is no longer just material objects, but time, hopes and dreams. Through the list of things this expert has lost, the door keys, the hour spent searching for them, her mother’s watch, the house she loved, the places she’d wanted to visit, “some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent” (14), she has managed to live through all of them because even if she no longer has the things themselves, she still has the memory of them. While she misses these things, the loss has not been a disaster. Yet, then she mentions the true subject of the poem, “Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture / I love) I shan’t have lied. It’s evident / the art of losing’s not too hard to master” (16-18). The refrain has been changed from a definite “not hard to master” to “not too hard to master” indicating a certain indecisiveness, as if she isn’t sure she will be able to survive this most recent and devastating loss. With her last line, “though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster” (19), she makes it clear that she has not been writing for the reader, for the student or even for the ‘you’ described in the poem, but rather for herself as she tries to come to grips with the loss and the pain enough to survive. Through the use of adjective and metaphor, Elizabeth Bishop’s poetry gains a great deal of its underlying meaning and surface appeal. It is with the adjective that she paints a picture to be seen with the mind’s eye that can then be translated into more specific, metaphysical considerations. While she entertains our vision, creating new identities for her subjects, Bishop works to expound on the inequalities of life as she sees them, namely the isolation and alienation she has found in the modern city, allowing the reader to catch a glimpse of her own personality. Despite these feelings of isolation, Bishop continues to seek for a protective higher power in poems such as “Filling Station,” perhaps not so caring anymore as the only traces left are a plant, a trebuchet and an old, oil-stained embroidered doily. However, the cans are all ordered neatly to speak to the cars, so perhaps this benevolent being that takes such care isn’t gone, but is merely overwhelmed. Meanwhile, looking down on the city from above provides her with little reason to expect anything different from a hellish landscape full of isolated individuals as expressed in “Night City.” These impressions are further emphasized as the lonely animals of “Five Flights Up” are the only beings able to escape any memory of yesterday’s troubles. However, the sense of endurance and strength continue to come through these impressions, as it is expressed in “One Art”, that all loneliness, solitude, guilt, pain and loss can be survived. These small moments of triumph and recognition are what help us maintain our individuality even in the mind-numbing constrictions of everyday life. Her lyricism and imagery could not be excluded and still retain its subtlety of meaning and graceful allusions. Works Cited Bishop, Elizabeth. Elizabeth Bishop: The Complete Poems 1927-1979. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1983. Read More

The final line of the poem, “Somebody loves us all,” serves to neatly sum up this experience in the idea that although we are all alone in trying to deal with the dirt, perhaps there is someone out there leaving small traces of their actions, echoing Bishop’s own internal struggle to believe in a higher power. An important note to keep in mind when reading “Night City” is that it is a poem expressed from the vantage point of an overhead plane looking down on the fantastical lights and activity of a city at night, taking the literal perspective of a higher power.

Bishop immediately sets up the idea that this is no wonderland of beauty and culture she is looking down upon, but is rather a unique kind of hellish landscape, unfit for decent human feet and dangerous to approach. “No foot could endure it / Shoes are too thin / Broken glass, broken bottles / Heaps of them burn” (1-4). In these expressions, the sharpness of the glass shards causes the mind’s eye to wince as the poet continues to express the poisonous atmosphere she views below while still retaining her ability to recognize the alluring beauty that has led to the ruin of many, where “bright turgid blood” (18) expands like “clots of gold” (20) and “green and luminous / silicate rivers” (23-24) run in sparkling wonder to light up the nightscape.

However, this beauty can only be appreciated from a safe distance. Close up, “one tycoon / wept by himself” (26-27) having lost all his light, “a blackened moon” (28) while “Another cried / a skyscraper up” (29-30) far beyond the hearing or vision of anyone else. It is in this detached view of the city, as well as the lonely cries of the tycoons that the city takes on a sense of loneliness and despair in addition to its hellish landscape. It “fights for air / in a dread vacuum” (34-35) that promises no relief, no comfort and no hope while the plane, the “careful creature”, walks alone far above, flashing red and green, sharp contrasts of their own yet more comforting than the lurid colors below, as it continues on.

This sense of distance and loneliness is somewhat echoed in “Five Flights Up”, although the author here has a different purpose in mind. In addition to expressing a solitary existence, she is also expressing the tremendous burden of guilt and shame she must carry alone. While the source of this guilt and shame is unstated, this too becomes universal among humankind in the bodiless voice of the dog’s owner. The loneliness of the scene is established in the first lines, as the “unknown bird sits on his usual branch” (2), a solitary figure without name, classification or belonging.

His one claim to life is that he has a usual branch, yet even this is presented not as a part of a living tree, but rather a solitary finger, disembodied and alone. Likewise, the “little dog next door barks in his sleep / inquiringly, just once” (3-4). There are no other dogs around to answer him, no other sounds to disturb him. Even his bark, just once, is alone in the dark quiet of pre-dawn. The coming of the dawn and the spread of the light causes each animal to react differently.

The bird accepts it as a new day, still just sitting on his branch, while the little dog joyfully greets the sun, carefree and happy in the bliss of the day. However, any joy of this supreme animal-like innocence is immediately questioned by the human voice, “You ought to be ashamed!” (17). This harsh statement, coming so quickly upon the rise of the sun, reminds the reader that while the dog might be able to completely forget the cares and problems of yesterday, the human being must always remember, must always awaken to a new day still troubled by the issues that were faced yesterday and remains dogged by the persistence of memory.

This is highlighted further as the dog and the bird continue to find a new beginning in the new day, but the author makes the parenthetical comment, “A yesterday I find almost impossible to lift” (26).

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