Sestina Figurative Language

Sestina is one of the core text written by Elizabeth Bishop. It is a representation of a moment in her childhood. A childhood, marked by dramatic events which shaped Bishop both as a character and a writer. After her father’s death before the age of one and her mother’s permanent hospitalization at the age of five, Elizabeth started living with her maternal grandparents in Nova Scotia who were poor people with a modest background. The picture in Sestina perfectly fits with Bishop’s past. It depicts a little girl and her grandmother, staying in a house and reading from the almanac. However, behind this simple harmonic domestic scene, lays a whole world of mystery which fills the reader with questions which deal with the change of season, the
As one can infer from the title, the poem is composed in a style invented in the twelfth century called “Sestina”. Its inventor is considered to be Arnaut Daniel. The form fastly became popular in Italy and was used by Dante and Petrarch. The form consists of thirty-nine lines within which there are complex repetitions that follow a precise pattern. The Sestina is composed of six stanzas, each with six lines, and a final stanza with three lines. The end words of each line in the first stanza repeat at different places as end words in the following five stanzas. These very specific six words are also in the final three-line stanza called the “envoi”. In Bishop’s Sestina, the end words are “house”, “grandmother”, “child”, “stove”, “almanac” and “tears”. They reveal what the reader should focus on. In this case, the grandmother and the child are the main characters. The house and the stove are part of the setting and complement to the setting. In addition, highlighted in the role of the almanac in the life of the concrete family. Eventually, the tears are a visual representation of the grandmother’s sadness. Some of the words might change their meaning as they are used in different sentences each time. Nevertheless, their subtextual meaning and significance to conveying the message of the poem remain. It is truly spectacular how a poet from the twentieth century used and highly
Some of her most outstanding conventions are observable in the poem. A distinctive property of Bishop’s writing is her ability to create very detailed descriptions. From Sestina’s first line the reader gets a very concrete idea about the setting: “September rain falls on the house.” Elizabeth makes it clear exactly which month of the year it is. Additionally, it is not accidental that she talks about “the” house, a very concrete place. Nevertheless, the setting is becoming more and more concrete. Bishop quickly sends the reader “in the kitchen.../beside the Little Marvel Stove,”. Furthermore, “It’s time for tea now;” At this point, the reader has a very precise idea at what time and place the action is unfolding. Bishop is able to include such a specific setting in the poem because the narrator’s point of view is that of an all-seeing observer. Bishop finds herself comfortable in such role: “I was made at right angles to the world, and I see it so. I can only see it so.” Seeing the world “at right angles” gives her the opportunity to capture every detail, implement it in her writing and reveal its importance. What is even more fascinating is that seeing the world “at right angles” enables her to see the bigger picture. In Sestina, Bishop does not only capture with discretion the physical world but she also captures a significant scene in the life of the grandmother and the child. Elizabeth reveals the grandmother’s emotional