Elizabeth
Bishop
Distinct, and difficult to define
Main Themes
In ‘The Fish’, ‘Filling Station’, ‘The Prodigal’ and
‘Questions of Travel’
Often present in her poems, in many form (a fish, pigs, a
sunrise, a Brazilian mountain range) Nature is powerful,
redemptive, inspirational, sustaining.
Quotes…
“I caught a tremendous fish”
Nature
“The sunrise glazed the barnyard
mud with red”
“For if those streaks, those mile-long,
shiny, tearstains, aren’t waterfalls yet”
Questions
of Travel
The Fish
The
Prodigal
“Not to have seen them gesturing like
noble pantomimists, robed in pink”
“Light-lashed, self-righteous…”
Quotes…
“I stared and stared
And victory filled up
The little rented boat”
Human
Spirit
“till, sickening, he leaned to
scratch her head”
“he almost thought he might
endure his exile yet another
year or more”
“Somebody embroidered the
doily”
“Somebody loves us all”
The
Fish
The
Prodigal
Filling
Station
Bishop deals with the resilience or the strength of the
human spirit in a number of poems – ‘The Fish’ is as
much about this as it is a description of a fish; the
prodigal son endures his exile; the mother in the filling
station adds delicate touches to the home
Travel and thoughts of home, or domestic life, are often
evident in her work: in ‘Questions’, travelling is as much
about our inability to be at home in new cultures as it is
about the delights of travel; the Prodigal knows he must
return some day; the motherly touches in the filling
station surprise and reassure Bishop.
Quotes…
“Should we have stayed at home,
wherever that may be?”
Travel/Home
Questions
of Travel
The
Prodigal
“Why the extraneous plant?
Why the doily?
Why, oh why, the doily?”
Filling
Station
“But it took him a long time
Finally to make his mind up to go
home”
Alcoholism
Bishop’s own experience informs
the prodigal’s motivation for
staying. She shares her insight
with us through his character.
People/History/Unders
tanding
More than any traditional theme,
Bishop attempts to understand the
subjects of her poetry: their
nature, their condition, their
culture, their history
Style
Look, Relate, Describe, Think, Rainbow!
• Observation – probing – meditation – revelation/insight/epiphany: see
‘The Fish’ and ‘Filling Station’
• Pays attention to the insignificant, making it relevant: see all of them!
• Finds truth, beauty and meaning in the unexpected and insignificant: big
ugly fish anyone? Or noisy wooden clogs?
• Insightful on a public, universal level: ‘Somebody loves us all’
• Honest and aware in relation to her self: ‘He hid the pints behind a two-byfour)
• Personal experience informs her work much more than spiritual,
metaphysical, political or intellectual influence, yet her contemplation of her
experience leads her to greater insight (rainbow!)
• Attention to detail
• Subjective descriptions – see domestic imagery in ‘The Fish’
• Deliberately off-hand, casual tone
• Often humorous or whimsical, ironic: ‘or oils it, maybe’
• Masterful control of meter: double sonnets, for example
• Subtle use of sound effects (alliteration, sibilance, cacophony)
The question:
‘Bishop’s patience, eye for detail and inquisitive
mind lead her to find substance and universal
truth in the unexpected and the personal.’
Write your response to this statement,
with reference....
Detailed
description
Colours,
textures,
patterns
Similes are
subjective,
domestic
The Fish
Patient study
allows her to
see five hooks
Her catch has
its own victory
Bishop feels a kinship with the fish, a connection,
respect and a sense of harmony which leads her to
let it go in a moment of epiphany.
Persona initially
disgusted but
patience allows
domestic to
appear
Filling
Station
Evidence of family life: ‘a dirty
dog, quite comfy’; ‘some
comic books’
Domesticity: doily etc is
evidence of mother
Questioning the scene, Bishop realises the mother
figure is not only domestic, she is a creative soul. In
spite of the squalor of her home she attempts to add
elegance and order to the filling station
The non-specific ‘somebody’ along with the use of ‘us’ in the
final line elevates Bishop’s observations to the universal.
Whether in a spiritual sense or on a human level, be it God or
a mother, “somebody loves us all.”
The personal:
Underlying
psychology of
the poem
comes from
Bishop’s own
alcoholism
The
Prodigal
The opening shows
no sign of beauty, but
Bishop finds it
The alcoholic wishes to
remain
Affection
Redemptive power of
nature
‘The sunrise’
Spirituality
The universal need
for companionship
Bishop follows in a long tradition of artists depicting this Biblical
story, but she uniquely focuses on the squalor and the alcoholic’s
desire to remain in his self-imposed, dehumanising exile. However,
she colours the story with a sunrise, the warmth of home, and an
undeniable sense of the spiritual.
Patient
observation of
Brazilian
landscape
Questions
of Travel
Imagines turning to rivers and
waterfalls before her eyes