Daniel Ellerbrock Mr. Kearns A.P.

Lit Block 7 19 April 2013 Statement of Intent The poetry of Elizabeth Bishop is very deliberate and uses many stylistic devices not only to convey a theme but to create an emotional connection with the reader. Bishop relies heavily on imagery within her poems to create her world. Such as in the rooster, The crown of red set on your little head is charged with all your fighting blood.(58-60). These images of aggression with the use of the color red assert more than an image of an angry rooster. These images summon a new world of hostility created by Bishop through the rooster as a vehicle describing its crown of red using the anatomy of the rooster she echoes its aggression and uses the human image of a crown to relate the message back to humanity. Throughout her poems Bishop also uses many image of nature such in the Moose where the bus on which the speaker is traveling is a foreign object that is an abomination of nature contrasting the beautiful imagery of nature. where, silted red, sometimes the sun sets facing a red sea, and others, veins the flats lavender, rich mud in burning rivulets; (13-18). These images of nature are common in her poetry using imagery and color she is able to play with the emotions of the reader creating a sentimental attitude. This description of Elizabeth nature also shows how her accuracy affects her poetry. Her description of the exact color of mud is able to create a beautiful image rather than conveying the common stigma of filth. She, using her accurate descriptions, is able to tailor her images to the purpose of her poetry, whether it be to describe human aggression or to express the beauty of nature.

The critics of Elizabeth Bishop take many different viewpoints, ranging from her her poetry lacking emotion to her writing being heavily based on surrealism. My first critic Robert Cording stresses the differences between Elizabeth and other poets because the way that she writes her poems has more depth and has a connection to nature. This also contrasts Bishop's work with other transcendentalist poets, the process of moving from image to idea, from something seen to something known and believed (Cording). Another critic George Lensing states that Bishops poetry lacks the emotions of Elizabeth. Rather he believes that, The first trait is her scrupulous accuracy and precision of presentation. From the beginning, Bishop made this a goal. (Lensing). Lensing states that her brutal accuracy defines her poetry. He further argues that this was all caused by Bishops unstable transitory life. However my third critic states that Bishops poetry was not brutally accurate for the purpose of realism but rather to simplify ideas and convey complicated elements surrealism in an easy to understand way. Unlike the surrealists, she does not endow the unconscious with a revolutionary power... Instead, within her poems the realm of dreams, like our waking perceptions, remains problematical(Mullen). The critic describes how Bishop includes surrealist elements into her poetry. However the critic argues that Elizabeth is not like other surrealist that her images are just as simple and problematic as the real world. I agree with my first critic because I have noticed in Bishops poetry that Elizabeth is able to easily introduce her ideas, even those of a spiritual nature, to common people. Her clear and accurate descriptions make it easy to decipher her thoughts, talking, in Eternity: names being mentioned, things cleared up finally; what he said, what she said, who got pensioned;(98102). The description of talking in eternity introduces the idea of a dream state and spirituality. This is how Elizabeth operates; she takes complicated ideas and weaves them together into clear conversation that the reader can understand. However I disagree with this my second critic

because he is trying to paint Elizabeths poetry as being detached only using her as an observer not a writer. However this is not the case, and one is flying, with raging heroism defying even the sensation of dying. And one has fallen, but still above the town his torn-out, bloodied feathers drift down;. This poem is full of emotion showing outrage even though it is through the image of a rooster it is an emotional release showing the release of passion which defies this critics statement. I agree with the third critic because he mentions and explains the odd images of Elizabeth Bishop who talks of her dreams in the bus ride in The Moose and her dream it is like another world not an odd dream land which does not contain any sense. Now, its all right now even to fall asleep just as on all those nights. Suddenly the bus driver stops with a jolt, turns off his lights. (150-156), This marks the transition between dream and reality where the wisdom of the problems of the dream world are useful to her to combat her problems in reality. These critics all regard Elizabeth Bishop as a great poets praising her for her accuracy but all seem to differ on her theme and the effect her images have on the reader. I believe that through her accuracy she is able to capture the simplistic beauty and nature and relate the oddities of humanity. She does this in an observant way while still keeping an emotional tie to her work.