Speech introducing the poetry of Elizabeth Bishop

My fellow students and writers, welcome. The honour of speak to you, the poets of the future, has been bestowed upon me and I hope I ordain not disappoint. As Stephen Spender erst said I headache I cannot make an amusing speech as I read that altogether(prenominal) geniuses be de demoralize of humour. Today I progress be speaking astir(predicate) match little of the greatest female poets of the twentieth century, and whizz of my own per tidingsal favourites, Elizabeth Bishop. Theres nothing to a greater extent embarrassing than being a poet really.The deli truly of this modest poet convey the shy c one timealed qualities of a woman who was spectacular in being unspectacular. Bishop was neer preoccupied with the disused idea of being a poet. This gave her a sincerity that transposed to her verse in expressing the emotional journey that was her life. Her verse echoes a life well lived with extremes of emotion from the joy of heightened awareness, to abject isolation and depression. Elizabeth Bishop was born in America in 1911. Her father died dead after her birth and at the advance of five Bishop lost her m separate to affable illness.These irate lessons of life, so early learned, left(p) a void in Bishops life, the void of a settled loving family. Her verse form Filling Station explores the themes of love and family which depicts her longing to be loved and to belong. The metrical composition describes a family sustainment amongst the oil and dirt of a pick station. At initiatory she dismisses the filthy stupefy Oh but it is dirty But as in more of her song Bishop looks beyond the obvious to find a looker and homeliness within all the dirt. In this song she comes to the conclusion that Somebody loves us all.This short sentence has gained the power of a proverb for me in my life and Im accredited it will h authoritative-enough(a) resonance with legion(predicate) of you too. This comforting thought, wise and true, shows how Bi shop reveals the truth through her close observation of the little things in her quest for self-discovery. Bishops original style of exhibit situations is in like manner clear in her meter The Prodigal. Have you ever wondered what happened to the prodigal son during his transgression from home? Well Bishop did in this clever poem which focuses on the conk part of the prodical sons life.This effectively simple poem describes mankinds need for companionship, she herself being a self-proclaimed outsider. As an outsider Bishop led a very unsettled restless life draw as desperately and energetically nomadic. She once said All my life I subscribe to lived and be moderated very much akin the sandpiper just running atomic pile the edges of variant countries and continents. Here Bishop confesses of a great believe to travel, discernibly in search of the home she never had. Bishop wrote the poem Questions of Travel which depicts the time she spent in Brazil.Although it was a plac e of immense beauty, she very much felt separate and outside of it. She asks Should we have stayed at home wherever that may be? which shows Bishops great loneliness in searching for belonging. In this poem she also questions the humane need to travel to impertinent foreign places. It foregrounds the issue of whether the tourists quest stems from an spare desire to savour landscapes of difference or whether it might have a darker motive, resembling the imperialistic desire to quash and acquire other lands.She then asks if it is childishness that causes us to cathexis to see the sun the other way well-nigh. More humorously this poem signifies the limitations of human knowledge and understanding of foreign cultures. after all are we not all guilty of inwardly complaining of the intrusive tourists that plague our country annually? Bishop asks Is it salutary to be watching strangers in a play in this strangest of theatres? However Bishops pipeline promoting the merits of tr avel will banish the proscribe thoughts of even the most xenophobic among us.I feel many will wassail the theatrical differences conveyed in this poem as Bishop is so wry and honest about the differences amidst locals and tourists. A striking photographic quality of images is atypical of Bishops poetry. Her poem The Fish uses address that is imagistic and precise in describing the confrontation between an amateur fisher and a tremendous battle-worn fish. The poem is rich in imagery, simile and allegory and uses layering of images which describes in intricate expand the new caught fish.Bishop is an empathetic imaginative observer as she describes the fish inside and out down to The dramatic reds and blacks of his shiny entrails, and the pink locomote bladder like a monstrous peony. The final examination line until everything was rainbow, rainbow, rainbow And I permit the fish go describes a moment of epiphany and apocalypse common to Bishops poetry. Bishop pronounces a mer ciful verdict on the life of the venerable old fish which contrasts strongly with mans attempt to conquer nature. This moral poem is one to recollect about the next time you go fishing.My favourite poem by Elizabeth Bishop is introductory Death in Nova Scotia. The full complexity of childhood is effectively evoked in this simple poem about the finale of her cousin. This is a poem we can all relate to as it conquers a childs first experience of shoemakers last. Although written in her fifties, Bishop manages to capture the confusion she felt as she essay to understand the finality of death. This poem has rather a chilling quality which echoes the do by sequence death has taken in extinguishing the life of a child.The final stanza, although chilling, is one of my favourite entraps of poetry. The vulnerability and fear created as the child doubts the presence of an future is true of my experience of death and Im sure others. The child Bishop asks But how could Arthur go clutc hing his diminutive lily with his eyes shut up so tight and the roads deep in snow? This final line modify with poignancy is a perfect eccentric of Bishops simple but effective style. Oscar Wilde is quoted as saying One should rejoice in the beauty, the joy and the wonder of life the less said about lifes sores the better.However, Bishop manages to do twain successfully in her striking and classifiable poetry that will give much pleasure for years to come. Her poetry covers topics from death to family and from travel to morality. Her keen eye for detail, her finished observations and her simple, concise description of the world around us makes Elizabeth Bishops poetry an animated read. Her poetry boasts genuine feeling which originates from her own harsh experiences in life and often expresses a greater understanding of life and death.Her benignant style makes her poetry a impregnable favourite among many amateur writers and poetry lovers. I hope I have instilled in you toda y the joys of reading the poetry of one of the most influential females of the last century. I will now leave you with a final quote from Elizabeth Bishops poem called Poem. This poem maps the readers experience of reading poetry, from unconcern to recognition of a common humanity. biography and the memory of it cramped, dim, on a piece of Bristol board, dim, but how alive, how touching in detailthe little that we get for free, the little of our sublunary trust