Elizabeth Bishop
Brief Bibliography
Elizabeth Bishop was born in Massachusetts in 1911. When Bishop was a baby. her father died and as a result, her mother had a mental breakdown. Her mother was institutionalised and was never reunited with her daughter. Bishop’s maternal grandparents took care of her and she spent her early childhood with them on their farm in Nova Scotia. Bishop was very happy there and she became a keen fisherwoman.
In 1917, her father’s family claimed custody of her and she went back to Massachusetts where she was very unhappy.
She was later sent to boarding school, and from there she went on to study English literature at the exclusive Vassar College in New York.
In 1951, Bishop met Lota de Macedo Soares, a Brazilian architect. The two women lived together in Rio de Janeiro until Lota’s death in 1967.
when Soares died, Bishop moved back to the United States and taught at Harvard University.
During her lifetime, Bishop received numerous awards for her published works. She did not write openly about her sexuality or her struggles with depression or alcoholism. Instead, she wanted to be remembered for the quality of her poetry rather than the intimate details of her life.
This article appeared in The Guardian
In 1917, her father’s family claimed custody of her and she went back to Massachusetts where she was very unhappy.
She was later sent to boarding school, and from there she went on to study English literature at the exclusive Vassar College in New York.
In 1951, Bishop met Lota de Macedo Soares, a Brazilian architect. The two women lived together in Rio de Janeiro until Lota’s death in 1967.
when Soares died, Bishop moved back to the United States and taught at Harvard University.
During her lifetime, Bishop received numerous awards for her published works. She did not write openly about her sexuality or her struggles with depression or alcoholism. Instead, she wanted to be remembered for the quality of her poetry rather than the intimate details of her life.
This article appeared in The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2011/feb/08/elizabeth-bishop-centenary
A copy of the introduction PowerPoint completed last year
introduction_powerpoint.pptx | |
File Size: | 2917 kb |
File Type: | pptx |
The Fish
Powerpoint on The Fish
the_fish.pptx | |
File Size: | 3942 kb |
File Type: | pptx |
John's Mindmap - Good Job
elizabeth_bishop_the_fish.pub | |
File Size: | 413 kb |
File Type: | pub |
Some Revision points in short!!
Bishop's Background - suffered from alcoholism and depression, keen fisherwoman (Nova Scotia).
The poem is narrated in the first person - creates intimacy
Bishop's observation of the fish - He is obviously old : large, heavy and ugly yet deserving of respect. Note his skin, ragged and peeling; and it reminds her of old, floral wallpaper. Unpleasant but effective imagery - the fish is also infested with sea-lice and barnacles and it has seaweed hanging from his stomach.
Bishop trying to engage with the fish - staring into his eyes. She want to relate to him and is silently pleading with him for some sort of a sign. However, she doesn't see anything and acknowledges that she is trying in vain to give human qualities to the fish.
Note her attention to detail - five old fish hooks hanging from his lower lip. They have obviously been there for some time as they are now firmly embedded. These hooks are like war medals. They are a symbol of the battles the fish has fought and won in the past. The lengths of line still attached are strong yet the fish clearly broke them in his struggle. In Bishop's eyes, these hooks are symbols of the wisdom and experience the fish has acquired in his long life.
Later, Bishop is overcome with an extroardinary sense of victory. She is overwhelmed. Everything is now transformed and seems beautiful. Like a lot of her other poems, Bishop starts out dull and pessimistic but her poems often end on a more joyful note. Her critical observation of the fish has led her to greater insights into the human condition. She see similiarities between both their life, the battles both fought and won.
NOTE: THIS IS A SUMMARY OF THE IMPORTANT POINTS IN YOUR NOTES - YOU ARE REQUIRED TO SPEAK ABOUT THIS POEM IN MUCH GREATER DETAIL.
The poem is narrated in the first person - creates intimacy
Bishop's observation of the fish - He is obviously old : large, heavy and ugly yet deserving of respect. Note his skin, ragged and peeling; and it reminds her of old, floral wallpaper. Unpleasant but effective imagery - the fish is also infested with sea-lice and barnacles and it has seaweed hanging from his stomach.
Bishop trying to engage with the fish - staring into his eyes. She want to relate to him and is silently pleading with him for some sort of a sign. However, she doesn't see anything and acknowledges that she is trying in vain to give human qualities to the fish.
