The Monument (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Elizabeth Bishop
- First Published: 1946
- Type of Work: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry, Narrative poetry
- Subjects: Art or artists, Reality, Painting or painters, Sculpture, Monuments, Wood
The Poem
Elizabeth Bishop’s poem “The Monument” is written in seventy-eight lines of free verse with a few significant breaks for verse paragraphs. The title is important in that it defines the object that is being described and discussed by the poet. The poem is narrated by a knowledgeable and perceptive speaker who describes the monument and tells the naïve reader, an otherwise undefined “you,” how to see it and read it. This speaker asks, “can you see the monument?” with some interest and urgency. It is of prime importance that readers see what is immediately...
[The entire page is 1398 words long]
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