Elizabeth Bishop Poetryshanique Davisthe Art Of Poetryprofessor Porter ✓ Solved
Elizabeth Bishop Poetry Shanique Davis The Art Of Poetry Professor Porter March 27, 2021 Elizabeth Bishop was a poet and a painter who was born in 1911 and died in 1979. She lost her father before she was one year old, and due to this, her mother experienced mental breakdowns that finally had her committed to a mental hospital (Poetry Foundation, n.d.). She lived with relatives since that time till she went to college at Vassar (Poetry Foundation, n.d.). This essay will discuss four of her poems and find parallels between the work and Bishop’s life. In her poem One Art, Elizabeth Bishop touches on loss and says that mastering loss is not difficult.
Further, she mentions that many things seem intent on being lost, that their loss should not be so catastrophic to the one who loses. Bishop had dealt with immense loss in her life since childhood, from her father, her mother, her innocence, and much later in life beloved friends and lovers that she felt the need to mock loss or the feelings that come with loss (Gadpaille & OniÄ, 2019). In the poem, she writes, “accept the fluster of lost door keys, the hour badly spent. The art of losing isn’t hard to master†(Bishop, 1983). These words point to her desire to accept loss as part of life so that when one experiences it, they are not consumed by the loss but can move on.
In the last stanza, Bishop seems to be speaking of someone's specific loss, which is speculated to be her lover who left her. She says to the other person and tells them that even losing them is not too hard to master, seemingly ready to accept the loss and move on (Bishop, 1983). I also noted from the poem that Bishop downplays the pain and suffering brought on by loss in the first stanza, convincing the reader that loss is not the worst thing. However, as the poem progresses, the loss gets bigger, the pain gets heavier, and the reader experiences this progression as the poem roars into a crescendo (Gadpaille & OniÄ, 2019). This could be her way of processing all her losses throughout her life, first being in denial, and eventually feeling all the loss and impact.
In The Mountain, Elizabeth Bishop seems to be talking of loneliness, solitude, time, growth, and aging. The poem gives voice to a mountain, which observes its life from the evening as the sun sets to morning, described as an “open book,†describing the happenings of its surrounding (Poetry Foundation, n.d.). The mountain then wonders how old it is. Bishop might have been discussing the fears of being older and fearing that most of the things happening in the world are passing her by. In this way, the theme of time and aging comes into the picture.
Every human is afraid of the aging process. More so, humans who can see their twilight years ahead of them are more afraid because they observe as everything grows and everything changes around them. Secondly, Bishop demonstrates the mountain’s solitude by describing how shadows fall, and lights rise and how the children never stay long enough (Poetry Foundation, n.d.). This is to demonstrate that no one stays long enough to offer the lone mountain any comfort. In her life, Elizabeth Bishop experienced extreme loneliness.
Since her childhood, Bishop had had no one to talk to even in the face of sexual assault and other abuses, and she kept that same life till her later years. Most people came and went into and out of Bishop's life, such that once she described to someone that she was the loneliest person. This loneliness inspired the words in this poem. In The Moose, Bishop describes a bus journey where the travelers are having a lull conversation about a dark subject matter such as failure and death (Poetry Foundation, n.d.). However, the bus stops in the middle of the road because a moose stops in the middle of the road.
This stop wakes the passengers from their conversation and brings a brighter attitude into the bus. The poem is highly descriptive of nature, both of the Nova Scotia coastal environment where Bishop had grown up and the current forested road that the bus traveled on. These descriptions may be representative of her former years when Bishop lived in Worcester and Nova Scotia. As the bus rolls on the road, a moose comes out of the woods and awakens the passengers from their dull existence. This could be demonstrative of a specific experience in her life which was both “ugly and beautiful,†that jolted her awake.
Bishop had many such incidents in her life, from love affairs to experiencing failure and even losing her friends and lovers. Such events can jostle one awake and give them a bit of perspective about life and its importance. The fourth poem by Elizabeth bishop is A Miracle for Breakfast, which describes a poor person's thoughts as they observe the life of a rich person. The narrator watches a rich man from outside his house, where the narrator and other poor people are waiting to be served breakfast from a charity center (Poetry Foundation, n.d.). There is a shift in the poem where the narrator imagines herself to be rich and can afford the comforts afforded by the rich man (Poetry Foundation, n.d.).
In the poem, Bishop demonstrates how appreciative they are, who lack, and how often those who have the best things do not appreciate them. In her own life, Bishop was taken by her father’s family and lived in Worcester after her father died and her mother had been committed to a mental hospital. However, her new wealthy family lacked warmth and was filled with dysfunction, which led her to fall sick quite often (Poetry Foundation, n.d.). Elizabeth had to be taken by her mother’s sisters, who were not as affluent but nursed her back to health. This shows the divide that can be there in life between the rich and the poor, and Bishop descriptively tells this story.
In conclusion, there are many parallels that we can draw between Elizabeth Bishop’s life and her poetry. She wrote about her losses, her life, and most importantly, her observations of the life surrounding her. References Bishop, Elizabeth. “One Art.†Elizabeth Bishop The Complete Poems: 178. New York, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1983 Gadpaille, M., & OniÄ, T. (2019).
