Why "Geography III"? It is a curious title for a collection of poems (particularly with the inclusion of the roman numeral three). Some of the poems are more easily relatable to the title, such as Crusoe in England and The Moose. Crusoe's description of "his" island and that of the landscape passing by in The Moose are both rich with detail.
I personally enjoy this depth of descriptiveness (though it CAN become arduous to plough through, as in certain passages from A Tale of Two Cities and Les Miserables). Being able to visualize the speaker's surroundings more vividly allows the reader to sink deeper into the story. To totally engross the audience is a great literary achievement.
Other pieces within the collection do not fit as readily with the somewhat puzzling title...
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Elizabeth Bishop definitely has a view of every detail around her. It some of her work, she seems to recognize objects of nature and scenery more than she does the people in her poems. For instance, in “The Moose” Bishop really lays on the detail of the bus ride. Every panel of scenery is described. Bishop even makes mention of the “windshield flashing pink” and how the pink coloring got to this point. She really does have an amazing eye for detail and imagery. I agree that there is an abundance of detail in her work and it does make the work much more interesting.
ReplyDeleteAs for the title, I have to differ a little. It seems that after reading the poems in “Geography III,” the reader can find a buried inference to some other place or time in each one; possibly places Bishop has been. You are right, “In the Waiting Room,” “Crusoe in England,” and “The Moose,” is given to the reader as places Bishop longs for, or has lived, or just places that she has visited. However, when one reads “Night City,” Bishop tells us:
The city burns tears.
A gathered lake
Of aquamarine
Begins to smoke.
It is possible that Bishop is referring to the violence that takes place in the slums of Rio de Janeiro. She was in Brazil for a very long time, so it is possible that she saw much violence play out in the streets of Rio. The movie “City of God” goes in depth about this crisis.
In several of the book’s poems that we did not cover, Bishop mentions Nova Scotia and the loss of cities and a continent. Maybe this was Bishop’s way of traveling while ill; her way of reliving the past.