Thursday, February 7, 2008
Sestina
Sestinas are possibly my favorite form of poetry. I love the repetition and the plays on words that the poet is required to make. I think this particular sestina by Elizabeth Bishop is fantastic. The fact that Bishop is able to use the obscure word "almanac" and make it work well in ever stanza is very impressive. I love how the grandmother's tears turn into tears from the tea kettle and then into tea in the cup and then finally back to tears. I also really like how the relationship described in the sestina, that of the child and the grandmother, is one that isn't regularly explored in poetry. Typically its more of the relationship between a child and a parent. Anyway, overall I love this poem, not just because of the form but because I think Bishop pulled it off and made a story beautifully.
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I like how this poem describes one little scene, and how the sestina form forces it to incorporate the same elements over and over again. Soon the house, almanac, and stove become like extra characters, especially when they begin to make italicized comments. I imagine the child creating personalities for these objects since he/she has only his or her grandmother for company.
The end word "tears" seems to stand out for me, because its usage is unlike the others. House, grandmother, almanac, and stove all refer to the same person or object while tears refers to several things throughout the poem: those the grandmother cries, the condensation on the tea kettle, the tea, the buttons, the "little moons", and something to plant (according to the almanac). It is as if the child (or the grandmother?), so used to sorrow, is seeing tears everywhere. According to the bio, Bishop's father died when she was young and she went to live with her grandmother. Perhaps here the tears they shed are over the father, who might be the man in the child's drawing.
One thing in this poem that stumped me was "the little moons fall down like tears / from between the pages of the almanac" All I could think of was the little crescent shapes that come out of hole punchers, but I wasn't sure why these would be in an almanac. It's a phrase that drew me in, but I couldn't quite make sense of it.
i think the little moons that fall out of the almanac refer to the different stages of the moon that are often depicted in almanacs. farmers use the stages as cues for growing plants. the moon's stages represent the passing of time throughout the months of planting and harvest. the moons that fall out of the almanac are the tears of all months, of all stages of life. the tears are also compared to september rains, they are referred to as "equinoctial tears" fortold by the almanac. the almanac is "familiar" and has been consulted for ages for wisdom regarding the seasons. it knows the tears of the past. the grandmother's tears. and it fortells the tears of the child when the moon tears rain onto the picture that he drew. they fall into the flower garden. "time to plant the tears" of another season. another generation. another life. the same tears, the same seasons. the same rain. i really loved this poem.
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