Note her attention to detail - five old fish hooks hanging from his lower lip. They have obviously been there for some time as they are now firmly embedded. These hooks are like war medals. They are a symbol of the battles the fish has fought and won in the past. The lengths of line still attached are strong yet the fish clearly broke them in his struggle. In Bishop's eyes, these hooks are symbols of the wisdom and experience the fish has acquired in his long life.
Later, Bishop is overcome with an extroardinary sense of victory. She is overwhelmed. Everything is now transformed and seems beautiful. Like a lot of her other poems, Bishop starts out dull and pessimistic but her poems often end on a more joyful note. Her critical observation of the fish has led her to greater insights into the human condition. She see similiarities between both their life, the battles both fought and won.
NOTE: THIS IS A SUMMARY OF THE IMPORTANT POINTS IN YOUR NOTES - YOU ARE REQUIRED TO SPEAK ABOUT THIS POEM IN MUCH GREATER DETAIL.
The Prodigal
Class PowerPoint - had to be edited as pictures etc were too large to upload
the_prodigal.pptx | |
File Size: | 5090 kb |
File Type: | pptx |
Filling Station
Click Here to read the poem
Filling Station
poem__glossary.docx | |
File Size: | 52 kb |
File Type: | docx |
Important Points
This poem can be read on two levels. After reading the bibliography, you will be aware that Bishop had a difficult upbringing :-) Right?
Therefore, this poem could be about Bishop's spiritual search for her mother or even her fasination on this homely family environment. On the other hand, the poem could be quite simply about Bishop’s memory of a dilapidated filling station and of course, her critical examination of it.
She describes a filthy, untidy gas station and she mocks the black and dirty appearance of the filling station. She is surprised to find signs of order within its filth and disorder. With characteristic Bishop curiousity, she wonders who provides these domestic feminine touches.
In the third stanza, Bishop begins to question the scene. She notices evidence that a family live on the premises: the porch with a wickerwork set, the wickerwork sofa and a family dog, comfy in his surroundings. Even the dog is oily. She can’t help getting a dig in at how dirty it all is:‘grease-impregnated’. This means that the wickerwork is saturated with oily gunge.
The hairy pink plant 'begonia' does not fit in: ‘the extraneous plant’. Is it necessary? She describes the design and stitching on the pretty doily. This seems rather odd for Bishop: ‘Why, oh why, the doily?’ She is both amused and puzzled by the femininity. She can’t seem to take it all in. Why would a man in a dirty shrunken monkey suit have fancy tablemats or a pink flower?
In the final stanza, Bishop gives a vague answer, that isn’t an answer. She suggests that ‘somebody’ provides these domestic touches. She uses the word ‘somebody’ three times suggesting that there is a caring person that secretly stitches doily's, waters the plants and arranges the oil cans.
What struck Bishop most was the orderly way somebody arranged the Esso cans. This order seems odd and out of character in an oil-soaked place. She mocks the oilcans playfully imagining that the oilcans are trying to lure business to the filling station. The ESSO cans tempt the passing cars with soft whispers: ‘SO—SO—SO’. The ‘high strung’ cars don’t stop for fuel. She thinks the oily filling station clashes with the fancy technology of the passing cars. When Bishop portrays the cars as high-strung vehicles, she is also comparing them to pedigree racehorses. She sees the letters ‘SO’ on three cans stacked in a line. This is the end of the ESSO label of each oilcan. She pretends that the row of cans is a deliberately arranged message, an advertisement for ESSO.
In the last line, Bishop offers a clue about the ‘somebody’: ‘Somebody loves us all’.
Bishop doesn’t seem to think the greasy males provided the domestic touches. Indirectly Bishop indicates there may be a loving and protective mother figure in the background.
On a deeper level, this poem may be about Bishop herself. She missed and longed for a mother figure in her own life. Bishop’s mother disappeared from her life when she was five. But Elizabeth Bishop may have believed or wished that her mother still cared for her in a spiritual way. She may have felt that her absent mother shaped her life in the same way that a caring ‘somebody’ left her mark on the filling station. The poem shows that Bishop may have tried to imagine that there was a caring mother behind other people’s lives.
The caring figure is invisible in the poem. She is connected to the oil soaked males who run the filling station. She has left her mark, though that mark is fading. Either she is neglectful or she has vanished. What evidence does the poem have for this impression? Everything has got very oily, greasy, shrunken, dirty or hairy.
