Elizabeth Bishop

Elizabeth Bishop: "The Prodigal"

Analysis

In this poem Bishop discusses the misery of addiction

and the difficulty of escaping it.

Instead of talking directly about her own experience

of alcoholism, however, Bishop uses the parable of the
Prodigal Son to explore her own struggle.

The poem is concerned with the period before the

prodigal decides to return to his father; and as such
Bishop chooses to focus on the lowest and ugliest part
of the man's life - the time when he laboured in the
filth and squalor of the pigsty.

On one level, "The Prodigal" could be viewed as a simple

narrative about a man who lives and works in a horrible
pigsty. However, it also has an allegorical level; as a
poetic representation of addiction. The poem also has
an autobiographical dimension, arising from Bishop's
own lifelong struggle with alcohol addiction.

"The Prodigal" opens with a graphic description of the

filth and deprivation of life in the pigsty. The odour is
 so bad that it has become a physical, even solid
presence. It is "brown and enormous" and has become
so familiar to this person that he can no longer discern
it.

The smell is unbearable and the surroundings are

equally squalid. The floor is "rotten" and the entire sty
is plastered with "glass smooth dung".

On all sides the pigs seem to surround this

dehumanised figure. These animals, including "the sow
that always ate her young" appear "cheerful".

In line ten there is a slight shift in the poem as we

learn that after "drinking bouts" the man is brought
even lower than these animals. Lying in puddles in a
drunken haze, he is left to bake in the blazing sun.
Despite the obvious physical, spiritual and emotional
deprivation of his life, this man feels that he has it in
him to "endure/his exile yet another year or more."

In the second half of the poem, it is night-time; "the

farmer whom he worked for" is busy tending to the
animals. In sharp contrast to the farm worker, these
animals are made to feel "safe and companionable" as if
in the "Ark". Even the pigs seem comfortable.

The light of the sun that drew the worker's attention

in the first half of the poem is replaced by the light
 from the farm owner's lantern, which is likened to a
"pacing aureole". The brightness and comfort, it
affords is in stark contrast to the speaker's
existence. His is a world of "slimy boards" and spiritual
blindness. Like the bats, he is blind and uncertain and
his life is "beyond his control":

"he felt the bats' uncertain staggering flight"

The poem ends with a moving account of this man's

"shuddering insights". Despite the wretchedness of his
surroundings and the apparent hopelessness of his
situation, he is moved by some unknown force "to make
his mind up to go home ". However, it is interesting to
note that it "took him a long time" before he finally
decided this.

As Bishop herself had a very unsettled childhood,

without any real home, these final lines seem to echo
the fact that while the prodigal can eventually decide
to go home, Bishop cannot, as she has no real home to
go to.

Stylistic features:

Structure-formal division- 2 sonnets of roughly equal

length. However, Bishop's use of erratic rhyme
actively undermines this formalised structure.
The first three lines rhyme : a,b,a therefore the
reader expects the rhyming scheme associated with a
 Shakespearean sonnet but this does not happen. In
this respect, the rhyming scheme mirrors the sense of
alienation and obvious dislocation that is associated
with the alcoholic state of mind. The alcoholic can
appear organised and in control, but this exterior
often disguises an inner turmoil.

Points to Note:

This is a deeply emotional poem that draws on the

poets life experience.
The formal structure of the poem is offset by the
disorganised rhyming scheme. Such control of form and
structure is typical of Bishop's poetry.
Although "The Prodigal" does provide the reader with a
disturbing insight into the dehumanising reality of
alcoholism, its message is ultimately heartening.

Busy Reconciliations coughing.

worried

rAnnous/Nervoush Bright
 boredom, Crowded.

waiting for hours

]
Train
statio
n.

11, surrounded by strangers.

news. impatience) Footsteps. Anticipation

> Quietness.

T/

Tension

(out of Date). . magazines J

waiting

Room.

