First of all, I'd like to say that poetry has never been my forte. It's always been one of those things that I've never had a knack for, struggled with, and for that reason have become generally not fond of. I've always had problems with its structure as it constantly leaves me feeling lost and like I'd need to be in the authors head to simply understand it. That said, I was surprised at how easy Elizabeth Bishop's poetry seemed to make sense.
At first I'd been skeptical. When I saw that 'Geography III' was chalk full of poetry, I remember groaning and thinking this was going to be a long read. Instead, it went by pretty quickly. Bishop's style of writing was far easier to understand than I thought, and her description of the world around her was detailed and breath taking.
The title, 'Geography III' relates to Bishop's book theme of nature and scenery in each poem. She displays the world she lives in and the obscure cultures that exist around the world in contrast to hers. Like 'In the Waiting Room', which is Bishops outlook on a different world than the one she's known through the pages of a National Geographic magazine. Or 'The Moose' which displays the majestic change of passing life through a bus ride. Bishop describes this world through thick, beautiful details and opens our eyes a little more to the life that is existing around us.
'Geography III' although a misleading title at first glance, is very good. It paints a beautiful picture of the world that we don't normally take the time to truly look at. Bishop's poems seem to take life and slow it down, long enough for us to notice all the little things that make our world unique.
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I'm not the biggest fan of poetry either. I do think that Bishop was much easier to read than other poets too. I liked how she went into detail so that the reader feels like they can vividly picture what she is describing.
ReplyDeleteI think that you have expressed a lovely view of her poetry.
ReplyDeleteI also think that your idea on the name of her collection is a very good idea.
I had never considered that she was looking at National Geographic or that the bus ride mapped the "geography" of life.
Bravo!
Its interesting to me that even though people profess that they don't exactly like poetry, or even look deeper for the hidden meaning of poems, they still find Bishop's poems beautiful.
I think the imagery is so powerful that no matter who reads it, they will find something they enjoy in it.
Yet there is still a vagueness to her poems that would certainly require the reader to know every detail of her life to fully understand all the images. Sadly that’s impossible, but its also leaves a bit of a mystery too.
I’ve always enjoyed reading poetry, but like you, it’s never really been my forte. I think the glamour is lost when it’s analyzed, so in that sense, this book wasn’t too pretty to me. Because of that, I really don’t like reading poems for school. What other reason would a teacher have of asking you to read a poem if it isn’t going to be analyzed? However, I do have to agree that her style is very easy to understand, and her imagery might as well be a picture. For that reason, I really didn’t mind delving into the deeper meanings of Elizabeth Bishop’s works.
ReplyDeleteThe title itself is misleading, I agree. I was kind of expecting the book to compile poems of her travels of Europe, Africa, and Asia. But my assumption was wrong, and instead we got a strange recollection of her life. “In the waiting room” was kind of strange to me. Where you saw beautiful imagery, I thought she was kind of overdoing it. But I’m glad that you actually enjoyed reading this compilation.
Poetry is a unique way of expressing things. I actually had a different experience. I found her poetry easier to understand once it was discussed in class. If something is overtly expressed, and deals with feelings, I find it a lot easier to relate to than something that describes scenery. Elizabeth Bishop does have a unique way of putting her thoughts down and working her descriptions into poetry. She seems more interested in observing the world around her than in observing feelings or relationships. However, I am also a music person and if her poetry had been put to a soaring soundtrack, I might have also had an easier time relating to it. Taking it for what it is, though, Bishop is a good poet who devoted much time to her craft. It shows in the way she devotes time to make it stylistically interesting. I imagine it was challenging for her as a writer to go through many drafts just to come out the way she liked it. However, maybe her love of poetry propelled her through the hard times and made all the re-drafting worth it. She does have a way of describing scenery, but does not seem to devote much time to pondering the inner self, save for spare moments that come about when she is looking at National Geographic or something along those lines. I know we didn’t read all of her poetry in class, just a sampling, so it may be unfair of me to judge her poetry simply based on the few selections we read in class.
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