Elizabeth Bishop Poems

            Both poems written by Elizabeth Bishop caught my eye. I have familiarity with Bishop’s poetry and I have read her book of work Geography III but I have never heard of the “Filling Station” or “The Bight”.

The poem the “Filling Station” was intriguing because it was such an ornate description of a gas station. This is why I like Elizabeth Bishop’s work so much because she has such a beautiful way of describing ordinary everyday places in her poetry. She elaborates on her descriptions of the gas station, she states that it is dirty but goes onto saying that it is “oil-soaked”, “oil-permeated”, and “over-all black translucency”. Bishop could have left the description simple at “oil-soaked” or even as earlier in the poem in her first line “Oh, but it is dirty!” however, she continues going on describing it stressing the fact that the station is drenched in oil. The fact that Bishop does this gives a very clear depiction to the reader that there is no doubt this station is not messy. Bishop adds a bit of comedic commentary when she states in the last line of the first stanza “Be careful with that match!” Bishop again is able to reference how the station is covered in oil by emphasizing the fact that if a match were to fall on the floor the whole place would disappear into flames. Bishop uses the words “oil”, “greasy” and “dirty” throughout the rest of the poem.

The interesting thing about Bishop’s poem “The Bight” is that while I was reading it I never noticed the smaller font beneath the title that reads “on my birthday”. After reading this poem in the context of the setting occurring on the authors birthday my perceptions of the poem changed. I was able to understand the poem much more clearly and I was not confused anymore. I especially like Elizabeth’s description of “the frowsy sponge boats keep coming in with obliging air of retrievers”. I like these two lines because it is almost like Bishop is referring life to a “frowsy sponge” and it is like the sponge keeps soaking her up in this “boat” that she is referring to throughout the poem.