At the Fishhouses
Elizabeth Bishop
Commentary notes:
* The atmosphere of the place is conveyed vividly in images that appeal to almost all our senses.
* Line 13 introduces a change in atmosphere and language.
* From the beginning we share the poet’s perceptions of the scene
* It is a place of death, if only for the fish.
* Line 32 the focus changes yet again as the old man and the poet establish contact
* There are 6 lines which form a bridge between the earlier part of the poem with the later.
* The sea is in contrast with the decaying human world as represented by the fisherman and the fishhouses
* There is an encounter with an animal. The seal provides the poet with a comfortable link to the alien and sinister sea. The seal is friendly and familiar and interacts with the poet
* The tone of the poem changes
* Bishop switches attention from the sea back to the land behind her
* The overall impression is of a search for understanding through the senses
* The poet has discovered in the sea a metaphor for knowledge itself
* Outer description is followed by intense inner reflection
* Parts of the poem have a surreal/dreamlike quality. The last section of the poem is the poet's stream of consciousness.
* The poem contains memorable imagery.
* Much of the language has a conversational quality. later it becomes more complex as the poet struggles to comprehend the vastness and power of the sea and finally the nature of knowledge.
* Bishop uses sound, alliteration,assonance and sibilance effectively.
* The final section of the poem emphasise how difficult it is to describe the sea. She uses simple basic language, stressing how it is 'Cold', 'dark', 'clear' and 'deep'. However, even simple phrases emphasise the sea's complex and paradoxical nature. from line 65 onwards Bishop uses more poetic language to capture the sea's nature.
* She describes how hostile the sea is. She uses the phrase 'bearable to no mortal' and 'burn' 'ache'.
* Emphasis is put on how detached and disconnected the sea is from the land. It ebbs and flows freely and indifferently over the land as if the land is no obstacle to its flow.
*Bishop describes nature not for its own sake but in order to contemplate the meaning of the world. The religious imagery of her poetry must be noted. The encounter with the seal is presented in religious terms.
*In this poem close observation and precise , detailed description lead to a moment of insight, a vision or understanding.
The Sea and Knowledge
Bishop says the sea is like knowledge, like sea water knowledge can be clear but it can also be dark and unclear, it can be bitter and unpleasant like seawater. Our knowledge of the world comes through our senses. The world around us is constantly changing as is our knowledge of the world as our senses provide us with new information. Information we have about certain things will only remain relevant for a certain amount of time before the situation changes again and our knowledge becomes 'historical'. knowledge needs constant updating.
Themes
*Exile and homelessness ~ the poem suggests the impermanence of home.
*Man and Nature ~ ease on the land, alienation from the sea
*Knowledge ~ what knowledge is, comparison with the sea
* An underlying theme could be not only what we know about the world but how we know the world. We may know the world in many ways. Our perspective is constantly changing, from the concrete world of the senses to the changing world of the imagination, to the world of contemplation. The structure of the poem mirrors these changing perspectives.
Elizabeth Bishop
Commentary notes:
* The atmosphere of the place is conveyed vividly in images that appeal to almost all our senses.
* Line 13 introduces a change in atmosphere and language.
* From the beginning we share the poet’s perceptions of the scene
* It is a place of death, if only for the fish.
* Line 32 the focus changes yet again as the old man and the poet establish contact
* There are 6 lines which form a bridge between the earlier part of the poem with the later.
* The sea is in contrast with the decaying human world as represented by the fisherman and the fishhouses
* There is an encounter with an animal. The seal provides the poet with a comfortable link to the alien and sinister sea. The seal is friendly and familiar and interacts with the poet
* The tone of the poem changes
* Bishop switches attention from the sea back to the land behind her
* The overall impression is of a search for understanding through the senses
* The poet has discovered in the sea a metaphor for knowledge itself
* Outer description is followed by intense inner reflection
* Parts of the poem have a surreal/dreamlike quality. The last section of the poem is the poet's stream of consciousness.
* The poem contains memorable imagery.
* Much of the language has a conversational quality. later it becomes more complex as the poet struggles to comprehend the vastness and power of the sea and finally the nature of knowledge.
