09 Nov “Sestina” Responses
Respond with higher-order critical thinking to the following prompts about Sestina by Elizabeth Bishop.
- A perceptive comment from a student: Something seems to be going on here that the child doesnt understand. Maybe some terrible loss has happened. Test this guess by reading the poem closely.
- In the little moons that fall from the almanac (line 33), does the poem introduce dream or fantasy, or do you take these to be small round pieces of paper?
- What is the tone of this poemthe speakers apparent attitude toward the scene described?
- In an essay, The Sestina, in A Local Habitation (U of Michigan P, 1985), John Frederick Nims defends the form against an obvious complaint against it:
A shallow view of the sestina might suggest that the poet writes a stanza, and then is stuck with six words which he has to juggle into the required positions through five more stanzas and an envoyto the great detriment of what passion and sincerity would have him say. But in a good sestina the poet has six words, six images, six ideas so urgently in his mind that he cannot get away from them; he wants to test them in all possible combinations and come to a conclusion about their relationship.
How well does this description of a good sestina fit Sestina?
