Bishop and Rich’s Journey of a Woman, Essay Example

Women poets Elizabeth Bishop and Adrienne Rich share a similar voice.  They are strong women poets who give poetic voice to the inner lives of women.  In “In the Waiting Room” Bishop’s voice brings us the voice of a child.  The child voice is naïve, and speaks to us of a simpler time, when things seemed so different than they do as an adult.   While Bishop takes us back to the themes of childhood, Rich, by contrast, takes us forward to the time of the emergence into adulthood in “Diving into the Wreck.”  Both poets bring us stories of transitions, of an emergence into a new identity.  Both Bishop and Rich speak to us in voices we remember, and bring us back to those stark realizations of gender issues that emerged out of the different stages a woman must journey through on the way to adulthood.

Bishop opens the scene of the poem in a quite mundane place, a dentists’ office.  The young girl is waiting for her aunt.  A waiting room seems an out-of-the-ordinary place for a revelation, but we are given clues as to the revelation to come by the magazine that the young girl is reading.  “and while I waited and read the National Geographic”.  (Bishop page #)  National Geographic represents exploration, which is the voyage on which the young girl is waiting to begin.  Rich’s poem opens with an obvious metaphor for a journey about to be undertaken, as the woman is about to descend to a shipwreck, and is preparing with her gear to begin the journey.  By choosing to place the scene of the journey in an everyday place, Bishop creates a stark contrast between the experience and the setting.  The young girl stands out, with her National Geographic, her guide to explore the wilds of the human psyche.  Rich’s character comes prepared to her journey with all the proper tools of an explorer, her mask, her fins, and her “body armor of black rubber.”  Rich also makes reference to the explorer when the woman compares herself of Jacques Cousteau.Rich uses different style to depict the journey than Bishop.  Her voice is strong, a woman’s voice who has experienced much but is still unprepared for the self discoveries she is about to make.  A woman is ready for the discovery; she has been preparing and goes into the water to explore willingly.  Bishop chooses to use a child’s voice to illuminate the inner journey about to begin.  The child is unprepared for the revelation.  She does not come prepared with information or tools.  Rich’s character has “read the book of myths” and though Bishops character can read, she has not yet had access to the collective myths of society.  Both are aspects of every woman’s journey, the journey from the child to the adolescent, and the adolescent to the adult.  The tone is different because there are written in the tone appropriate for the journey.  Both women address the issue of emerging in a new territory and having to learn to cope with the rules of that place.  Bishop’s voice of a child expresses things different than an adult would, since she is using her known words to express the world around her.  Her childlike innocence takes in everything, describing the clothes of the other people in the waiting room. She describes adults as “grown-up people”, again clueing us into the differences she is experiencing, being a child in a grown up world.  The experience of reading the magazine causes the girl to have a realization, about herself and her place in the world.  She recognizes that she will have to enter that grown up world, that she will one day be an adult.  Her realization is triggered when an internal scream coincides with the real scream of her aunt in the dentist’s office.   Rich, on the other-hand, being on a journey to adulthood, has had to let go of childish screams.  Her journey is done silently and doggedly.  Even if she is afraid she cannot and does not show it.  Her journey is one of necessity, to come of age and explore the waters of adulthood.  Both Rich and Bishop show overwhelming emotion as the journey begins.  Rich says, “And now: it is easy to forget what I came for”.  (Rich page)She is overwhelmed in the new environment.  She has gone from the clarity of the air to the murkiness of the water and must learn to navigate differently.  She says, “You breathe differently down here.”(Rich page).  Bishop’s child responds strongly to the realization that she is a part of woman kind, and that the journey upon which she is embarking is one she shares with her world sisters.  Although she is horrified by the pictures of tribal women, “Their breasts were horrifying”, and by her aunt, “even though I knew she was a foolish, timid woman”, (Bishop page) she wonders at the realization that they are all one.  She further wonders at their differences, what makes her unique.  Though the settings are uniquely different in the two poems, both authors choose to use water imagery.  Rich chooses to describe a diver diving to explore a sunken ship.  She describes the water as being murky and black.  Bishop also uses the imagery of black murky water at the end of the poem.  “It was sliding beneath a big black wave, another, and another.” (Bishop page)  The image of water is a powerful metaphor because it is the medium to which we are not evolved for.  Bishops child is overwhelmed by the waves that crash over her.  She is not yet powerful enough to command herself and must learn how to “swim” in the adult world.  Rich’s adolescent knows how to swim, how to dive, and is thus more prepared to navigate the strange world into which she is emerging.Both women bring to light the emotions that are felt by women.  Bishops child is coming of age in a specific time, as designated by the date of 1918 placed at the end of the poem.  During this time women were experiencing a coming of age that is liberation from old ideals into a new era of freedom.  Though set in a different era, Rich also brings to light the issues of women in the 1970’s, when a woman’s role was being redefined from housewife to professional.  Bishops childlike voice speaks to us of an early time in women’s liberation that is followed by the adolescent voice of Rich’s poem depicting the transition to adulthood.  Bishop and Rich both speak to us as strong women who have struggled for identity in their age.  They use metaphor to illustrate the inner journey that everyone must take, whether ready or not.  The child is not prepared for the journey, while the adolescent is prepared for the road, even if they are hesitant.  It is a journey that every woman must embark on, the journey of self-discovery.

References

Mumolo, Sara.  “Elizabeth Bishop: Revelation of the Child-Like I, Association of Young Journalists and Writers Web. Apr. 10, 2010.  Retrieved from http://ayjw.org/print_articles.php?id=598330

Ramazani, Jahan ed.  Richard Ellmann and Rober O’Clair.  The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry Vol 2.  New York and London: W.W. Norton
& Company, 2003. http://miley.wlu.edu/eng105/group_projects/Rich/analysis1.htm