The Moose

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1976

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Form and Meter

“The Moose” is a free verse poem, written without consistent form or meter. However, there are several stanzas that do exhibit some patterns. For example, the first two stanzas share an ABCBDC rhyme scheme, and there are brief flashes of iambic rhythms, such as in Line 2 (“of fish and bread and tea”) or Line 87 (“A dreamy divagation”). The line lengths vary, but they remain close enough so the poem looks tidy on the page; the poem is “narrow” like the provinces mentioned in Line 1 and “long” like the tides mentioned in Line 3.

Though the structure and meter of the poem is loose, Bishop uses the uneven rhythms to provide an additional layer of meaning and emotion to the poem. In other words, she is pulling the reader in to fully experience the bus ride. In the beginning, the words are gentle and the rhythms slow as the speaker takes in the peace, comfort, and predictability of home. In Stanza 4, there is the repetitive rhythm of the landmarks as if the reader is passing them swiftly along with the bus. When night falls around Stanza 11, the words slow down and stretch out (e.g., “Tantramar” [Line 62], “illuminated” [Line 71]), relaxing into the night. When the bus stops suddenly for the moose in Stanza 22, there are two consecutive lines of only four syllables each, which reflects a startling interruption.

Repetition and Euphony

Bishop uses the effective tool of repetition to recreate and retain the strong memories of the bus ride that inspired “The Moose.” The repetition has a chant-like quality that plays well with the humming euphony—the pleasing musicality—of the steady M sounds that weave through the poem. Those gentle humming Ms create a feeling of comfort and meditation that the reader sinks into as the bus journeys through the night. The startling braking of the bus briefly breaks the spell with harsh sounds (“stops” and “jolt” [Line 131]; “turns” and “lights” [Line 132]), but then quickly settles again in the next stanza with the M sounds filling the next four lines and continuing to the end of the poem.

Imagery

One consistent quality that spans all of Bishop’s poems is her use of vivid imagery. As a painter as well as a poet, Bishop observed the world around her with a critical eye, choosing the most evocative qualities to reproduce. In “The Moose,” she paints images of the landscape with words, paying special attention to colors, such as: “brown foam” (Line 9), “silted red” (Line 13), “red sea” (Line 15), “veins the flats’ / lavender” (Lines 16-17), “red, gravelly roads” (Line 19), “the windshield flashing pink” (Line 27), “blue, beat-up enamel” (Line 30), “white hens’ feathers” (Line 45), and “gray glazed cabbages” (Line 46). The simple language of the descriptions makes these images accessible even if the reader has never been to that part of the continent, and the specifics she offers in the names of the villages and plants helps the reader understand the speaker’s pride of place.