Analysis

The most compelling component of Bishop’s poems is imagery, and she certainly utilizes this technique in “Little Exercise”. Throughout the first five stanzas, Bishop describes the wreckage left by the thunder and lightening in descriptive terms and comparing both to animate objects. She describes the storm as a growling dog and palm trees strewn all over the place due to the force. Bishop continues to describe the islands lying underneath the storm, suffering, and the creatures reacting to it. In the midst of all this wreckage, the tone of the poem shifts in the sixth stanza when she states that the rain has finally come. “ It is raining there. The boulevard/and its broken sidewalks with weeds in every crack/are relieved to be wet, the sea to be freshened.” The idea of the storm completely demolishing its surroundings is paired with the idea that not everything is affected so negatively by the thunder and lightening, but some aspects of nature are replenished. Once the storm ends, the environment resembles that of a battlefield, with remnants thrown everywhere. Finally, Bishop ends the poem with the image of someone sleeping in a rowboat, undisturbed by the storm and its effects. This is an allusion to her relationship with Thomas because although their love affair was a secret, he was unfazed by the chaos and commotion it raised when it came out, just as the person in the boat remained unfazed by the storm