FIRST DEATH IN NOVA SCOTIA

> Poem by Elisabeth Bishop which illustrates a child’s first experience with death.
> The struggle the child goes through highlights the tragedy of the death in question, one of an
even younger child.
> The title, First Death in Nova Scotia creates a strong parallel between the poem and the
writer's own life, having grown up in Nova Scotia. The poem is based on the death of Bishop’s
young cousin, named Frank in reality, an event she experiences as a young girl. To her, his
death is indeed the First Death she has experienced, in her hometown, Nova Scotia.

THESIS: The child’s point of view on death makes the poem tragic, as the young persona works
through her confusion.

I) The avoidance of reality (1+2)

★ Cold
Repetition of word + O sound: sets solemn mood and a lifelessness that will be present through
the poem → All life is sucked out when the cold arrives
Mirrors the coldness and lifelessness of the corpse
★ Setting described in detail
Childlike attention to detail: notices everything, even if doesn’t understand everything.
The word “death” and similar are never uttered throughout the poem, in the beginning
especially, the reader feels some confusion with the euphemism “my mother laid out arthur”.
This could be because the persona has no real grasp on what death is, or it could be because
she is unwilling to face it.
To avoid having to face the reality: knows of the corpse but looks up instead: at the royal
portraits: enumeration as though to distract from the reality
The name “Arthur” is mentioned twice in the first stanza (when referring to the child), will be
mentioned more later: parallel to how difficult death is to grasp for a child
All things noticed are lifeless/ inanimate (chromographs, loon, corpse)
Similarly:
★ Loon
Taxidermied loon: parallel with Arthur
persona jumps from 1 topic to another: much like the stream of consciousness of a child:
characteristic of a child’s thoughts (even though poem is written retrospectively, Bishop did her
best to emulate a child’s mind)
Through the description of the loon “he hadn’t said a word”, the persona illustrates her lack of
understanding of death. This childlike perspective is further accentuated when she describes
the loon as “caressable”. Furthermore, the limited understanding and access to the world, as
experienced by the child, is mirrored by the loon “He kept his own counsel”. Here, there is a
mystery, an air of secrecy, felt by the persona, which only exacerbates the feeling of confusion
omnipresent in the poem.
Personification of the Loon: extreme repetition of “he” pronoun throughout the second stanza:
the child focuses and puts all of Arthur’s lost humanity into a loon. Link with Arthur: they are
both silent, cold, inanimate, vulnerable, small. ⇒ Loon is a metaphor for Arthur
★ Colours
Only two colours are mentioned throughout the poem: white + red: they are constant and are
both associated with death. For example “White, frozen lake”, “His eyes were red glass”... They
are associated in turn with Arthur, the Loon and the chromographs, the 3 things that are
connected by death/ inanimacy
Ordinarily, white is connected to innocence, which could serve as an extra reminder of the
innocence of the children faced with death, both Arthur (“White, like a doll”) and the persona,
who sees white everywhere.
★ Rhyming
The rhyming in the first two stanzas is limited to the first two lines where “parlour” and “arthur”
are matched. The rhyming in this case creates an association between the place and the
corpse, placing Arthur at the centre of the persona’s reflection, despite only being mentioned
twice in the first two stanzas. The lack of rhyming and regular syllable work creates a freestyle,
mirroring the disorganised thoughts coming from the persona.

II) Facing death through a childlike lens (3+4)

★ Direct speech
Breaks the silence that was created with the short verses and cold atmosphere. The mother is
the first one alive to hold the persona’s attention. The repetition of “come” could signify the
persona’s reluctance to face the body, as if the mother was forced to repeat it to a child who isn’t
listening.
The mother is the first to make explicit the situation, she explains who Arthur is and that the
persona must “say good-bye”, finally cluing in the reader on the nature of the event.
★ Lifted
The fact that the persona must be lifted to see the coffin reminds the reader of her youth,
creating a tragic backdrop. The fact that she is being lifted reminds us of her youth while
stripping her of the latter. Indeed, she is placed in the position of an adult, something she is not
ready for at all. Additionally, she is forced to look at death and meet this new concept.
★ Lily
A Lily of the Valley is a small funeral plant, showing the smallness of the two main focus points.
The fact that the persona is given the lily first, and holds it before giving it to Arthur creates a link
between the dead and the living. The lily works as a symbol of their innocence.
★ Compares to things she knows: cake, lake, doll, Jack Frost
In order to understand what she is facing, the persona compares everything she sees to things
she knows. Indeed, the first of these comparisons being the metaphor of the “frosted cake” to
describe the coffin. She describes something scary as something that brings her regular comfort
and joy.
The next of these comparisons is the simile “like a doll”, when describing Arthur, to show how
small and lifeless he is. Dolls are made to look like inanimate babies, which is what the persona
seems to be witnessing when seeing her cousin’s corpse. The tragedy of the situation is shown
through the time wasted “a doll that hadn’t been painted yet”, this shows how un-ornate and sad
he seems, all the while hinting at his youth.
The final comparison is the metaphor of the cold through Jack Frost. She personifies the cold
into this mythical character, often depicted as a teenager or young adult. The tragic innocence
of the persona is shown once again through her belief in Jack Frost and through her easy
distracted mind. Jack Frost made Arthur hold both red and white, fulfilling the themes of death
present.
★ Yet → Forever: evolution
Stanza 3 displays an evolution in the child’s understanding of death. Indeed, it goes from “hadn’t
been painted YET”, to “(forever)” in brackets, to the stanza ending in “forever.”. Through the
juxtaposition between Yet and Forever, the persona seems to start accepting the finality of
death, after the previous refusal or reluctance.

III) An uncertain ending (5)

★ Wish for fairytale ending
Stanza 5 changes the topic entirely once again, mirroring the child’s stream of consciousness.
She wishes for a fairytale ending for her cousin, for him to live with the royals as a page.
★ Warm in red + ermine
Unlike the other dead/ inanimate figures of attention, the royals are “warm” in red and white.
Previously, white was associated with cold (frozen, frosted, death), but the royals seem to thrive
in the environment. This is the afterlife the persona wishes for Arthur.
★ Last question: no happy ending
However, despite the hopes displayed though the last stanza, the poem end in a 4 verse
question. It shows that the child doesn’t fully believe in the fantasy happy ending she had
imagined and still has many questions about death. The imagery in the last few lines is as tragic
as it is beautiful
★ Some closure
One of the few perfect rhymes in the poem happens in the last question”go” with “snow”. It
creates a sense of closure despite the question mark ending. It makes the question poetic and
fluid.