The loving ‘somebody’ was there at one stage minding the ‘taboret’ and ‘begonia’. Maybe she has disappeared and left the filling station to the care of the oily father and greasy sons.
The last line is just a desperate hope that a mother’s love exists for all or us—even if she has died. Bishop wants to believe that a mother is always there behind the scene.
The main comparison image or metaphor in the poem is the comparison of cars to highly bred racehorses: ‘high strung automobiles’. This is linked to the word play on ‘SO’ of ‘ESSO’. ‘SO’ is used by the poet to suggest that the oilcans whisper a soothing sound to the passing cars like the way a groom speaks to racehorses.
Therefore, this poem could be about Bishop's spiritual search for her mother or even her fasination on this homely family environment. On the other hand, the poem could be quite simply about Bishop’s memory of a dilapidated filling station and of course, her critical examination of it.
She describes a filthy, untidy gas station and she mocks the black and dirty appearance of the filling station. She is surprised to find signs of order within its filth and disorder. With characteristic Bishop curiousity, she wonders who provides these domestic feminine touches.
In the third stanza, Bishop begins to question the scene. She notices evidence that a family live on the premises: the porch with a wickerwork set, the wickerwork sofa and a family dog, comfy in his surroundings. Even the dog is oily. She can’t help getting a dig in at how dirty it all is:‘grease-impregnated’. This means that the wickerwork is saturated with oily gunge.
The hairy pink plant 'begonia' does not fit in: ‘the extraneous plant’. Is it necessary? She describes the design and stitching on the pretty doily. This seems rather odd for Bishop: ‘Why, oh why, the doily?’ She is both amused and puzzled by the femininity. She can’t seem to take it all in. Why would a man in a dirty shrunken monkey suit have fancy tablemats or a pink flower?
In the final stanza, Bishop gives a vague answer, that isn’t an answer. She suggests that ‘somebody’ provides these domestic touches. She uses the word ‘somebody’ three times suggesting that there is a caring person that secretly stitches doily's, waters the plants and arranges the oil cans.
What struck Bishop most was the orderly way somebody arranged the Esso cans. This order seems odd and out of character in an oil-soaked place. She mocks the oilcans playfully imagining that the oilcans are trying to lure business to the filling station. The ESSO cans tempt the passing cars with soft whispers: ‘SO—SO—SO’. The ‘high strung’ cars don’t stop for fuel. She thinks the oily filling station clashes with the fancy technology of the passing cars. When Bishop portrays the cars as high-strung vehicles, she is also comparing them to pedigree racehorses. She sees the letters ‘SO’ on three cans stacked in a line. This is the end of the ESSO label of each oilcan. She pretends that the row of cans is a deliberately arranged message, an advertisement for ESSO.
In the last line, Bishop offers a clue about the ‘somebody’: ‘Somebody loves us all’.
Bishop doesn’t seem to think the greasy males provided the domestic touches. Indirectly Bishop indicates there may be a loving and protective mother figure in the background.
On a deeper level, this poem may be about Bishop herself. She missed and longed for a mother figure in her own life. Bishop’s mother disappeared from her life when she was five. But Elizabeth Bishop may have believed or wished that her mother still cared for her in a spiritual way. She may have felt that her absent mother shaped her life in the same way that a caring ‘somebody’ left her mark on the filling station. The poem shows that Bishop may have tried to imagine that there was a caring mother behind other people’s lives.
The caring figure is invisible in the poem. She is connected to the oil soaked males who run the filling station. She has left her mark, though that mark is fading. Either she is neglectful or she has vanished. What evidence does the poem have for this impression? Everything has got very oily, greasy, shrunken, dirty or hairy.
The loving ‘somebody’ was there at one stage minding the ‘taboret’ and ‘begonia’. Maybe she has disappeared and left the filling station to the care of the oily father and greasy sons.
The last line is just a desperate hope that a mother’s love exists for all or us—even if she has died. Bishop wants to believe that a mother is always there behind the scene.
The main comparison image or metaphor in the poem is the comparison of cars to highly bred racehorses: ‘high strung automobiles’. This is linked to the word play on ‘SO’ of ‘ESSO’. ‘SO’ is used by the poet to suggest that the oilcans whisper a soothing sound to the passing cars like the way a groom speaks to racehorses.