Reflecting
 In the Waiting Room
The poem is about a specific incident that
occurred when the poet was only six years old and
Bishop, therefore, uses quite simplistic language and
phrases to re-create a child's perspective.
It is a poem about identity and place, about
comprehending who you are and what your place is
within the greater world.
In very ordinary, almost un-poetic language, times
& places are labelled with precision: "In Worcester;
Massachusetts"; "I said to myself: three days/and
you'll be seven years old"; "It was still the fifth/of
February 1918.

The poem's perspective is told entirely from the

six-year -old Elizabeth's point of view. The cry of pain,
the date on the "National Geographic" and the
unfamiliar "grown up people" all make her suddenly
aware that she is different.
 Although the resultant questions (concerning her
identity) are posed in relatively childish language, they
are deeply profound and searching. The poem then
quickly takes the aspect of an enquiry into the nature
of self.
B. is portrayed as a reserved solitary child,
completely separated from her background and who is,
for all intents and purposes, orphaned.

As such the young girl is forced to consider the

cultural role-models that are on offer.

The images and photographs in the National

Geographic are nearly all suggestive of victimisation
and domination. In particular, the speaker is reminded
of the position of women in society. From the cry of
pain of the "foolish, timid woman"; her aunt, to the
"awful hanging breasts", the speaker is made to
consider the representation of women. Such images
prompt the young poet into a process of re-evaluating
her place in the world.
For the six-year-old Elizabeth, this process, is
obviously disturbing and in particular, the image of the
volcano erupting in "rivulets of fire" is suggestive of
the violent change that she is about to undergo.

Indeed, the setting of the poem (the dentist's

waiting room) is often associated with pain &
discomfort. Furthermore, the atmosphere in this
particular waiting room is stifling and claustrophobic:
"I-we-were falling, falling". The sensation of fainting
 "beneath a big black wave/another and another"
precedes her return to the harsh reality of the cold
outdoors and World War I.
In this waiting room the young Elizabeth's
understanding of her place in the world has forever
been altered. This is a profound and complex poem that
poses some of the most fundamental questions about
human existence and identity.

Points to Note:

Once again B focuses on an uncomfortable

experience arising out of a memory from her own
childhood.
Despite the seeming simplicity of the poem's
language, this is a highly complex and thought provoking
poem. This is typical of B.'s poetry. (//Sestina)
The artist's eye for detail is never far from E.B.'s
poetry. In this poem she manages to create a vivid word
picture of the waiting room on that day in Feb. 1918.

_________________________________________
__________________________________

"First Death in Nova Scotia"

This poem was first published in 1962 and is

written about the death of Bishop's cousin Frank in
1914 when she was only four.
 This poem is a poignant, restrained and beautifully
evoked recollection of a painful childhood experience.
In order to heighten the impact, the speaker recounts
her story from a child's point of view. The very title
suggests this. It is as if no one had ever died in Nova
Scotia before now. It is obvious that this is the child's
first experience of death.
As she tries to make sense of what has happened
to her cousin, the unfamiliar language of death is
transformed into the more familiar language of a
bedtime story or fairytale. So, Arthur's coffin
becomes a "frosted cake", what is presumably blood on
his hair is transformed into Jack Frost's paint and the
pictures of royalty wait for Arthur to come to court.
The scene is carefully and vividly depicted in the
opening stanza. The poem opens with a chilling image:
"In the cold, cold parlour

