QUESTIONS OF TRAVEL Elizabeth Bishop BACKGROUND This poem

QUESTIONS OF TRAVEL Elizabeth Bishop

BACKGROUND This poem is set in Brazil and is based on Bishop’s experiences as a tourist in that country. Bishop would later live in Brazil for several year

QUESTIONS BISHOP RAISES Why do we want to leave our homes? Can we ever really leave them behind? What's the relationship between geography and emotion? What do we gain from traveling? How do we measure our experiences in faraway lands? And, once we've left, can we ever go home again?

STANZA ONE Metaphors and similes are used to help us visualise the landscape Sound effects help to create a harmonious aural effect

Irregular free verse – no consistent rhyme Personification – the trees ‘gesture’ A poem within a poem – italics Boredom? ? Tone of the poem is neutral – objective observer? Lang uag e The cage’s ornate design is described as a form of calligraphy • Clouds compared to tearstains • Birdcage compared to a church

“spill over the sides in soft slowmotion” Sound Devices Ssssibilan ce Assonance Lang uage The repeated broad – vowel sounds slow the pace of the verse and are suggestive of the static and motionless mountains “noble pantomimes robed in pink” “hulls of capsized ships, /slimehung and barnacled”