Crusoe in England Essay Questions

How does this poem navigate the theme of memory?

"Crusoe in England" is narrated long after most of the events described have actually taken place. The speaker has a great deal of chronological distance, as well as geographical distance, from the emotions, places, and struggles he recounts. This distance is a source of relief, but also of grief. Because Crusoe's memories of the island are so intense, his distance and separation from those memories cause him to feel lonely, even internally divided. In England, he is both haunted by stubborn memories (for instance, seeming to hallucinate some of the sounds of the deserted island) and irrevocably cut off from those memories, noting that the objects that once helped him survive now seem lifeless. The death of Friday, the only person familiar with his life as a castaway as well as his life in England, further intensifies the isolation created by these memories.

Identify one instance of rhyme in this work, and describe its effect on the poem.

This poem has no set rhyme scheme, but Bishop does use rhyme throughout, in unstructured ways. For instance, the words "goat" and "throat" in the lines "But then I’d dream of things / like slitting a baby’s throat, mistaking it / for a baby goat," are rhymed. These lines contain repetition of the word "baby," and assonance in the words "slitting" and "mistaking." Combined with the rhyming sounds in "throat" and "goat," these devices create a sense of spiraling repetition, making it difficult for the reader to parse the events that are occurring—precisely as Crusoe, in his nightmares, struggles to make sense of the reality around him.