From Disorientation to Self—searching in The Map

【Abstract】Elizabeth Bishop is one of the most profound figures in American Poetry of the 20thcentury.Her poetry full of refreshment， smoothness and mystery insight，and most of her poems are about geography and travel problems.The poem The map is one of her famous poems，it really inaugurates Bishops mature writing，and reveals her early disorientation and then her decision to start a journey of self-researching.

【Key words】The Map； disorientation； self-searching

【作者簡介】黃燕（1987.01.03-），女，漢族，四川南江人，四川電影電視學院，助教，文學碩士，研究方向：英美文學。

1. Introduction

Bishop is an acute observer with sharp eyes and good at expressing unique or special things by using extraordinary speeches.She always likes to receive self-examination through a careful observation on some common things such as an everyday object，a kind of animal or a scene from day-to-day life.

The Map is a sort of preface to her work and was written on New Years Eve in 1933 after Bishop left college.It was regarded as the reward of“Bishops New Years Eve solitude”，and one of those poems which are the fruits of Bishops solitary exile life in New York.In this poem，there is no sublime， no protagonist，no archetypal figure，the poet in this poem just describes or maps a world rather than creates one.

2. Disorientation began to peep out

In The Map，the poet says one thing firstly，then elaborates it or questions it：

Shadows， or are they shadows.

Or does the land lean down to lift the sea from under，

drawing it unperturbed around itself？

is the land tugging at the sea from under？

Are they assigned， or can the countries pick their colors

——what suits the character or the native waters best.

The poet asks a sires of questions here which can demonstrate her uncertainty of herself，her life，identity，and the world she lives in.

Bishop was almost an orphan when she was very young and kept shuttling between the house of her paternal grandparents in Massachusetts and that of her relatives in Boston until her boarding school years，which inevitably led to a sense of uncertainty in her， the questions like “who am I？”，“where I really belong to？” haunted her for years.Besides， her life in the city also cannot give her a certain direction，cannot find a real destination for inner heart.

3. Searching for Self in The Map

Map is not merely a everyday object but fantastic in Bishops description， it shows the reader a more broad and expansive space in which the common things such as“bays”and“peninsulas”in Bishops depiction become lovely，lively and visual.Even though the“seashore towns”and“cities”are stay still and obscure，their names can run out to sea and cross the neighboring mountains.Even the water on the map looks more quiet than the land：

Mapped waters are more quiet the land is，

lending the land their waves own conformation：

and Norways hare runs south in agitation，

profiles investigate the sea，where land is.

In Bishops imagination，the image of Norway was describes as a hare running“south in agitation”，its profile“investigate the sea，where land is”.In fact，it is really looks like a running hare when observing the appearance of Norway from the map，so this vivid description is the very charm of the map.

When she seeing the broader world which is shown by a map，she is attracted by it immediately，the world in The map is fantasy and fantastic.Thus，she decides to go out to see this world，to experience and explore this world，just as she says in the poem “Geography displays no favorites，north as near as west”，she starts her journey of world-wondering，which can be proved or confirmed in her later works.

4. Conclusion

During her life-long journey，Bishop always asks such a question：“who am I？”， both of her writing and journey are a kind of self-searching， search for identity and her truly belongs. The Map not only shows Bishops pilgrimage from disorientation to self-searching but also conveys the mentality and reaction spirit crisis of modern people.Bishop was wondering around the world and roaming in her poetry simultaneously，just for the sake of finding a place where she can really call a home and gain a sense of spiritual belonging.

Refe rences：

[1]范莉.管窺伊麗莎白·畢曉普詩歌創作特點[J].濟寧學院學報，2011： 67-70.

[2]謝言枝.行走在半睡半醒之間——伊麗莎白·畢曉普詩歌中的超現實主義特征[D].學位論文，2010，01，05.