my mother laid out Arthur

The baby lies beneath "the

chromographs:/Edward, Prince of Wales,/with Princess
Alexandra,/and King George with Queen Mary." On the
table below these picture stands a "stuffed loon." With
childlike simplicity, B describes this dead bird. It is
snow white, its breast is "caressable" and its red glass
eyes are, from a child's point of view, "much to be
desired."
The penultimate stanza concentrates on the
poet's recollection of Arthur's physical appearance in
the coffin. Emphasising the fact that Arthur was "very
 small", she tells us that he resembled "a doll/that
hadn't been painted yet."
The final image is a poignant one, where Arthur,
we are told cannot accept royalty's offer to attend the
court: "but how could Arthur go,/clutching his tiny
lily,/with his eyes shut up so tight/and the roads deep
in snow?"
However, despite the accurate and vivid depiction
of the scene, the setting also seems strangely
dreamlike. It displays a surreal quality.
In order to come to terms with her cousin's
death, Bishop constructs her own private mythology.
Conventional images of death have no real role in this
poem. Although clearly written in endearing, child-like
language, there is little or no human comfort.
The two adult figures in the poem seem to have
closer associations with death than life.
Interestingly, this is the only published poem by
Bishop that includes mention of her mother. Given the
tragic circumstances of her relationship with her
mother, it is not surprising that this woman is
associated with death.

Points to note:

Again this poem deals with Bishop's recollection

of childhood (// "In the Waiting Room")
On a technical level, this is a highly crafted poem.
The language is restricted and each word is designed so
as to give a child-like impression of Arthur's wake.
 The detail in the poem is vivid. However, when
taken as a whole, the poem has a dream-like or surreal
quality.
The poem has been clearly influenced by her
interest in art.

_________________________________________
_______________________________
 "Questions of Travel"

This poem centres on individuality and the value of

travel.
In this poem, the act of travel, becomes a central
metaphor and symbolises Bishop's search for identity.
Dislocation, loneliness and constant doubt are
associated with this search.
The poem opens with a breath-taking description
of the landscape. In a series of lines that are filled
with energy and movement, we learn that "there are
too many waterfalls here" and the clouds on the
mountaintops force them to "spill over the sides". The
sheer scale of the landscape, coupled with the length
of time it takes to form these natural features, force
us to reflect on the brevity of human existence.
The rest of the poem amounts to an enquiry into
what makes us who we are.
In the second stanza, Bishop begins to consider
the long journey home. For her, the word "home" is an
emotionally charged one and her pondering prompts her
to ask a profound question:
 "Should we have stayed at home and thought of
here?

Where should we be today?"

Considering her role as tourist, she wonders if it

is "right to be watching strangers../in the
strangest of theatres". She wonders why humans have
a childish need to "rush" to the other side of the world
to see a "hummingbird" or some "old stonework".
In the closing lines of the 2nd stanza she asks two
more questions. She wonders whether or not human
beings must "dream [their] dreams and have them,
too?" Finally, she poses a rhetorical question:

"And have we room

For one more folded sunset, still quite warm?"

In the third stanza she does go some way towards

answering some of these questions. She tells us ".it
would have been a pity/ not to have seen the trees
along this road."
Her journey has taken her outside the cultural
uniformity of the West, where shoes are mass
produced and have an "identical pitch" unlike "the sad,
two-noted, wooden tune/of disparate wooden clogs."
This is a reminder that individuality is to be cherished.
In the final two stanzas of the poem the traveller
writes her thoughts in her notebook and her ponderings
reaffirm the value of travel.
 In the final stanza the poet offers us a profound
reminder of the role that place plays in forming our
identity: "Continent, city, country, society:/ the choice
is never wide and never free".
The act of travelling beyond the confines of our
surroundings not only challenges our understanding of
who we are, but also questions the very nature of home:

"should we have stayed at home,

Wherever that may be?"

The poem implies that without continual risk and

insecurity, there can be no real spiritual growth.

Points to note:

In typical Bishop style, the poem moves from

considering the exterior world to a deeper
consideration of self (// "In the Waiting Room")
The notion of home and all its implications is one
that B. returns to again and again in her poetry.
Once again the imagery and descriptive detail in
this poem are conveyed through a sense of beautifully
evoked word pictures.
 Sestina

