Bishop "Bight" and Wright

“Bight” by Elizabeth Bishop is quite successful in its description of place since it uses a good amount of devices and plenty of imagery to give the reader a clear understanding of the setting or place. “White crumbling ribs of marl protrude and glare” is a good line in the sense that referring to a “rib of marl” is a unique choice of wording, since ribs of the marl is irrelevant, but perhaps allows the reader to visualize much better what the text is describing. “Blue-gray shark tails are hung up to dry for the Chinese-restaurant trade” is also a good line since the reference to a Chinese restaurant trade does not make much sense or is illogical when referring to a ship harbor, however it allows the reader to relate more to the text since they are receiving an outside the box comparison.

James Wright uses similar poetic techniques in his work “In Response to a Rumor That he Oldest Whorehouse, in Wheeling, West Virginia, Has Been Condemned” Wright uses illusions to forests, lakes, ponds, and other wildlife places to describe a deadly or “wild” city. “Upstream from the sewer main” the reader can imagine a combination of settings of both a concrete jungle like city, or an actual wildlife setting. Wright also describes the women walking the streets in the story as “Swinging their purses, the women poured down the long street to the river and into the river.” The women are written as being similar beings in spirit to swans or maybe ducks, that travel the waters or streets together. “What time near dawn did they climb up the other shore, drying their wings?” The mention of drying their wings can be an illusion to preparing themselves for another grueling day in the city. Wright uses these devices as a sort of metaphor, except it extends throughout the entire work.