* Bishop uses sound, alliteration,assonance and sibilance effectively.
* The final section of the poem emphasise how difficult it is to describe the sea. She uses simple basic language, stressing how it is 'Cold', 'dark', 'clear' and 'deep'. However, even simple phrases emphasise the sea's complex and paradoxical nature. from line 65 onwards Bishop uses more poetic language to capture the sea's nature.
* She describes how hostile the sea is. She uses the phrase 'bearable to no mortal' and 'burn' 'ache'.
* Emphasis is put on how detached and disconnected the sea is from the land. It ebbs and flows freely and indifferently over the land as if the land is no obstacle to its flow.
*Bishop describes nature not for its own sake but in order to contemplate the meaning of the world. The religious imagery of her poetry must be noted. The encounter with the seal is presented in religious terms.
*In this poem close observation and precise , detailed description lead to a moment of insight, a vision or understanding.
The Sea and Knowledge
Bishop says the sea is like knowledge, like sea water knowledge can be clear but it can also be dark and unclear, it can be bitter and unpleasant like seawater. Our knowledge of the world comes through our senses. The world around us is constantly changing as is our knowledge of the world as our senses provide us with new information. Information we have about certain things will only remain relevant for a certain amount of time before the situation changes again and our knowledge becomes 'historical'. knowledge needs constant updating.
Themes
*Exile and homelessness ~ the poem suggests the impermanence of home.
*Man and Nature ~ ease on the land, alienation from the sea
*Knowledge ~ what knowledge is, comparison with the sea
* An underlying theme could be not only what we know about the world but how we know the world. We may know the world in many ways. Our perspective is constantly changing, from the concrete world of the senses to the changing world of the imagination, to the world of contemplation. The structure of the poem mirrors these changing perspectives.
1. Additional notes
Why is it a great poem? Why is that my whole body freezes and shivers at the end, and why I am on the edge of tears that are nothing to do with sentiment?
First we have what seems a long introduction describing every part of a scene in great detail, not only through the eye, but the nose. The image of silver hits us in line 13 and stays with us, transforming everything after it, almost as if the fish the old man had been catching for years had become the shore. We are chilled down, everything is strange, even a little exotic, but the language is plain, almost blunt, using words like the helpless exclamation, 'beautiful', as if the poet were stepping out of the scene for a moment, finding herself wordless and breathless. It isn't just glitter though. There is blood, and rust, and the Lucky Strike, and business, and look, the old man too is covered in silver.
There are sequins on his vest and on his thumb.
He has scraped the scales, the principal beauty,
from unnumbered fish with that black old knife,
the blade of which is almost worn away.
Then we see the tree trunks and the stones and the hint of a descent into the water.
...down and down
at intervals of four or five feet.
And now, for the first time, we feel the shock of the water. Cold dark deep and absolutely clear... It is ominous and staring us in the face. It is like our death yet it is no more than nature. It just is. Something, at least, there is that is cold dark deep and absolutely clear. But then follows an apparently light comical interlude with the seal. The speaker seems to have, or is rather playing at having, established communication with it. There is a joke about total immersion. She sings a Baptist hymn to the seal who appears to listen then disappears into that cold dark deep absolute clarity with a sort of shrug /as if it were against his better judgment.
The words are still faintly comical but are on the verge of leaving the comic for something else. And then the choric line returns. Cold dark deep and absolutely clear...
She looks back at the firs waiting for Christmas. Human festivals and human hymns, the ceremonial world of the human imagination.
But then she swings round again to the water that she has seen over and over again:
...slightly, indifferently swinging above the stones,
icily free above the stones,
above the stones and then the world.
And something begins to open up, partly in her, partly in the world. And then comes the thought, the possibility of entering the sea, doing no more at first than dipping a hand in, and immediately the bones would ache, and the hand burns
as if the water were a transmutation of fire
that feeds on stones and burns with a dark gray flame.
That dark grey flame unites ice and fire.Then she imagines its bitter taste. Tasting it comes the revelation that has been haunting the poem all this time, the sense of that this cold dark deep and absolutely clear thing has a meaning that is just out of reach:
...It is like what we imagine knowledge to be:
dark, salt, clear, moving, utterly free,
drawn from the cold hard mouth
of the world, derived from the rocky breasts
forever, flowing and drawn...
