At the Fishhouses Elizabeth Bishop

Section 1 Similar in pattern to many of her poems, with close observation and detailed description leading to a moment of insight. The opening lines have a strong sensuous quality. Assonance = gives serious, reflective mood

Detailed description, as in most of her poems, in an everyday conversational language. Alliteration gives it a musical quality The strong sense of colour (silver) in this poem is reinforced by the reference to “an emerald moss” on the small buildings that are the fishhouses.

It seems the omnipresent fish scales beautify a world that most would find unappealing (it is, after all, a pungent smelling place of death).

Throughout this passage we see the poet’s remarkable eye for detail and her imaginative capacity to transform the everyday, and even the ugly, into something beautiful.

“down and down” – movement of the poem – now entering the poet’s psyche. The third section = the most challenging. The poem moves from a description of the external world to an exploration of the interior world of the poet.

The paradox (“dark” “clear”) may suggest the poet’s difficulty in accurately describing and understanding the massive natural force that is the sea. The poet explores the depths of her own consciousness through sea imagery.

Towards the end the poet returns to her contemplation of the powerful, mysterious sea. She endeavours to understand the sea through her senses. Speaks directly to the reader.

In the final six lines of the poem Bishop achieves a moment of insight. Harsh natural images suggest knowledge can be painful. The closing lines suggest that knowledge is not fixed and static, but like the sea, is forever moving and changing. The sea image is particularly apt, suggesting the vastness, power and endlessly changing nature of knowledge.

SIMILARITIES