The title "Sestina" refers to a rhymed or

unrhymed poem with six stanzas of six lines and final
triplet, each stanza having the same words to end its
lines but in different order. The 3 lines of the triplet
must contain all 6 words which end the preceding
stanzas.
The six key words in Bishop's "Sestina" are:
"house"
"grandmother"
"child"
"stove"
"almanac"
"tears"
 The first lines of the poem establish a mood. The
opening lines set the tone for the entire poem. In the
dying of the year; autumn; "rain falls on the house". It
is dark in the house and the "old grandmother/sits in
the kitchen with the child". Any hope of warmth
suggested by the "Marvel Stove", jokes and laughter is
quickly dashed in the final line of the stanza when we
are told that the grandmother is merely "laughing and
talking to hide her tears".
It is as if the world itself is in mourning: the
September rain, the failing light suggest sorrow and
dying; it is the dying time of the year and day,
however, what is at the heart of the stanza is the
human sorrow of the grandmother holding back her
tears.
The poem's tone resembles that of a fairy-tale;
the tea kettle causes "tears" that "dance", the
almanac "hovers" in a "birdlike" fashion and the child
can hear the almanac and the stove talk.
One of the most important stylistic features of
this poem is the manner in which these details
separate the child's perspective from the
grandmothers.
In the opening lines the grandmother attempts to
amuse the child and therefore comfort her. Yet, as
the poem continues the child's role comes to the fore,
first through her narrative voice and then through her
drawing, which presents us with a fascinating frozen
display of childhood loss and grief.
In the second stanza we learn that the child
believes that the almanac has somehow foretold not
 only the rainy weather, but also her sadness. The rain
continues to beat "on the roof of the house" and in the
background the kettle sings on the stove. The final line
of the second stanza forms a run-on-line with the
third stanza as the grandmother says to the child
"It's time for tea now"
The child, however, is transfixed by the
"teakettle's small hard tears". She watches the
moisture fall on the hot stove and "dance like mad".
Once again as the third stanza ends B. makes use of
enjambment to move the poem quickly forward.
The prevailing atmosphere is one of sorrow and
loss. Shivering from the cold, the grandmother
continues to shed "dark brown tears"
In the child's drawing there is a man who appears
to be crying. In the final six line stanza the motif of
tears is continued. In the little girl's imagination, the
moon shapes in the almanac are seen to drip off the
page into her drawing ;"into the flower bed [she]/Has
carefully placed in the front of the house"
The almanac reminds us that it is "time to plant
tears", the grandmother tends to the stove and the
child continues to draw. These are the closing,
poignant images of the poem.
The entire poem is steeped in an atmosphere of
loss and sadness. B. defines this grief through a series
of precise and evocative adjectives: "failing", "small",
"hard" "rigid", "winding", "marvellous", "inscrutable".
The accuracy and clarity of these words are enhanced
by a series of metaphors and similes that highlight the
deep tragedy of this childhood. E.g. We learn that the
 buttons that the child draws are like "tears" and that
these tears "dance" and are "mad".
The almanac reminds the child that it is "time to
plant tears", which seems to imply that the adult
Bishop will have to reap the future sadness that will
inevitably result.

Points to Note:

The poem focuses once again on Bishop's painful

memories (// "First Death in Nova Scotia" & "In the
Waiting Room")
While this is a poignant account of childhood loss,
the fact that the poem is written in the sestina form
prevents it from becoming too sentimental.

The Fish

The events in this narrative poem, told in the first

person, are dramatic and captivating. The speaker, out
at sea, in an old rental boat, tells us that she caught a
"tremendous fish". The choice of this adjective
"tremendous" not only refers to the physical size of
the fish, but also conveys something of the horror
that the speaker feels at the sight of this creature.
Despite the fact that she describes the fish, as
"grunting" and "heavy", the speaker also recognises
 other qualities in this creature. Its age and "battered"
appearance suggest a certain degree of

vulnerability.

Bishop describes the fish in almost forensic

detail. We learn that "his brown skin hung in
strips/like ancient wallpaper" (Simile) She describes
the "tiny white sea lice" and "its frightening gills" that
are "crisp with blood".
She even offers an unusual yet vivid description of
the fish's insides.

"I thought of the coarse white flesh

packed in like feathers

the big bones and the little bones,

the dramatic reds and blacks

of his shiny entrails."

