Bishop´s Use Of Language In Elizabeth Bishop's Poetry

The poems “Richard Cory” by Edward Arlington Robinson and “The Bishop of Atlanta” by Sen. Julian Bond are both timeless. When I read these poems, I was immediately transported into the poets’ visions. The “Cory” poem was written in 1897, but still could be used to describe someone we know today. “The Bishop” poem was written about the late, great Ray Charles, a masterful musician. There are some similarities in these poems, but vast differences. A Two

Life is full of inevitable change ad it is not always easy in order to understand our lives and ourselves, we much understand the sacrifices need to be made and this can mean having to face the unknown. Harwood’s collection of poetry explores the understanding that comes with change, despite the challenges it presents. Through her use of memories and the experience of losing what is valued in life, Harwood teaches readers that although the inevitable changes of life will not come easy, it is important to find ways to cope and move on with our lives.

In “Nightwatch”, a chapter of the novel Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard guides the reader through an experience with migrating eels, creates vibrant mental images, and involves the readers with her own thoughts. This is all accomplished through the use of rhetorical strategies, namely diction, figurative language, syntax, and imagery; these elements culminate in Dillard’s intense, guiding tone that involves the readers with the eel experience.

I will begin by explaining the rhyme, style, and tone of the poem, continue by explaining which literary devices and interesting features we can find and the effect they have on the reader, then I will analyze the poem and finally I will give a brief conclusion.

Children from as young as the age of 6 began working in factories, the beginning of their exploitation, to meet demands of items and financial need for families. In Florence Kelley’s speech before the National American Woman Suffrage Association in Philadelphia 1905, Kelley addresses the overwhelming problem of child labor in the United States. The imagery, appeal to logic, and the diction Kelley uses in her speech emphasizes the exploitation of children in the child labor crisis in twentieth century America.

There is nothing more beautiful than the human language. Words that flow off of the tongue like honey bring readers to a place of tranquility. Words are comparable to a Vincent van Gogh painting: complex but simplistic. Anne Sexton uses the work of Brother Grimm to create her own dazzling work of confessional poetry in Transformations. Her poem entitled “Rumpelstiltskin” uses figurative language such as similes and allusions to enhance the imagery of her poems and transform these short stories into confessional poetry.

The final poem of significance is Jazzonia, in which Hughes experiments with literary form to transform the act of listening to jazz into an ahistorical and biblical act. Neglecting form, it is easy to interpret the poem shallowly as a simple depiction of a night-out in a cabaret with jazz whipping people into a jovial frenzy of singing and dancing. But, the poem possesses more depth, when you immerse yourself in the literary form. The first aspect of form to interrogate is the couplet Hughes thrice repeats: “Oh, silver tree!/Oh, shining rivers of the soul!” Here, we see the first transformation. The “silver tree” alludes to an instrument used to perform jazz (probably a saxophone). “Trees” are long, like a saxophone, and the “keys” and “key

Five A.M. is a time in which most people are usually asleep, yet those who are awake get to experience the solemn time of day. Five A.M. by William Stafford and Five Flights Up by Elizabeth Bishop convey different points of view and state of mind during this exclusive time of day. Stafford asks rhetorical questions and ponders in the serenity of Five A.M. Bishop on the other hand expresses her currently disturbed mood, which is affected by her subjective opinions on her surroundings. Both speakers depict a similar scene of morning experience, but both portray different states of mind.

Gwen Harwood’s poems ‘At Mornington’ and ‘The Violets’ mirror ideas of circulatory nature of life and relationships between contrasting themes. Through images and references to certain motifs, two distinct stories and journeys are reflected, ‘At Mornington’s’ journey of life and death, and ‘The Violets’ story of the squandering of opportunities. The portrayal of certain voices and the displaying of contrasting ideas, the two poems have both similar and dissimilar aspects.

In Elizabeth Bishop’s poem “The Fish,” a fisherman catches an imposing fish. As the fisherman holds the magnificent creature out of the water with his/her ‘hook fast in the corner of the fish’s mouth,’ he/she begins to admire the fish for having obviously fought long and hard all its life (Bishop 3). In a sense, the speaker compares the fish to a war veteran who had seen one too many battles. On at least five occasions, five other fishermen had attempted to reel-in the beast given the “five old pieces of fish line” and “their five big hooks” embedded in its mouth (Bishop 51). Bearing this in mind, the speaker thinks of the fish-line and hooks as battle-scars and consequently, looks upon the fish as a skilled survivor rather than a regular,

Anne Bradstreet, in her raw and personal poem, “The Author to Her Book” (1650), depict the submissiveness towards men that she and other women writers endured during this time period in order to describe why she was hesitant toward the publishing of her book. She supports this claim by elegantly including a metaphor by comparing her books to motherhood and by personifying her books as children since she treats her poetry anthropomorphically. Bradstreet's purpose is to demonstrate the ambiguous relationship she has with her books and to reveal her growth as an accepting writer who understands her books may not be as perfect as she had hoped for. She establishes a shift in tone, for an audience of aspiring writers, from a feeling of frustration

“The flame consume my dwelling place. / And when I could no longer look, / I blest His name that gave and took” (Bradstreet 69). In “Verses upon the Burning of Our House” and in “from Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” the pieces include the observing of God’s hand in daily life in the midst of sin or challenge. Anne Bradstreet wrote “Verses upon the Building of Our House” in the Massachusetts Bay Colony corresponding to the event of her house burning that occurred on July 10, 1666 (“Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672)” 68). She immigrated to the Americas from England as a child in the time when belief in Puritanism was overcoming the East coast (“Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672)” 68). Leaving England, her family hoped to escape religious oppression and find opportunities to worship freely (“Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672)” 68). It is the story of how the burning of her house led her to look heavenward and place her hope in the blessings of the eternities to come (Bradstreet 69-70). On the other hand, “from Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” is an

Taking pity on a creature in the hopes it will keep fighting. The poem, “The Fish,” by Elizabeth Bishop, has a sad and sympathetic tone due to her use of imagery and diction. The reader can gather information about the fish and what it has gone through in its life due to the details in her use of imagery. The author's diction creates a sense of peace within the animal, even though it has been caught. These factors make the poem simple, but also sympathetic.

“Bishop’s carefully judged use of language aids the reader to uncover the intensity of feeling in her poetry.”