Elizabeth Bishop Poetry Analysis

While studying Elizabeth Bishop's poetry, it was remarkably clear that Bishop's carefully judged use of language aids the reader to uncover the intensity of feeling in her poetry. In the six poems in which I studied by this poet, we can see how Bishop used the languages to her advantage in a way that helped the reader to uncover the intensity of feeling in her work. We can see the emotions in her poetry through a mix of language types and techniques within "The Fish", "The Prodigal", “In the Filling Station", "In the Waiting Room", "Sestina" and "First Death in Nova Scotia". Throughout my answer, I will discuss her language types and techniques within her poetry.
The first poem I studied by Elizabeth Bishop was "The Fish". It is apparent from
Once more, Bishop portrays the purity of the child through the language and imagery used, which provides the reader with a powerful strength of emotion. This poem demonstrates how the child establishes her own identity and how being a woman defines her, and unites her with all other women. The child grasps that the world beyond childhood is a perplexing and demanding one. As we saw in ‘The Filling Station’ a conventional place compels Bishop to come to an apprehension about life. (‘Why should I be my aunt/ or me, or anyone?’) Perhaps waiting in the waiting room is a symbol of a child awaiting adulthood; Bishop conveys how frightening and mystifying the world of adulthood can be. I believe that this is an incredibly personal poem, which makes it more realistic through Bishop’s use of the intensity of feeling as an emotion. The vigilantly judged language is precise (‘rivulets of fire’) and straightforward to replicate how she is seeking to create a sense of the world around her. In addition, the language is conversational reflecting the language of the child. ‘My aunt was inside what seemed like a long time and while I waited and read the National Geographic’. The tone of the poem is one of disbelief and revulsion as the child tries to make sense of this exotic world. Bishop uses striking imagery to convey this theme. ‘Naked women with necks wound round
Bishop realises that beauty can be found in even the tedious and mundane things – which uncovers the intensity of feeling in her poetry. Bishop uses precise and carefully judged language to portray the filth of the filling station. When she looks at the filling station, it is as if everything is shiny and black. The oil has created a glistening sheen over everything; she even adds that this excess oil is ‘disturbing’. After observing the details of the filling station, she wonders about the family who lives in such dirt, and begins to notice small attempts to create a sense of home amidst the filth - ‘a set of crushed and grease- impregnated wickerwork; on the wicker sofa a dirty dog, quite comfy’. Bishop realises that ‘somebody’ is trying to make a more ordered life for themselves. In the midst of the dirt and untidiness, ‘somebody’ tries to create order and beauty. ‘Why the extraneous plant? Why the taboret? Why, oh why, the doily?’. She ends the poem with a proverb – that in spite of our failings ‘somebody loves us all’. Personally, for me as the reader, through Bishops uncovering of the intensity of feeling, this is a comforting thought. I believe that this poem can be interpreted on a symbolic level. For example, the filling station represents the world and life in general; the grease and oil represent the disorder and