Psychoanalysis of Sestina by Elizabeth Bishop - Essay Example

? ‘Sestina’ by Elizabeth Bishop: A Complex Environment for a Simple Narrative ‘Sestina’ by Elizabeth Bishop: A Complex Environment for a Simple Narrative Psychoanalysis is a form of interpretation that allows for a close connection between the dream state and the environment of a poem. The poem ‘Sestina’ by Elizabeth Bishop can be analyzed by the content of its environment in contrast to the ‘everyday’ moment that is described by the work. By using Freud’s concepts of dream interpretation and the psychoanalytical precepts of aesthetics and past influences, the poem comes to greater interpretation through understanding the nature of the environment within the work. The poetic form of the sestina consists of six stanzas that have six lines each with a final three line stanza that finishes off the poem. The form made it more challenging by the need to use the same six words from the end of each line in the first stanza in all of the six stanzas (Wainwright 2004, p. 134). This challenging poetic form creates a consistency and pattern that enhances the emotional content of the work. In Elizabeth Bishop’s poem titled by the name of the form ‘Sestina’, she repeats the words house, grandmother, child, stove, almanac, and tears in order to form her commentary on the relationship of sorrow in the loss of youth and age. As her work is based upon finding the extraordinary of emotions within the simplicity of life, the narrative lends itself well to the interpretations that examine words and their intention, even when expressed seemingly without intention. Choudhary (2006, p. 146) discusses that Bishop is a poet that can present the ‘facts of life’. Her work is like a snapshot, a moment around which the emotional context is centred. British-American poet Anne Stevenson says of Bishop’s work that it is “the poetry of interpretations” (Choudhary 2006, p. 146). Interpretation is a key to psychoanalysis and thus can be used as a key to this poetic work. The first stanza discusses the nature of the grandmother as she sits within her house on which the rain is falling, a typical symbol for sorrow. The idea of the failing light can be seen as symbolic for the end of her life. She projects laughter and joy with her grandchild, but her environment reflects how she is experiencing her moment as she as nearing her end. The almanac as it appears in the next two stanzas can be seen as the predictor of fate which can be paralleled to age as it will inevitably override the vigour of youth. The dynamics between the child and the grandmother is played back and forth among the words as the moment reflects the simplicity of life within the complexity of time. Maltby (2003, p. 49) discusses the idea that the words in poetry are intended to lead a double life. This leads to the idea of the relationship of poetry to dreams. Bonime (1989) discusses the meaning of rain in psychoanalysis of dreams. Although Freud believed in both universally relevant symbolism in dreams and individual meanings, most often symbols have specific meanings that relate to context. The environment of the poem is designed, much like the mind would design the environment in a dream. While rain in real life would be a consequence of climate, rain in a poem or a dream is a consequence of emotion which is what provides the context for the interpretation. In this case, it casts a shadow over the peaceful moment as a reminder of sorrow. Moscovici (2007, p.119) writes that “psychoanalytic concepts make it easier to understand and to give a meaning to what other people do and say”. Psychoanalysis allows for the individual to see their life through the influences of the past. The drives that are inherent in each individual are expanded by how those past influences push towards one end or another. Through psychoanalysis, the interpretation of the present is influenced by the events and interpretations of those events in the past. The grandmother is clinging to the present, her future and her mortality more palpable to her as the symbolism of tears makes clear. The child has the same fate hanging over her, but does not have the awareness that can be seen in her grandmother. The connection between naivete and experience is realized through the nature of the environment that Bishop creates. In the context of the moment, that contrast between naivete and knowledge can be seen at the centre of the work. In furthering the interpretive context, the tears, the rain, the stove and the tea all are connected through the emotional context of tears. The stove is where the tea kettle is brewing the water for the tea which is referred to as “her teacup full of dark brown tears” (Bishop 2003). The stove becomes a space of connection within the poem. Its purpose is to provide one element for the grandmother with another to the child. The child delights in the brewing water even though the