So I just read the stupidest comment when I was researching this poem. Someone said that he did not get how the title of this poem related to what was happening in the poem. He knew that a sestina was a type of poem with a lot of repetition, but obviously could not put two and two together.
Anyways, moving on...
Sestinas are probably the most confusing literary thing that I have ever come across. It is easy to see how a poet could become bogged down in the form and not even convey the message he or she wants to send. However, Elizabeth Bishop was able to transcend the form and write something with some depth, which I found pretty amazing. The first few times I read this poem, I didn't really get it because I was so distracted by the form. But by the third time (and after some research) I was finally able to look past the form and see what Elizabeth Bishop is actually trying to say.
I really loved the imagery that she used in this poem, especially the many different ways she used the word "tears." Each time the word "tears" was used, it was part of a very different, very vivid image. I could clearly picture all of these images in my mind. And even though the tears were not always human tears, Bishop brought it back to the sadness that the grandmother felt. Bishop's mastery of the imagery created very strong emotions.
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2 comments:
I did some research on this poem this afternoon, and found some interesting stuff.
A couple of critics that the child and grandmother do not really have a special bond, because she is unwilling to let her true nature (her sadness) be seen by the child. Others argue that this shows her love for the child because she wants to shield the child from pain.
A few comments I read brought up the use of the word "house" in this poem. The old grandmother thinks of this place as a house, not a home. This seems to allude to the fact that there is no special bond between the grandmother and house either. It's simply two objects living together, if that makes sense?
I have to strongly disagree about the grandmother and child not having a special bond. The grandmother is trying to protect the child from grief and pain by hiding her tears. However, the child is intuitive enough to notice, and this observation manifests itself in the child's drawing. The rigid little house is supposed to cheer the grandmother up, despite the "buttons like tears" and other subtle suggestions of sadness. The picture becomes a way to deal with whatever loss the two are experiencing. The almanac's advice "to plant tears" at the end is a message to start over and move on from grief.
It should be noted that Bishop's father died when she was one. When her mother was institutionalized, Bishop spent a great deal of time with her grandmother in Nova Scotia.
I think the sestina is appropriate here because the reader is meant to view the situation from the child's perspective. Repetition of key words reinforces this simplistic view. The almanac and the stove 'talk,' lending a fairy-tale like quality to the poem. The chilly rainy day reflect the sad tone of the poem, but the warm stove provides comfort, familiarity, and hope for the grandmother and child.
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