It is knowledge of a sort, imagined knowledge, out of the cold hard mouth of the world, that mother whose breasts are of rock. But the sea is in permanent flow, flowing, drawn...
... and since
our knowledge is historical, flowing, and flown.
And there is the knowledge that has been at the tip of our burning tongue. It is historical knowledge, and since time passes and history is a product of time, it too flows. History is flown knowledge.
In great poetry knowledge flows out of the mixture of sensation, memory, thought and apprehension. It is historical knowledge. The old man, the seal, the hymns, the extraordinary otherworldliness of the ordinary tinged with silver, blood and rust and work is part of it.
Here is a place to start. A first poem against which others can be measure
http://georgeszirtes.blogspot.ie/2009/01/elizabeth-bishop-at-fishouses.html
2.Further notes
This poem is interesting in regard to the setting. Bishop who had a keen interest and connection with nature does not disclose the exact location of the fishhouse that she speaks of in the poem, or the time of year. Perhaps it is a chilly December, the holiday spirit even felt in the frozen waves of the ocean "a million Christmas trees stand waiting for Christmas. The water seems suspended above the rounded gray and blue-gray stones." (lines 64-66).
I believe that Bishop is writing about Nova Scotia where she lived after she lost her parents and went to live with her grandparents "The old man accepts a Lucky Strike. He was a friend of my grandfather."(lines 32-33) Bishop also uses the word "cold" many times throughout the poem so I am lead to believe, as the reader, that she is referring to a December day in Nova Scotia.
The poem is written in free verse which translates well with the content of the poem. It is very focused on nature and the fish and feel of the water and the rocks and trees, not anything that can, or even needs to be controlled. The poem is written in a very casual way implementing caesura sometimes to keep the simple style.
One of my favorite parts of this poem takes place in the last stanza when Bishop compares the freezing water of the ocean to fire. This metaphor is so beautiful that the reader can almost feel the water burning their hand, see the bare stones, and taste the bitterness. This whole section appears to be a comment on how some things are better left unknown. Some knowledge like the bitterness Bishop feels towards her fathers death, or her mothers insanity is best left untasted so that it may not burn ones tongue "If you tasted it, it would first taste bitter, then briny, then surely burn your tongue. It is like what we imagine knowledge to be: dark, salt, clear, moving, utterly free, drawn from the cold hard mouth of the world, derived from the rocky breasts forever, flowing and drawn, and since our knowledge is historical, flowing, and flown." (lines 76-83). Knowledge is a burden that must be carried. It always burns in ones mouth, always flowing out to inform other people. Knowledge is a constant ebb and flow of information, burning ones mouth then when dipped into, weighing on the body, making one weary.
I love this poem, it has so many, too many, facets and details. I love the analogies "All is silver: the heavy surface of the sea, swelling slowly as if considering spilling over," (lines 13-14) as if the ocean was in one big bowl that could spill over. Bishop paints such glorious pictures even making dead fish seem beautiful "The big fish tubs are completely lined with layers of beautiful herring scales" (lines 21-22). The way that she can personify a seal "One seal particularly I have seen here evening after evening. He was curious about me. He was interested in music; like me a believer in total immersion,...He stood up in the water and regarded me steadily, moving his head a little." (lines 49-52 55-56)
I cannot emphasize enough the layers and layers that this poem possesses. A book of analysis could be written on this poem alone. It has such depth and character. So many facets of Bishop's life are represented and so many beautiful themes. Bishop has an unlikely connection to the ocean and that is what I think is the most wonderful part of this poem because it shows so beautifully her friendship with the sea. Bishop says, "Cold dark deep and absolutely clear, element bearable to no mortal, to fish and to seals" (lines 47-49) as if she is jealous of the seals and fish who get to enter the icy waters.
Works Cited:
Rooney, Kathleen. "At the Fishhouses by Elizabeth Bishop : The Poetry Foundation." Poetry Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Mar. 2012. <http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/18
I believe that Bishop is writing about Nova Scotia where she lived after she lost her parents and went to live with her grandparents "The old man accepts a Lucky Strike. He was a friend of my grandfather."(lines 32-33) Bishop also uses the word "cold" many times throughout the poem so I am lead to believe, as the reader, that she is referring to a December day in Nova Scotia.
