Elsewhere in "Elsewhere"

The poems in Elsewhere vary greatly from the ones in Brazil. Whereas Brazil's poems focused solely on nature and the Brazilian environment, Elsewhere focuses entirely on family and relations between other people. In fact, the poem "Manners" is all about a grandfather teaching the speaker about how to politely interact with other people. It says so much about values, the character of the grandfather, and also technology's effect on interpersonal relations. The poem begins with

My grandfather said to me

as we sat on the wagon seat,

“Be sure to remember to always

speak to everyone you meet.”

The poem goes on in that fashion, with the grandfather passing on worldly advice to the youngster, until they encounter a car. The last two stanzas read:

When automobiles went by,

the dust hid the people’s faces,

but we shouted “Good day! Good day!

Fine day!” at the top of our voices.

When we came to Hustler Hill,

he said that the mare was tired,

so we all got down and walked,

as our good manners required.

Note that the main characters are riding in a horse drawn carriage.

I think the crucial line is “When the automobiles went by, the dust hid the people’s faces…” yet the characters still attempt to be genial. They’re only met with the dust from the car, even after yelling their greetings at the top of their voices. Despite this, they still walk the remainder of the way to accommodate the tire mare.
New technology (automobiles) may bring people to their destinations faster, but it eliminates the simpler way of life, when it was important to take time to interact with one’s neighbor and fellow man.

A really interesting poem that caught my eye is “Sestina.” Obviously, it is a sestina. Now that we’ve got the hard stuff out of the way…

The most important motif in this poem is the animation of inanimate objects. By this I mean that non-living objects are either personified or portrayed to be real objects, rather than drawn on paper.

“the child is watching the teakettle’s small hard tears dance like mad…the way the rain must dance on the house.”

“Bird-like, the almanac hovers half open above the child, hovers above the old grandmother and her teacup full of dark brown tears.”

“It was to be, says the Marvel Stove.

“I know what I know, says the almanac”

With crayons the child draws a rigid house

and a winding pathway. Then the child

puts in a man with buttones like tears

and shows it proudly to the grandmother.

But secretly, while the grandmother

busies herself about the stove,

the little moons fall down like tears

from between the pages of the almanac

into the flower bed the child

has carefully placed in the front of the house.

Time to plant tears, says the almanac.

The grandmother sings to the marvelous stove

and the child draws another inscrutable house.

Notice how tears fall from the almanac, the almanac and stove speak, the tears fall into the flower bed (the drawn flower bed, not a real one). The million dollar question is, why the sestina form? Well here’s my theory.

The sestina form seems to be one of the strictest poetic forms out there. In this respect, one can argue that it is an “inanimate” form, in that there is no wiggle room with respect to form. The author is bound by the rules. However, a skilled poet can bring this form “alive” through, well, good writing. Bishop is stating that ideas and objects that aren’t necessarily “real” can be brought to life, and she says this through both the content and the form.