In order to get a
greater understanding of the circumstances in which the poem was written and to
get a deeper insight into the way the poem fits into Elizabeth Bishop’s oeuvre,
I started to research facts about Bishop’s life and poetry in general.
What immediately struck
me was the fact that Bishop’s poetry was mostly described as being very
impersonal, shy, and private. I found out that she oftentimes tends to set her
poetry in nature, in the realm of fantasy, or dreams with odd characters in
order to process silenced emotions.
“The Shampoo,” however, offers a very intimate glimpse into Bishop’s very
private world. Here, we find a confidence about representing her own intimacy
that was completely new to Bishop’s writing. (Harrison, 72)
“The Shampoo” was written
near the beginning of Bishops residence in Brazil. In 1951, the forty-year-old poet
went on a world cruise. As she suffered an allergic reaction to cashew fruit at
the first stop of her trip, i.e. the Santos harbor in Brazil, the poet was
forced to stay in the country to recover and cancel the remaining voyage. This
stay would eventually be prolonged for another eighteen years. One of the great
factors that persuaded her to move to Brazil was the architect Lota de Macedo
Soares, whom she knew from living in New York. Meeting again, the two women fell
in love with each other and eventually became a couple. (Travisano, 134-5)
The poem “The Shampoo”
is a direct homage to her lover Lota, a love poem of a peculiar kind. Although Lota
is at no point directly addressed in the poem, an earlier draft helps us
establish a connection to Bishop’s longtime partner. The last two lines of this
draft were preceded by a line in Portuguese, proclaiming her love to the Brazilian
architect with the words “Meu amor.”
These lines were however subsequently removed as the poem received negative
critiques from Bishop’s friends and editors. The relationship of the women was
seen as indecent and its proliferation in the poem as a break of a taboo. (Harrison,
72)
“The Shampoo”
The poem revolves
around love facing the fact of aging, by relying heavily on the image of the
addressed lover’s black hair turning white. Bishop veils this image as growing
“lichens,” “gray, concentric shocks,” or “flocking,” “shooting stars.” Unlike
traditional love poetry, age and its manifestation in a person’s white hair are
not ignored but celebrated by becoming the poem’s center of focus. Thus, the white
hair is metaphorically turned into “shooting stars,” a bearer of hope for
future love. As “time is/ nothing if not amenable,” growing old together
becomes less startling and more acceptable. The lovers give themselves into
temporality, as in the end, what really counts are “our memories,” instead of
values of superficial nature.
The contrast between black and white simultaneously introduces us to a certain
duality and contrasting forces that are at work and characterize the
relationship of the same-sex couple. This is best achieved through a skillful
use of antitheses and oxymora: Turbulent “explosions” are hence described as
“still,” her lover as “precipitate and pragmatical” at the same time, the tin
basin she invites her lover’s hair into, is simultaneously “battered and
shiny”.
The passion of these women might be volatile and oppositional at times
(“explosions,” “shock”). Then again it is presented as stable, and quiet, and
thoroughly mutual. The rhyming pair in stanza one, i.e. “arranged” and
“changed” again highlights the ever-changing dispositions of the couple.
Nevertheless, there is also a certain sense of order and symmetry to be found
in this chaos, as the poetic voice speaks about “concentric shocks” that
“arranged to meet the rings around the moon.” The use of alliterations, such as
“precipitate and pragmatical” or “so soon so straight” eventually helps to form
a certain sense of belonging and stability into this oppositional world by
establishing paired units.
Love can also be found at any surprising moment. The poem builds another
contrast by juxtaposing a very daily, domestic sort of intimacy (the lichens or
the “big tin basin”) with cosmic, heavenly aspects, such as the “moon,” “the
heavens,” or the “shooting stars.”
While the first two stanzas elevate the lovers into a cosmic, metaphysical
state of love, eventually, towards the end of the poem, the passion roots
itself in a domestic, earthly way. Indeed, we can describe the first two
stanzas as placed in a natural world, while the last stanza introduces us to a
domestic, intimate space. Eventually “[t]he moon [is] drawn into the tin basin
as into a well” (McCabe, 128) and becomes “battered and shiny.” Instead of
being reflected in a natural setting, it is invited into the very domestic,
daily life.
In this very private surrounding, the poetic subject is able to open herself.
The closeness of these two persons is above all shown by the caring way, in
which the poetic subject describes her lover’s hair in great detail. Using the confident
vocative “come,” a direct appeal to the lover is made, reaffirming the presence
of the lover and the bond of the couple.
The lifting arousal and final flattening might also hint towards an orgasm, the
earth-bound shampooing being somewhat a kind of post-orgasmic sense of unity.
