Geography III

Poetry is a wonderful way for authors to express themselves. It allows one to write about their feeling but still be vague enough to hide what it is that is troubling them. But this at times can make poetry hard to interpret. Without knowing detail on this author and about their past it is hard to identify what it is they are talking about in the poems. I enjoy reading a poem and taking it for exactly what it is. Enjoying it and taking away the beauty in its structure and wording. Sometimes tearing them apart to find out what the author is talking about ruins the poem for me. I like interpreting a poem in the way I relate to it myself (such as how does this object relate to a problem I am facing, rather than what this object meant to the author). As for reading Elizabeth Bishop specifically, I did enjoy her poetry. I did not like interpreting it for her hidden meanings; I like the structure in which she wrote her poems and the word usage. Her poems do not use difficult vocabulary; they are simple and easy to read. Easy to read does not however mean easy to understand. Bishop entitled this book “Geography III” .When I think of Geography I think of the study of the earth, what is on the surface, the people in it and their cultures. I took the title as the study of her life, the people in it, and their impact on her. This book is like a map, a picture of part of her life.