Apr25

Importance of Travel to Bishop

by Tyler on April 25th, 2012 at 11:50 pm
Posted In: Final Essay

The following is a paragraph on the importance that travel had both on the life and literary career of Elizabeth Bishop.  This will probably be the third paragraph following the intro and a paragraph on approaching travel with psychoanalysis:

Elizabeth Bishop is one of many authors who traveled a great deal in her lifetime. It is easy to see by looking at her work that travel played an important role both in her life and literary career.  During her lifetime, Bishop spent significant time abroad in places including Nova Scotia, France, and Brazil.  She did not just visit these places however; she lived for substantial amounts of time in these areas.  Her time in these different countries greatly influenced much of her writing.  Even her time spent in different parts of the U.S. significantly affected the subjects of many of her poems.  Some of the names of her books included North & South, Questions of Travel, and Geography III.  Bishop made it clear that traveling and the experiences that accompany it were both enjoyable and enlightening.  She seemed to do a good amount of reflective thinking while she traveled which expresses itself in several of her poems.  Three such poems are “Arrival at Santos”, “Questions of Travel”, and “Squatter’s Children.”  When studying both the language and tones of these poems, one can note that Bishop’s travels seemed to have a reason or motive behind them.  What could have been the motivation for all of Bishop’s travel?  Maybe there was an event or an experience that led her to search for something.

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Apr25

Intro to my final essay

by Tyler on April 25th, 2012 at 11:26 pm
Posted In: Final Essay

This is my working thesis:  Travel played significant role in the literary career of Elizabeth Bishop.  This could have been due to the tumultuous childhood she endured.  Her experiences could have led to a need of self-discovery and inner peace.  Bishop could have been trying to fulfill those needs by traveling.

I don’t think that I need to really change it at all. My goal is to make sure that I stick too it and reference it throughout the essay.  As long as I do not get distracted in my essay, I think my thesis should be fine.

The following is my intro section to my essay.  I will be discussing the importance of travel in literature as a whole:

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” –St. Augustine

Travel has always been an important genre in literature.  This importance can be attributed to different reasons.  One is that travel expressed in literature is able to open up completely new realms to its readers.  Throughout history, the public has turned to literature in order to learn about distant lands and cultures.  Most of these people never had the opportunity to actually travel to these areas themselves; their only experience came through what was recorded by actual travelers.  Travel in literature is one way in which the world was opened up at a time when several of the nations were very autonomous.  Nations and cultures that at one time were mysterious, were now being revealed to the public. In this way, travel in literature could transform any regular member of society into an explorer.  Travel in literature has also been used to unify nations.  During the Renaissance, travel literature was extremely popular.  Authors from certain countries like Japan or China used their travel to bring about a sense of national unity.  Many of these men traveled throughout their own homeland, discoursing and socializing with their fellow countrymen.  The people who read about their endeavors were able to share this experience even though they never met the people written about.  People who were separated by hundreds of miles were now able to relate to each other.  Fellow countrymen were now able to share a common feeling of national pride as they read about the thoughts and actions of each other. Travel in literature was able to bring people together.  Travel in literature did not just have benefits for the reader.  The authors who actually traveled to these places were able to explore and partake in new cultures.  For these authors, writing down their adventures was not only a means of recording data for future reflection; it was an avenue for many of these authors to leave behind a legacy.  By recording their experiences, these authors were able to cement themselves in history.  The people who read their works would now point to them as the catalyst for their learning.  The different authors’ adventures would never be forgotten; not only by the author but by society.  The question is then, what drives those who travel to do so?

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Apr22

Conceptual Outline and Working Thesis

by Tyler on April 22nd, 2012 at 11:31 pm
Posted In: Uncategorized

Working thesis:  Travel played significant role in the literary career of Elizabeth Bishop.  This could have been due to the tumultuous childhood she endured.  Her experiences could have led to a need of self-discovery and inner peace.  Bishop could have been trying to fulfill those needs by traveling.

