Dealing with Loss in Sestina

In “Sestina” by Elizabeth Bishop, a grandmother and her grandchild deal with the loss of a member of their family. The grandmother is sad because of the loss of probably her husband or her son, and although she tries to hide this sadness from the child, it is apparent that the child is aware of the sadness. The setting of the poem and Bishop’s use of repetition and personification reinforce the melancholy mood of the poem and show that the child understands the grief that the grandmother is trying to hide.

The rainy and chilly setting in “Sestina” portrays the melancholy mood of the poem. In the poem, the “rain […] beats on the roof of the house.” Rain has negative connotations and it can be associated with sadness. The grandmother complains that the house “feels chilly” and she tries to alleviate this by “[putting] wood in the stove.” This chill represents death, loss, and sadness, and the grandmother, in an attempt to make the child oblivious to this, tries to bring warmth to the house by adding wood to the fire.

Personification is very important in explaining the meaning of the poem. The almanac, the teakettle, and the stove are personified, helping the reader gain a better understanding of the poem. The reason for the grandmother’s tears was “foretold by the almanac,” and the almanac said, “I know what I know” and “Time to plant tears.” The almanac is the bearer of bad news because it foretells the grandmother’s sadness. The grandmother hangs up this almanac, but instead it “hovers half open above the child,” making the sadness present in the house. The stove says, “It was to be,” echoing the almanac’s prediction. According to the stove, the loss is an act of fate and there is no way to escaping it.

In a sestina, the last words of every stanza are repeated throughout the poem, emphasizing an idea. Bishop does an amazing job of portraying that sense of loss through her repetition of “house,” “grandmother,” “child,” “stove,” “almanac,” and “tears.” The grandmother laughs and talks to “hide her tears” but the tears are visible all over the house. The child sees the teakettle’s “small hard tears” on the stove, the child draws a man wearing a coat with "buttons shaped like tears," and tears fall from the almanac into the flower bed the child has drawn in front of the house. The sadness is apparent to the child, even though the grandmother tries to hide it. The painting of the father shows that the child understands why the grandmother is sad. The man in the painting lets the reader infer that the person lost is probably the child’s father or grandfather.

The rain that falls on the house, the almanac’s prediction, the child’s picture, and the tears are all evidence of the sadness that the grandmother feels. Reading jokes from the almanac, adding wood to the fire, and trying to go on with daily activities like having tea is the grandmother’s way of keeping the sadness to herself because the grandmother doesn’t want the child to see her sad. However, the sadness makes itself known everywhere in the gloomy house. By drawing the picture, the child shows that she understands the sadness that her grandmother is trying so hard to protect her from.