tropes

Bishop’s descriptions are rich with figures of speech and poetic devices. Metaphors aren’t abused by any means, she uses them just the right amount without sounding forced.

From various poems:

big leaves, little leaves, and giant leaves,

blue, blue-green, and olive,

with occasional lighter veins and edges,

or a satin underleaf turned over

simile:

But surely it would have been a pity

not to have seen the trees along this road,

really exaggerated in their beauty,

not to have seen them gesturing

like noble pantomimists, robed in pink.

Another:

Crack! A tinny sound, like a dropped tumbler.

Metaphor:

and then a baby rabbit jumped out,

short-eared, to our surprise.

So soft!—a handful of intangible ash

with fixed, ignited eyes.

Tropes, used in conjunction with personification and vivid imagery, thicken Bishop’s descriptions and make the reader feel closer to this expansive Brazilian rain forest. With regards to imagery and description, Bishop put on a clinic in “Brazil.”

I’ve been planning on saving the next part, “Elsewhere,” for my week two blog posts as I think it’s so different from “Brazil,” and frankly hard to digest, that it deserves it’s own week.