Conceptual Outline: I will be using the three Bishop poems “Questions of Travel”, “Squatter’s Children”, and “Arrival at Santos”.  I will combine my analytical reading of these poems with other secondary sources to shape my argument.  My secondary sources will most likely focus on either the importance travel in Bishop’s work, the importance of  travel in general literature, or psychoanalytic approaches to Bishop’s work.  I will also be doing some research into Bishop’s biography, specifically her childhood.

“Arrival at Santos”:  In this poem, Bishop describes her arrival into this new world.  Bishop is very detailed in this poem as she describes both her surroundings and her initial feelings.  There is some language in the second and third stanzas that strongly supports my overall thesis.  She mentions searching “for a different world, and a better life” (9-10) as she arrives in Brazil.  This poem will be helpful in showing what Bishop’s motives for travel could have been.  At least the motives that she was willing to write about.

“Questions of Travel”: This is a very reflective poem by Bishop in which she wonders about the importance of travel.  Bishop describes a short journey she has taken while in Brazil and then stops to reflect on if the journey was worthwhile.  The fact that Bishop questions the importance of travel herself is noteworthy.  She seems to leave subtle hints as to how important travel is.  The repetition of the phrase “a pity, not to have” (30, 31, 33, 35, 42, 47, 53, 55) is something to be noted.  I believe this poem will help reveal some of Bishop’s own opinions on travel.  Pairing this with my general sources on travel in literature will help my essay.

“Squatter’s Children”: Psychoanalysis of this poem will be crucial to my essay.  It seems to have the strongest themes and language that would suggest Bishop had some unresolved issues from her childhood.  The whole poem is about Bishop watching children play.  That right there could be something to take note of.  In the poem, Bishop also mentions the role of the father and the mother in the children’s lives.  The language associated with both is going to be important to analyze closely.  I believe that this poem will be key to my whole essay working together.

Works Cited

Bishop, Elizabeth. “Arrival at Santos.” The Complete Poems, 1927-1979. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1993. 89-90. Print.

Bishop, Elizabeth. “Questions of Travel.” The Complete Poems, 1927-1979. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1993. 93-94. Print.

 

3 Comments
Apr14

What is behind Bishop’s adventures?

by Tyler on April 14th, 2012 at 7:33 am
Posted In: Uncategorized

In my final essay, I want to explore the theme of travel in some of Bishop’s work.  Bishop did a lot of travel over her life, and I want to discover why.  I am going to do this by taking a psychoanalytic approach to the poems “Arrival at Santos”, “Questions of Travel”, and “Squatter’s Children”.  Each of these poems deals with Bishop’s time in Brazil.  The common theme that I am looking for in each poem is Bishop’s search and discovery of self while exploring these foreign lands.

In “Arrival at Santos”, Bishop describes her first encounter with Brazil.  She spends the first half of her poem explaining the actual scenery of Santos; she spends the second half of her poem describing her actual arrival.  In both accounts, Bishop expresses some surprise at the different things she sees.  There even seems to be a hint of condescension in some of her descriptions and thoughts (which can be looked at with a post-colonial eye). Perhaps the most interesting lines in relation to my overall theme of self-awareness occur in the first half of the poem.  Bishop gives a quick glimpse into her reason for coming to Brazil.  She says:

…                                                                      Oh tourist

is this how this country is going to answer you

 

and your immodest demands for a different world,

and a better life, and complete comprehension

of both at last, … (7-11)

In this excerpt, one can see some of the condescension mentioned earlier.  Bishop seems to believe that Brazil owes her something.  She almost seems to be expressing some disappointment with her initial sight of the place.  However, Bishop clearly states her intentions for coming in the first place, which is what I want to study.

