“Filling Station,” by Elizabeth Bishop, depicts the speaker’s initial reaction and later feelings about the aspect of a dirty filling station. The poem is widely recognised as a thought-provoking poem. The poem is in six stanzas. The poem does not conform to any rhyme scheme or metrical pattern. The repetition of words at the beginning of multiple words is prominently used – anaphora. She paints the poem with a distinct skill of setting a pleasant atmosphere and gives very concrete imagery of the events through the wonders of her words. Her usage of metaphors and different literary devices adds to the lustrous beauty of the poem.
Filling Station | Summary & Analysis
“Oh, but it is dirty!
This little filling station,
Oil-soaked, oil-permeated
To a disturbing, overall
Black translucency.
Be careful with that match.”
The poem begins with the narrator’s description of the dirty, dark, oil-soaked nature of a filling station. It was very disturbing and overall black translucency. And it is not a pleasant thing to be watched for.
Here she bluntly discusses the situation of the “Filling Station.” She is just casually talking, and all she can see is nothing but “dirtiness.”
“Father wears a dirty,
oil-soaked monkey suit
that cuts him under the arms,
and several quick and saucy
and greasy sons assist him
(it’s a family filling station),
all quite thoroughly dirty.”
Everything was dirty; the father was dirty, his suit soaked in oil, and his sons with grease all over, assisting him. It is a family filling station that is at least quite thoroughly dirty. And the whole station is covered in oil, which brings out the mild usage of hyperbole as the scenario is created to bloom and make a special song. The first stand has a pessimistic warning note that a lit match will set the station on fire.
Here in the second stanza, the speaker describes the overall imagery of the station that is presented, and she sets notions and perspectives of the people working there, the father and the sons. This is all nothing new; even the sons helping or assisting the father are all “thoroughly dirty.”
“Do they live in the station?
It has a cement porch
behind the pumps, and on it
a set of crushed and greasy-
impregnated wickerwork;
on the wicker sofa
a dirty dog, quite comfy.”
The station, behind the pumps, has a cement porch and furniture made of wicker. And on the wicker sofa lay a dirty dog, that was visibly very much in comfort. This circumstantial aspect seemed like they live in the station and puts the highlight on their financial stability and condition.
“Some comic books provide
The only note of colour—
of a certain colour. They lie
upon a big, dim doily
draping a taboret
(part of the set), beside
a big hirsute begonia.”
The comic books that employ monotonous colours lie upon senses that are very dim and unclean, that eventually drape a taboret or a stool beside a big hirsute begonia. A hybrid begonia is a hybrid of a zonal and a common-scented begonia, which produces flowers with different colours and patterns. They have become quite common as houseplants. All these details add to the speaker’s assumption of the family living there.
“Why the extraneous plant?
Why the taboret?
Why, oh why, the doily?
(Embroidered in daisy stitch
With marguerites, I think,
and heavy with grey crochet.”
The speaker questions the choice of deciding on the “extraneous plant,” and considers it something irrelevant and unnecessary. The speaker then questions the choice of taboret, doily. But in the end, concluded that there is a valid reason as to why some things and some people grasp the attention and love of others. Here in this last stanza, she questions some made choices.
“Somebody embroidered the doily.
Somebody waters the plant,
Or oils it, maybe. Somebody
arranges the rows of cans
so that they softly say:
ESSO—SO—SO—SO
to high-strung automobiles.
Somebody loves us all.”
In the last stanza, she assumes that maybe her speculations might be wrong and that somebody embroidered the doily and waters the plant daily, and somebody arranges the can. She concludes the stanza by writing that there is this ultimate presence of “somebody” to “love us all.”
Filling Station | Themes
Juxtaposing the dirty aspects with those of items that are loved and cherished by all. And concludes that there is somebody to love all these ignored aspects to bring forth the beauty in them. But the speaker can be considered ironic too, as the existence of this “somebody” is not clear. Some interpretations suggest that this “somebody” can either be a divine spirit or God, the creator who can see through and cherish the vitality of everything irrespective of the outward view. By the varied interpretations of this unknown person or entity, the speaker, in a way questions the very basis of “existence,” its importance, and its meaning. A quest for “identity.”
The initial tone appears to be more regressed and in disgust. The opening is rather straightforward rather than beating around the bush. The speaker is critical of the atmosphere in which she is present. But towards the last bits of the poem, the speaker’s tone sheds light on the pathway of optimism. Everything is soaked in oil, and so, this poem brings to one’s mind an exceptionally beautiful artistic representation of a part of life through the wonders of oil painting; “oil-greased,” “grease-impregnated,” “oil-permeated.” Her usage of words is very much the pot’s play, as it adds to the very beautiful metrical style. It covers and covets the metaphoric aspect of the poem.
About the Author | Elizabeth Bishop
Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979) was an American poet and short-story writer. The inclusion of the parts of her personal life in her poetry was rather very detailed, objective, and had a distant point of view for its reticence on the different kinds of subject matters that were prominent. She did not see herself as a “lesbian poet” or a “female poet.” She wanted nothing to do with anything that was in any way related to the women’s movement. And so, she refused to have all her works published in all-female poetry anthologies, etc. But despite this, she considered herself a “strong feminist.” She was the kind of person who preferred to be evaluated and looked upon based on her skills in writing rather than being acknowledged for her sexuality and gender. She was awarded the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award (1950), Shelly Memorial Award (1953), Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (1956), Academy of American Poets Fellowship (1964), National Book Award for Poetry (1970), etc. Her works include: North & South (1946), A Cold Spring (1956), Questions of Travel (1965), etc.
