Nathan Hoyle
Professor Brandt
English
29 October 2012
In the Waiting Room
In the Waiting Room, Elizabeth Bishop writes in an adults perspective of herself as a child. Bishop writes this small poem in an adults perspective of herself as a child to get the deep thoughts she had as a child across to the reader. In the waiting room is the realization of Elizabeth Bishop as a seven year old child that she is just like every other human being in the waiting room. In this poem, people are brought together by recognition of each other's pain. We all have sat in dentist office asking ourselves questions that lead to more.
Elizabeth Bishop was an only child from Worcester, Massachusetts. In her early childhood she was adopted by her grandparents that lived in Great Village, Nova Scotia. This move happened because her father had passed away when she was only eight months old and her mother was institutionalized for being mentally ill. Later in Bishop's childhood she was removed from the care of her grandparents and moved back to Worcester, Massachusetts with her fathers wealthy family. Bishop did not agree with the move since she was having major separation problems being away from her grandparents. Her time in Worcester is when this poem takes place.
Elizabeth Bishop being an orphan is the reason this intelligent little girl realizes at such a young age who she really is. Elizabeth is left not knowing who she is because her parents have both passed. She is searching for that one person to look up to and that one person she is most like. In this poem she chooses Aunt Consuelo to be that one person. It would make most sense if Aunt Consuelo was her mothers sister since Elizabeth sees herself as her.
There is great symbolism throughout this poem. It is an interesting moment when Aunt Consuelo cries out. She says the word "oh!," which has no semantic content. This means that the word has no inherent meaning in the poem, it is just a...