I Am in Need of Music
Neelam Samal
English 101
Professor Millburn
3/24/14
In her poem, ‘I am in Need of Music’; Bishop offers an examination into the feelings of a woman. This author is renowned for her literary work that communicates the feelings and predicaments of her female subjects. ‘I am in Need of Music’ is no different from her previous works. In this poem, she explores the need of a woman for comfort, her need for having a respite from the injurious pace of life and her need for something that is so beautiful that it soothes her to rest.
Elizabeth Bishop’s poem captivated me with its vivid images and rhyming lines, which defines the means of music in person’s life. Poetry is one of the most beautiful means of expressing human feelings and emotions. Elizabeth Bishop, as a skillful poet, is known for being able to fit the most complex phenomena into a simple form of a short poem. In her I am in need of music, bishop brings music to level of a physical and emotional necessity for a human being and discusses eternal importance of music in the world.
The poem starts with the comparison of music with water that covers a person form head to feet and overwhelms the person with its greatness:
“I am in need of music that would flow Over my fretful, feeling fingertips. Over my bitter-tainted, trembling lips, With melody, deep, clear, and liquid-slow”
Thus, while reading these lines, one can clearly imagine how music takes over a person and virtually makes the person drown inside of its invisible tides and flows. Using imagery and sensory detail, Bishop provides a beautiful description of the music in the poem. Uses words such as "liquid-slow" and "flow," allows the reader to feel the flowing, transforming power of music throughout their bodies.
Bishop emphasizes that the protagonist needs endless music, “I am in need of music that would flow” (line 1).
English 101
Professor Millburn
3/24/14
In her poem, ‘I am in Need of Music’; Bishop offers an examination into the feelings of a woman. This author is renowned for her literary work that communicates the feelings and predicaments of her female subjects. ‘I am in Need of Music’ is no different from her previous works. In this poem, she explores the need of a woman for comfort, her need for having a respite from the injurious pace of life and her need for something that is so beautiful that it soothes her to rest.
Elizabeth Bishop’s poem captivated me with its vivid images and rhyming lines, which defines the means of music in person’s life. Poetry is one of the most beautiful means of expressing human feelings and emotions. Elizabeth Bishop, as a skillful poet, is known for being able to fit the most complex phenomena into a simple form of a short poem. In her I am in need of music, bishop brings music to level of a physical and emotional necessity for a human being and discusses eternal importance of music in the world.
The poem starts with the comparison of music with water that covers a person form head to feet and overwhelms the person with its greatness:
“I am in need of music that would flow Over my fretful, feeling fingertips. Over my bitter-tainted, trembling lips, With melody, deep, clear, and liquid-slow”
Thus, while reading these lines, one can clearly imagine how music takes over a person and virtually makes the person drown inside of its invisible tides and flows. Using imagery and sensory detail, Bishop provides a beautiful description of the music in the poem. Uses words such as "liquid-slow" and "flow," allows the reader to feel the flowing, transforming power of music throughout their bodies.
Bishop emphasizes that the protagonist needs endless music, “I am in need of music that would flow” (line 1).