Term Papers on Elizabeth Bishop And Her Poem Filling Station

Term Paper Title	Elizabeth Bishop And Her Poem Filling Station
# of Words	939
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	3.76

Elizabeth Bishop and Her Poem "Filling Station"

        Elizabeth Bishop's skill as a poet can be clearly seen in the thought-
provoking poem entitled Filling Station.  She paints the different language
levels of poetry with the skill of an artist-- she seems to have an eye for
detail as she contrasts the dark and dim  reference of a filling station to a
more homey, pleasant atmosphere.  Bishop aptly arranges her words and
expressions through the language devices of voice and metaphor.
     In Filling Station, Bishop uses tone of voice brilliantly, through the
use of phonetics, to create the poem's initial atmosphere.  The opening seems to
be offering a straightforward description of the filling station:  "Oh, but it
is dirty!/  -this little filling station,/  oil-soaked, oil-permeated/  to a
disturbing, over-all/  black translucency".  A closer inspection of the passage
reveals quite a visual oil-soaked picture. This is created in large part by the
oily sounds themselves.  When spoken out-loud the diphthong [oi] in oil creates
a diffusion of sound around the mouth that physically spreads the oil sound
around the passage.  An interesting seepage can also be clearly seen when
looking specifically at the words "oil-soaked", "oil-permeated" and "grease-
impregnated".  These words connect the [oi] in oily with the word following it
and heighten the spreading of the sound.  Moreover, when studying the [oi]
atmosphere throughout the poem the [oi] in doily and embroidered seems to
particularly stand out.  The oozing of the grease in the filling station moves
to each new stanza with the mention of these words:  In the fourth stanza, "big
dim doily",  to the second last stanza, "why, oh why, the doily? /Embroidered"
to the last stanza, "somebody embroidered the doily".
     Whereas the [oi] sound created an oily sound of language throughout the
poem, the repetitive [ow] sound achieves a very different syntactical feature.
The cans which "softly say:  /ESSO--SO--SO--SO" create a wind-like blowing
effect from the mouth.  Each SO allows for a  sort of visual metaphor to be
seen-- cars or the personified "high-strung automobiles" as they pass on by.
Not only are [oi] and [ow] sounds effectively used in this poem to create a
unique tone but so is the use of the cacophony [k] sound.  In-between the oozing
effect of the oil, the reader is drawn to the sharp clicking of the [k] in words
like "comfy", "crochet", "comic","color" and "cans".  Bishop seems to be paying
special attention to these words as the words themselves have double meaning.
The poet does not want the reader to forget that they are in the harsh
conditions of the filling station, hence the jarring [k] sound, yet the meaning
of the words suggest a kind, comfortable atmosphere.
     Bishop's attention to the sense of sound throughout the poem aids with
the metaphoric meaning of the poem as a whole.  At a very simplistic level, the
poem begins with the setting of a filthy gas station, or perh...

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