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Elizabeth Bishop’s Poetry: Reflections of Life and LossShanique Davis
The Art of Poetry
Professor Porter
March 27, 2021
Elizabeth Bishop, an iconic American poet known for her keen observation and profound emotional insight, navigated the inherent complexities of loss, solitude, and the intricate fabric of human experience. Born in 1911 and passing in 1979, Bishop's life was marked by substantial personal losses, beginning with her father’s death before her first birthday and followed by her mother's prolonged mental health struggles (Poetry Foundation, n.d.). These experiences shaped not only her life but also the themes that reverberate throughout her work. This essay explores four of her poems—"One Art," "The Mountain," "The Moose," and "A Miracle for Breakfast"—revealing how Bishop's personal circumstances influence her literary output.
In her poignant poem "One Art," Bishop meditates on the theme of loss with an unsettling acceptance. The poem begins with the assertion that "the art of losing isn’t hard to master" (Bishop, 1983), which may initially suggest a dismissiveness toward loss. However, as the poem progresses, the reader feels a profound depth of grief tied to her experiences. Bishop cleverly underscores that losses encompass both trivial and significant elements—"the fluster of lost door keys, the hour badly spent" (Bishop, 1983). However, the progression of loss culminates in a deeper, possibly romantic, disillusionment as she acknowledges that losing someone close is also a part of life. Scholars like Gadpaille and OniÄ (2019) note this spiraling progression, which suggests a transformation from denial to a more visceral acknowledgment of pain, reflecting her journey through multiple substantial losses.
"The Mountain," another reflective poem, can be viewed as a meditation on time, aging, and isolation. The poem personifies a mountain contemplating its existence, witnessing the passage of days and the fleetingness of human activities around it (Poetry Foundation, n.d.). The mountain's solitude mirrors Bishop's own life experiences, characterized by a persistent sense of loneliness, particularly from formative events such as being separated from her parents and raised by relatives. Analyzing this poem reveals an underlying current of existential fear that accompanies aging—the feeling that time slips away unfairly. Bishop's references to sunlight and shadows embody the dichotomy of lightness—a symbol of life—and shadows—a metaphor for loneliness (Poetry Foundation, n.d.).
Continuing this exploration of nature and life’s transient moments, "The Moose" recounts a bus journey through “a dark subject matter such as failure and death," interrupted by an unexpected encounter with a moose (Poetry Foundation, n.d.). This sudden appearance injects vibrancy into the mundane, jolting the passengers, and by extension, the reader, into a heightened state of awareness. This momentary awakening could embody Bishop's own experiences of sudden realizations of life amidst the overarching themes of loss. The beauty in this contrast—between the mundane conversations of death and the invigorating presence of nature—reveals a complex relationship with both beauty and despair. Bishop’s attention to vivid details of nature suggests a cathartic release as she navigates through the starkness of earlier life experiences characterized by love, betrayal, and deep yearning (Gadpaille & OniÄ, 2019).
In "A Miracle for Breakfast," Bishop humorously yet poignantly illustrates the disparity between rich and poor through the eyes of a narrator waiting for charity. This poem reflects a critical commentary on socioeconomic divides, revealing the naivety of wealth and the depth of experience among the less fortunate (Poetry Foundation, n.d.). As she observes a wealthy man’s morning ritual from the outside, the narrator fantasizes about possessing such wealth, only to grapple with the reality of her own existence in poverty. This juxtaposition can be seen as an echo of Bishop's own life—growing up with an affluent but emotionally distant family after her father's death, which contrasted with the warmth she received from her mother's less wealthy sisters (Poetry Foundation, n.d.). In this light, Bishop delivers a sobering reminder about gratitude and entitlement, employing her life experiences to formulate a critique of societal norms.
Bishop’s poetry, particularly in these four works, inherently intertwines her personal struggles with broader themes of life, loss, and the human condition. The exploration of these themes not only serves as a reflection of her own experiences but invites the reader into an intimate understanding of grief, resilience, and observation. Through her work, Bishop masterfully conveys the complexities of existence within the simple beauty of her language and imagery.
In conclusion, the examination of Elizabeth Bishop's poetry reveals striking parallels between her life experiences and her artistic expression. Loss, solitude, and cultural observations underpin her work, demonstrating how her life’s journey informed her poetic voice. Each poem provides insights into the way human beings grapple with their emotions and circumstances, establishing Bishop as a crucial figure in American literature. Her reflections remind us that while loss is inherently painful, it is also a defining aspect of our human experience that shapes our perceptions of the world.
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References
Bishop, E. (1983). One Art. In The Complete Poems (p. 178). New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Gadpaille, M., & OniÄ, T. (2019). Elizabeth Bishop and the Villanelle: One Art, an Ocean, and Two Languages. Primerjalna Knjizevnost, 69-86.
Poetry Foundation. (n.d.). Elizabeth Bishop. Retrieved from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/elizabeth-bishop.
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