grandmother sees it as her tears being brewed and used to make the tea. The almanac has foretold the rain, but it is only known by the grandmother. Once again, the connection between knowledge and naivete is made through symbolism that is in context with the poetic environment. The lines state that “She thinks that her equinoctial tears/and the rain that beats on the roof of the house/ were both foretold by the almanac,/but only known to a grandmother” (Bishop 2003). The nature of the foretelling is that it is based upon experience. The almanac hangs over the child just as aging and time hang over the child, one day stealing her youth and making her the grandmother who looks on the past through her own grandchildren. The almanac is the symbol of the fate that is faced by everyone. Freud discussed the nature of the dream state and how it is related to the waking state. The sleeper may not understand that their experience and knowledge has been captured in the dream state, but the symbols from that state provide clues to the knowledge that is hidden (1950, p. 6). The reality and the dream state are separated. The symbolism of it hanging over the child is more related to the dream state than reality, where the state of the grandmother is more related to the knowledge she does have, perhaps placing her in the waking state. The nature of the environment is specific to the meaning of the poem. The environment is the representation of the feelings that the grandmother has developed about the nature of her age, the cruelty of time, and the sorrow that comes when life is coming to an end. The reader can insert their own influences into the poem, the young person not understanding the losses that come from age where hope and the future are much less related to the condition of life. Just as the child represents the naivete of not knowing what the almanac foretells, the grandmother represents an understanding the past. In order to understand the poem, the use of key words must be put in context with the environment. The story is very simple in that a child and grandmother spend time within a kitchen. When using psychoanalytic theories about dreams, this would be the dream state. The complexity of the environment can be seen as similar to the dream state in which the intentionality has much deeper meaning. The simple joy of the moment is entrenched in the sorrow of the grandmother. Although the child is not aware of the nature of the environment, the grandmother has knowledge of its meaning. The almanac can foretell the future, but the child has yet to understand what it would tell. It is because of the environment of the poem that the meaning becomes clear because it provides the element of context. The symbols in the poem become more clearly defined when placed outside of the knowledge of the child who can represent the dream with the conscious knowledge of age and growing old within the grandmother who might be said to represent the waking state. Dreams and reality run on different sets of knowledge in this case, which is very similar to what Freud said about dreaming. The child has the seeds of knowledge, but does not understand her world as yet. The grandmother knows the world, however, and understands its realities. They are two ends of a long line of knowledge that begins in innocence and ends with understanding. Bibliography Bishop, Elizabeth. (3 January 2003). ‘Sestina’. Poem Hunter. [Online] Retrieved from http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sestina/ (accessed 22 December 2012). Bonime, W. (1989). Collaborative psychoanalysis: Anxiety, depression, dreams, and personality change. Rutherford, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. Choudhary, Madhurita (2006). In search of a voice: Poetic modes of Elizabeth Bishop and Adrienne Rich. New Delhi: Sarup & Sons. Top of Form Freud, S. (1950). The interpretation of dreams. New York: Modern Library. Bottom of Form Maltby, Michael. (2003). ‘Wordless words: poetry and the symmetry of being. In Canham, Hamish., and Satyamurti, Carole. (Eds). Acquainted with the night: Psychoanalysis and the poetic imagination. London: Karnac. Moscovici, Serge. (2007). Psychoanalysis: Its image and its public. Cambridge: Polity. Petrolle, Jean. (2007). Religion without belief: Contemporary allegory and the search for postmodern faith. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Quinodoz, Jean-Michele (2005). Reading Freud: A chronological exploration of Freud’s writings. London: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Tyson, Lois. (2012). Critical theory today: A user friendly guide. East Sussex: Routledge. Wainwright, Jeffrey, (2004). Poetry: the basics. London: Taylor and Francis, Inc. Williams, Megan. H. (2010). The aesthetic development: The poetic spirit of psychoanalysis : essays on Bion, Meltzer, Keats. London: Karnac. Read More

 

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