The poem is written in free verse which translates well with the content of the poem. It is very focused on nature and the fish and feel of the water and the rocks and trees, not anything that can, or even needs to be controlled. The poem is written in a very casual way implementing caesura sometimes to keep the simple style.
One of my favorite parts of this poem takes place in the last stanza when Bishop compares the freezing water of the ocean to fire. This metaphor is so beautiful that the reader can almost feel the water burning their hand, see the bare stones, and taste the bitterness. This whole section appears to be a comment on how some things are better left unknown. Some knowledge like the bitterness Bishop feels towards her fathers death, or her mothers insanity is best left untasted so that it may not burn ones tongue "If you tasted it, it would first taste bitter, then briny, then surely burn your tongue. It is like what we imagine knowledge to be: dark, salt, clear, moving, utterly free, drawn from the cold hard mouth of the world, derived from the rocky breasts forever, flowing and drawn, and since our knowledge is historical, flowing, and flown." (lines 76-83). Knowledge is a burden that must be carried. It always burns in ones mouth, always flowing out to inform other people. Knowledge is a constant ebb and flow of information, burning ones mouth then when dipped into, weighing on the body, making one weary.
I love this poem, it has so many, too many, facets and details. I love the analogies "All is silver: the heavy surface of the sea, swelling slowly as if considering spilling over," (lines 13-14) as if the ocean was in one big bowl that could spill over. Bishop paints such glorious pictures even making dead fish seem beautiful "The big fish tubs are completely lined with layers of beautiful herring scales" (lines 21-22). The way that she can personify a seal "One seal particularly I have seen here evening after evening. He was curious about me. He was interested in music; like me a believer in total immersion,...He stood up in the water and regarded me steadily, moving his head a little." (lines 49-52 55-56)
I cannot emphasize enough the layers and layers that this poem possesses. A book of analysis could be written on this poem alone. It has such depth and character. So many facets of Bishop's life are represented and so many beautiful themes. Bishop has an unlikely connection to the ocean and that is what I think is the most wonderful part of this poem because it shows so beautifully her friendship with the sea. Bishop says, "Cold dark deep and absolutely clear, element bearable to no mortal, to fish and to seals" (lines 47-49) as if she is jealous of the seals and fish who get to enter the icy waters.
Works Cited:
Rooney, Kathleen. "At the Fishhouses by Elizabeth Bishop : The Poetry Foundation." Poetry Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Mar. 2012. <http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/18
3.Another interpretation
Bishop introduces the color silver early and returns to it often. In fact:
- All is silver: the heavy surface of the sea,
swelling slowly as if considering spilling over ...
The opposite of false silver is the profound and true depth of the sea. "Cold dark deep and absolutely clear" is the comma-free phrase that Bishop strikingly repeats. The temptation in the poem is to plunge through silvery appearances to the real "element bearable to no mortal," the ocean water that would kill by freezing or drowning. It is a temptation that Bishop suggests early and then repeatedly defers or avoids. Immediately after first invoking the "cold dark deep," she digresses:
- ... One seal particularly
I have seen here evening after evening.
He was curious about me. He was interested in music;
like me a believer in total immersion,
so I used to sing him Baptist hymns.
- It is like what we imagine knowledge to be:
dark, salt, clear, moving, utterly free ...
- The old man accepts a Lucky Strike.
He was a friend of my grandfather.
We talk of the decline in the population
and of codfish and herring. ...
Bishop's mentor Marianne Moore had written "A Graveyard" about a similar view of the ocean. In that poem, an unnamed man stands in the way of the sea, annoyingly blocking the view. But Moore tries to forgive him because it is natural to want to immerse oneself:
- it is human nature to stand in the middle of a thing
but you cannot stand in the middle of this:
the sea has nothing to give but a well excavated grave.
- drawn from the cold hard mouth
of the world, derived from the rocky breasts
forever, flowing and drawn ...
http://www.peterlevine.ws/mt/archives/2011/04/elizabeth-bisho.html