Elizabeth Bishop and Her Poem "Filling Station"
Elizabeth Bishop's skill as a poet can be clearly seen in the thought- provoking poem entitled Filling Station. She paints the different language levels of poetry with the skill of an artist-- she seems to have an eye for detail as she contrasts the dark and dim reference of a filling station to a more homey, pleasant atmosphere. Bishop aptly arranges her words and expressions through the language devices of voice and metaphor.
In Filling Station, Bishop uses tone of voice brilliantly, through the use of phonetics, to create the poem's initial atmosphere. The opening seems to be offering a straightforward description of the filling station: "Oh,
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Bishop seems to be paying special attention to these words as the words themselves have double meaning.
The poet does not want the reader to forget that they are in the harsh conditions of the filling station, hence the jarring [k] sound, yet the meaning of the words suggest a kind, comfortable atmosphere.
Bishop's attention to the sense of sound throughout the poem aids with the metaphoric meaning of the poem as a whole. At a very simplistic level, the poem begins with the setting of a filthy gas station, or perhaps somewhere else where conditions are not very clean, like a ghetto for example. Combining the oily nature (ie- "oil-soaked" and "oil-permeated")and the depressing concretness
(ie- "cement porch" and "grease-impregnated wickerwork") the reader prepares for a very somber and even corrupt story-line. Oil and concrete are usually associated with the spoiling of the natural, wholesome environment. The reader is then introduced to the type of character thought to inhabit an environment of this nature: a "Father wears a dirty,/ oil-soaked monkey suit" and "greasy sons assist him". At this point Bishop shifts the metaphoric meaning of the poem with the introduction of the word "comfy". Although the dog is "dirty" or
The three round O sounds in the first line are a mouthful, and create an almost whispery quality that is reminiscent of the worn quality of the people. Dinner is a casual affair is a line with soft vowel sounds, which are easier to swallow than the long sounds of the first line. This coincides once again with the implications of the words. The first line paints almost a dreary picture, while the second adds an air of lightness. These vowel tones segue into a more caustic series of consonant combinations in the rest of the stanza. Tin flatware imitates the sound of the forks and spoons hitting the ‘plain creaking wood’. The repetition of ‘plain’ introduces a pattern of repetition that will appear throughout the poem. A relief from the biting consonant tones of the last two lines comes with an almost cooing first line of the second stanza.
The strongest usage of metaphor in this poem is in the first stanza in the line “write their knees with necessary scratches”. While scratches cannot be written, words can, so this insinuates that children learn with nature, and that despite its fading presence in today’s urban structures, it is a necessary learning tool for children. The poet has used this metaphor to remind the reader of their childhood, and how important it is to not just learn from the confines of a classroom, but in the world outside. This leads to create a sense of guilt in the reader for allowing such significant part of a child’s growing up to disintegrate into its concrete surroundings. Although a positive statement within itself, this metaphor brings upon a negative
Although this is a short poem, there are so many different meanings that can come from the piece. With different literary poetic devices such as similes, imagery, and symbolism different people take away different things from the poem. One of my classmates saw it as an extended metaphor after searching for a deeper connection with the author. After some research on the author, we came to learn that the
Metaphors in this poem allow for the reader to recognize that decisions are linked to the overall theme.
The poet uses many metaphors, repetition and morbid diction to illicit the response I had to this poem. Firstly, Butson compared the emotions and internal struggles of a
Throughout the poem, the author creates different tones using different types of figurative language and diction. The poet starts off the poem with the metaphor, “Although she feeds me
Prompt: Write a well-organized essay in which you analyze how the poem's organization, diction, and figurative language prepare the reader for the speaker's concluding response.
This paper will define imagery, metaphors, rhyme and structure and will also discuss the importance of figurative language in poetry and how it communicates to the reader.
One of the most frequent figurative language used in this poem is imagery. In fact, imagery is used throughout the whole poem. For example, in the first poem the reader can imagine a man jumping into the river and sinking, since the stanza states, “I went down to the river, I set down on the bank. I tried to think but couldn't, So I jumped in and sank.” There is also imagery in stanza two, when the speaker says, “I came up once and hollered! I came up twice and cried! If that water hadn't a-been so cold I might've sunk and died.” From this quatrain, the reader can imagine a person drowning. They can also infer that the man was shivering, considering the water felt
Friendship is a blessing, people say, and it is. Men often express their appreciation and respect for male friends through literature. A fellowship, medieval authors call it. A deep and unbreakable connection between males, transcending romantic love. A relationship based on mutual support and admiration, thriving of intellectual stimulation. Nothing is more valuable to a man than a friendship, not even the love of a woman; it is only a man, after all, who can understand another man. To seventeenth century men, friendship (just like everything else) is a male blessing – a patriarchal gift – not for women. Female friendship was “impossible,” for an amicable and supportive relationship between women could never exist. Platonic friendships existed between men, not women. Yet, several female poets challenged this notion, emphasizing importance of female friendships as male authors and poets do. Friendship is defined through a feminist lens in Aemilia Lanyer’s “The Description of Cookham” and Katherine Philips’ poetry in which female characteristics that are often overlooked are deeming meaningful through friendship.
The poem progresses from mourning of the deceased to praising of his achievements and fate to die before his glory withered. Therefore, the tone shifts from somber and quiet to upbeat and positive. Such shift of tone is achieved by Housman’s use of sounds. In first two stanzas, Housman describes the funeral procession as he remembers the time when the young athlete was proudly brought home after he won a race. Then, he solaces the mourners by reminding them it is better that the athlete “slip betimes away from fields where glory does not stay” (lines 9 and 10) because the laurel “withers quicker than the rose” (line 12). The soft “s” sound stands out especially in second and third stanza and it creates a sense of calm and quiet tone and evokes an image of townspeople mourning the death of their “hero”; Consonance of “s” sounds is present in words “shoulder, set, threshold, townsman, stiller, smart, slip, betimes, fields, does, stay, grows, withers, and rose.” In addition to consonance, soft sound alliteration in “road all runners” (line 5) helps to create a quiet tone. As the poem progresses into praising of the young athlete in stanzas four through seven, the consonance of hard “c”, “t”, and “f” sound become prominent. Readers can immediately detect
symbolic richness, but at the same time the poem supplies the reader with a wide
her far from herself. In one line in the poem she brings us starkly into the world of a
Understanding her own purpose in writing, Barrett set out to perfectly portray it to others. This search for clarity in vocabulary is what drove her to create such complicated poetry that, unfortunately, more often than not, perplexed her critical contemporaries. Barrett characterizes her process of writing as being "thought-tied"
It is certainly true that one of the distinguishing features of poetic texts is the use of figurative or non-literal language – this essay highlights the fact that metaphors do contribute to the understanding of a poem. Ted Hughes’ poem, Sketching a Thatcher, is loaded with vivid imagery and ample metaphorical constructions which aids to validate this fact. In order to uncover the message behind this poem, one must take a closer look at the arguments, focus expressions and tenor/vehicle constructions of at least six local metaphorical constructions