She employs another unusual simile when describing

the "pink swim bladder", telling us it was "like a big
peony".

Then she confronts her catch directly. Its eyes

although "far larger" than hers, are "shallower and
yellowed" and resemble a mixture of "tarnished
tinfoil" and "scratched isinglass". The fish, however,
does not return the poet's stare.
 Reminding us just how old the fish is, the speaker
notices old pieces of "fishline" and "five big hooks" all
of which are still attached. She views these as battle
scars; as medals of honour which point not only to the
creature's age, but also her achievement in landing it.
As the poet stares and stares she experiences
something of an epiphany; a moment of heightened
awareness. "Victory" fills up the boat and "everything
[becomes] rainbow, rainbow, rainbow!" Although her
triumph at having landed the fish is manifest she
"let[s] the fish go".
The threads and hooks left in the fish can be
viewed as representing the past suffering of the fish.
As such the fish may be seen as a symbolic
representation of human suffering in general and the
poet's own past pains in particular. It is only when the
speaker triumphs over the fish that she can savour
her moment of victory over the repressed pain that it
symbolises.
The poem concludes on a note of celebration. The
fish has survived not only this encounter, but many
other threats to its existence in the past. In this
sense the speaker is reminded of the ability of all life
to overcome the trials and pain of existence. The way
she views the world is changed forever and this is
reflected in the way that the toxic oil on the surface
of the water is transformed in her eyes, becoming
"rainbow, rainbow, rainbow!"
 Points to Note

"The Fish" provides us with clear evidence of

Bishop's keen eye for detail.
This is just one of the many poems by Bishop that
contains a moment of epiphany ("In the Waiting
Room"/ "Questions of Travel")
Use of symbolism
Philosophical in nature.
Hopeful tone at the end-uplifting.

Ref "stickpersons.
> honliness/lsolatun.

Family.

)Epiphany

> Symbols
r

we
he

rnarrat
r
Loss. r

E.B.

overview
 simple child-like
language.

is Profound.

'struggles
of life.

finding

oneself's similes. + metaphors

indecisive

images.

confusion. Addiction!

Painful
> Curiosity.
t,

dentity:

+
Fairytale

language

Past Leaving Cert Questions:

2001

"Introducing Elizabeth Bishop"

Write out the text of a short presentation you would

make to your friends or class group under the above
title. Support your point of view by reference to or
quotation from the poetry of Elizabeth Bishop that you
have studied.
Correctors were asked to look out for the following
possible points:

Her life and how it links with her poetry.

The themes and concerns she articulates most
frequently and/or most powerfully.
The impact that her poetry can make on a
reader
Her style - the way she uses language, imagery
etc.

2006

"Reading the poetry of Elizabeth Bishop"

Write out the text of a talk you would give to your

class in response to the above statement. Your talk
should include the following:

Your reactions to her themes or subject matter

What you personally find interesting in her
style of writing.

Refer to the poems by E. B. that you have studied

Evidence of clear engagement with the poems by

Bishop
 Travel and sense of place
Celebration of the ordinary
Childhood, nature and death
Range of moods in her poetry
Vivid, detailed description
Energy and intensity of her language
Variety of her poetic forms
Etc.

2009

"Elizabeth Bishop poses interesting questions delivered

by means of a unique style"

Write a personal response to the poetry of Elizabeth

Bishop that you have studied based on this statement.

Correctors were told to reward responses that showed

clear evidence of engagement/involvement with the poetry
of E.B. The terms of the question ("interesting questions"
and "unique style") may be addressed implicitly or
explicitly.

Expect discussion of BOTH Bishop's themes and her

stylistic features.

Possible points:
 Absorbing preoccupations about life's meaning/ the
nature of existence
Highly charged questions about nature, isolation,
childhood, home
Inquisitive exploration of travel, memory, resilience
Distinctive use of language/imagery/form/tone
Vivid detail, painterly eye, moments of epiphany.