In “Questions of Travel”, Bishop describes more of the scenery and culture of Brazil.  In the poem, Bishop has taken a journey through some part of the country and now she is reflecting on what she saw.  At first, she wonders if it was worth it when she says, “Think of the long trip home./ Should we have stayed at home and thought of here?” (13-14).  She questions if chasing dreams and exploring new horizons is a good use of our life.  She realizes that it is worth it in her next stanza as she goes into great detail of what she saw.  Throughout the third stanza she repeats the phrases “a pity not to have”  and “not to have” several times.  I believe this fits right into the theme of self-discovery.  While in her travels, Bishop questions whether finding self (chasing dreams) is worth the time and effort; however, she quickly answers with the experiences she had while doing so.  I want to dive deeper into this text to see if she ever settles this internal conflict.

“Squatter’s Children” is Bishop’s account of watching a young boy and girl play from afar.  One line caught my eye right away though.  While talking about these children playing, Bishop states, “and Mother’s voice, ugly as sin,/ keeps calling to them to come in” (23-24).  I believe that this where a psychoanalytic approach would be very beneficial.  Bishop had a very turbulent childhood, in which her mother was placed into an asylum after becoming mentally ill when Bishop’s father died.  This would have an adverse effect on just about everyone, and it would be hard for a young child to discern the reasoning for a parent abandoning them.  This part of what I want to explore in the Bishop text.  I want to see if there is any correlation between Bishop’s need for travel (and self-discovery) and her  early struggles in life.

 

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Apr13

Post-Colonialism: The Study of National Bullying

by Tyler on April 13th, 2012 at 5:00 pm
Posted In: Theory Terms/Principles

Post-colonial study of literature has a huge impact on culture in general.  Its two most basic forms are study of post-colonial writers and the study of imperialism in literature.  The latter of these two is what seems to be the larger of the two studies.  Imperialism in its simplest form consisted of  nations with economic, political, and military power invading and colonizing nations that lacked all three.  In order to sustain themselves, these nations would infuse their culture and way of living into the nations that they colonized.  The main reasons for imperialism was “ignorance, arrogance, and greed” (195) which led to nations such as Great Britain, France, and Spain to invade and conquer countries in the Americas and Africa.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnltJ998gjwStop Bullying Now

One of the purposes of post-colonial studies is to uncover some of the “discourses that justified or obliquely registered the existence of empire” (195).  Post-colonial critics study literature in search of imperialist signs.  Stories that may seem harmless can actually be seen as examples of imperialist thought.  To me, imperialism sounds like national bullying.  In essence, these larger nations are using their expansive resources to take from the small guy what little he has.  Either the bully nation would take of the small nations resources, or it would just colonize and try to change the nation’s whole way of living.  In either case, it is no wonder that so many of these nations later revolted in order to obtain independence.  Even our own nation was really the fruit of imperialist thought. While many of our early settlers came for religious or social freedoms, many others came over in search of wealth.  Once it was discovered that a nation could thrive on U.S. soil, colonization went full ahead; all the while forcing the Native Americans out of their home.  It is almost ironic that we fought as a nation for independence on ground that we took from someone else.

There are several terms in post-colonial studies that are important to note such as diaspora, hybridity, ambiguity, mimicry, mestizaje, and creolization.  Of these terms, mimicry is the most humorous.  The people of these colonized nations strove to keep some part of their identity in tact.  What resulted was mimicry of the colonizing nation.  Instead of imitating and replicating the customs of the dominant nation (as they hoped for), these small nations would mimic them but with a sense of irony (196).  In this way, the people were able to subtly undermine the authority.  They were able to show non-compliance in a way that was not inherently dangerous to themselves.  I have actually seen this personally in Kenya.  Several of the people over there like to do impressions of Americans and many times it’s some form of a cowboy.  It is pretty funny to hear an African speak with a Western accent.  Mimicry is just one of many ways in which people can still hold to some form of national unity.

Works Cited

Ryan, Michael. “Post-Colonial and Global English Studies.” Literary Theory: A Practical Introduction. 2nd ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2007. 194-212. Print.

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