Elizabeth Bishop - Language essay
“Bishop’s carefully judged use of language aids the reader to uncover the intensity of feeling in her poetry.” To what extent do you agree or disagree with the above statement? Support your answer with reference to the poetry of Elizabeth Bishop on your course.
Elizabeth Bishop’s use of language in her poems has allowed readers to grasp a better understanding of feeling in her poetry. During the beginning of Bishop’s career, she was often referred to as a ‘miniaturist’. Her concentration on minor details aided readers in building mental images while reading her poems. By focusing deeply on the description of images, it became easier for readers to understand the emotion and intensity of each line. Often times, Bishop would gain inspiration from the images she witnessed with her own eyes. Several of Bishop’s poems are in fact based entirely off of personal experiences and past memories. Elizabeth Bishop guides the reader through descriptive detail, in order to aid them in fully understanding the feeling of her poetry. In this answer I will examine Bishop’s use of language and how it aids the reader in uncovering the intensity of feeling in her poetry.
Elizabeth Bishop has used past memories, personal experiences, and her observations of nature and human life to include in her poems. Many of Bishop’s poems include the mention of animals, such as ‘The Fish’, ‘The Prodigal’, and ‘The Armadillo’. This mention of animals and their behavior is effectively presented and supported with thorough detail. The precise language which Bishop chose to include in her poems, acts as a guideline for uncovering the emotion felt during the time of the experience. Had Bishop not included minor details that she considered to be critical, the chance of passing on the intensity of feeling may have been lost. In Bishop’s poem ‘The Fish’, she writes about her experience of catching a “tremendous fish”. By stating in the opening line that the fish was indeed
Elizabeth Bishop’s use of language in her poems has allowed readers to grasp a better understanding of feeling in her poetry. During the beginning of Bishop’s career, she was often referred to as a ‘miniaturist’. Her concentration on minor details aided readers in building mental images while reading her poems. By focusing deeply on the description of images, it became easier for readers to understand the emotion and intensity of each line. Often times, Bishop would gain inspiration from the images she witnessed with her own eyes. Several of Bishop’s poems are in fact based entirely off of personal experiences and past memories. Elizabeth Bishop guides the reader through descriptive detail, in order to aid them in fully understanding the feeling of her poetry. In this answer I will examine Bishop’s use of language and how it aids the reader in uncovering the intensity of feeling in her poetry.
Elizabeth Bishop has used past memories, personal experiences, and her observations of nature and human life to include in her poems. Many of Bishop’s poems include the mention of animals, such as ‘The Fish’, ‘The Prodigal’, and ‘The Armadillo’. This mention of animals and their behavior is effectively presented and supported with thorough detail. The precise language which Bishop chose to include in her poems, acts as a guideline for uncovering the emotion felt during the time of the experience. Had Bishop not included minor details that she considered to be critical, the chance of passing on the intensity of feeling may have been lost. In Bishop’s poem ‘The Fish’, she writes about her experience of catching a “tremendous fish”. By stating in the opening line that the fish was indeed