Seascape
Elizabeth Bishop
Noah Collingwood & Riley Kenerly
A Reading of the Poem
This celestial seascape, with white herons got up as
angels,
And the beautiful pea-green back-pasture
Where occasionally a fish jumps, like a wildflower
Flying high as they want and as far as they want
sidewise
In an ornamental spray of spray;
In tiers and tiers of immaculate reflections;
This cartoon by Raphael for a tapestry for a Pope:
The whole region, from the highest heron
It does look like heaven.
Down to the weightless mangrove island
With bright green leaves edged neatly with
bird-droppings
Like illumination in silver,
And down to the suggestively Gothic arches of the
mangrove roots
A Reading of the Poem
But a skeletal lighthouse standing there
In black and white clerical dress,
Who lives on his nerves, thinks he knows better.
He thinks that hell rages below his iron feet,
That that is why the shallow water is so warm,
And he knows that heaven is not like this.
Heaven is not like flying or swimming,
But has something to do with blackness and a strong
glare
And when it gets dark he will remember something
Strongly worded to say on the subject.
Guiding Question #1
How does Elizabeth Bishop comment on
the use of fear mongering by religious
officials? What specific criticisms on this
topic are conveyed through her writing?
Symbolism
“But a skeletal lighthouse standing there/ In black and white clerical dress,/ Who
lives on his nerves, thinks he knows better./ He thinks that hell rages below his
iron feet,” (14-17).
Skeletal Lighthouse
Black and White Clerical Dress
Iron Feet
Rigid and exposed
Definitive nature of clergy
The strength of his beliefs
Death and mortality
A single interpretation
Permanency within this world
Believes heaven is worth fearing
No room for alternative though
Significance of hell beneath the
feet
Takes advantage of people’s fear
and controls them
Juxtaposition and Allegory
The structure of the poem can be dissected into two contrasting sections which
are juxtaposed for thematic effect.
Heaven is: Celestial, Immaculate, Weightless, Beautiful, Illuminated. -orHeaven is: Blackness, Dark, Judgemental, Contained.
Fearful interpretation and teaching of religion removes the themes of love and
warmth which are readily present within the first description of heaven.
“And when it gets dark he will remember something/ Strongly worded to say on
the subject”
Guiding Question #2
What is the significance of the natural
and the artificial within “Seascape” by
Elizabeth Bishop? Through what specific
literary devices does she convey this
meaning?
Symbolism
The Natural●
●
●
●
White herons- White=purity, herons=angels
Mangroves- Thick, hard to see through/past
Green Leaves- Green=Purity, naivety
The fish- Jesus fish!
○
●
The word ichthys means fish in Greek, but the letters are also the initials of five Greek words
that mean Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior” (Iesous Christos Theou Yios Soter)”
Shallow Water- Bishop uses “shallow waters” to allude to humanity’s
shallow lifestyles- living a “godly” life just to get into heaven, not because it's
the right thing to do.
○
“He thinks that Hell rages below his iron feet,/that that is why the shallow water is so warm/”
■ The water is so warm because hell is closer than we think
Symbolism
The Artificial●
●
●
“Immaculate Reflections”- Bishop the white herons’ “immaculate
reflections”, to symbolise an angel
The Fish- Again, Jesus fish!
The Lighthouse- A lighthouse is supposed to represent light, and create a
pathway for those who are lost (lighthouse=pope).
○
●
This lighthouse is “skeletal” and dark...corruption in the church?!
Iron Feet- When the lighthouse (pope) is described to have “iron feet”, this
alludes to the idea that popes believe that they are the end-all-be-all of the
church, and are HIGHLY set in their ideas and ways.
Metaphor
“/The suggestively Gothic arches of the mangrove roots/”
●
The comparison of the mangrove roots to Gothic arches (often seen in
architecture of churches) at the beginning of the poem shows the reader that
Bishop is comparing the natural (nature) to the artificial (religion)
“/But a skeletal lighthouse standing there/in black and white
clerical dress,/”
●
By comparing something commonly found in a seascape (the lighthouse) to
someone in “black and white clerical dress” (a pope), Bishop was able to
introduce the idea of a pope and a lighthouse having a similar job.
○
When Bishop called the lighthouse “skeletal” she began to introduce the idea that the
church/pope are a little shadier than they would like to appear
Ambiguity
Bishop uses a lot of ambiguity throughout this poem- mainly because she is
writing about religion, which is a highly ambiguous concept
“/Heaven is not like flying or swimming, / but has something to do with blackness and
a strong glare / and when it gets dark he will remember something/ strongly worded to
say on the subject.”
The closing line in the poem is especially significant, because the reader really
has no way of knowing what “something strongly worded” would be and
what “the subject” really is.
Group Discussion
1. To what extent does the shift in tone in the
middle of the poem hint at Bishop’s views on
religion and the corruption in the church?
2. What roles does ambiguity play throughout
Bishop’s poetry?
3. With reference to one other poem, discuss the
themes of the natural and the artificial with
Bishop’s poems.