A Study On The Theme Of Harmony In Elizabeth Bishop's Poetry

As one of the most important American poets in the 20^th century,Elizabeth Bishop?1911-1976?,is well-known not only for the pure and accurate poetic diction,but also for the rich and vivid image in her poems.Criticisms on Bishop include postmodernism,psychoanalytical perspective,and ecocriticism etc.which explore the theme and poetic art in Bishop's poetry.Based on close reading Bishop's poems and previous academic achievements,this thesis tries to interpret the implications or connotations of the images of animals,plant,water and etc.in nature,images of places and images of characters so as to explore the theme of harmony shown by the images mentioned above in her poems.This thesis starts with analysis on the harmonious man-nature relationship.By analyzing the images of animals,plant,flood,fire and iceberg etc.,human beings,on the one hand,come into being the cognition about nature from three aspects of the wild nature,the vitality of nature,and the yearning for nature.On the other hand,the processes of interaction and mingling between man and nature exhibit that the harmonious man-nature relationship is finally achieved by experiencing the change from the sprout of harmonious consciousness to man's returning to nature.The second chapter probes into the harmonious relationship between man and society.Using the image of place to refer to man's social living conditions,this thesis expounds that the poet does not lose faith in society and life,even though she has experienced the real place of weariness and escape and place of sympathetic criticism where they make her feel the sense of loss in life,however,she depicts the ideal place through poetry.In such an ideal place of yearning and place of belonging and identifying,the sense of harmony in life is achieved,consequently,the relationship between man and society turns harmonious.The third chapter explores the harmonious relationship between man and man.By interpreting the images of characters,this chapter concentrates on two aspects of man and man and man and oneself to elucidate such a relationship.For one thing,the harmonious relationship between man and man is acquired through the awareness of intercommunication and the independent consciousness of women.For another thing,the harmonious relationship between man and oneself is achieved by responding positively to life and envisaging the experiences of alienation and sadness.Through the analyses of the images of things in nature,images of places,and images of characters,the thesis draws a conclusion that the implications of these images indicate the theme of harmony in Bishop's poetry and it is reflected in three dimensions of the harmonious relationship between man and nature,man and society,and man and man.This thesis tries to explore the theme of harmony through the implications of images in Bishop's poems to draw our attention to the human existential circumstances,and appeal to each of us to make profound rethinking of it.