Painting Bishop’s Picture of Brazil: How Color Defines Colonialism Anonymous College

The Oxford English Diction defines ekphrasis as “a literary device in which a painting, sculpture, or other work of visual art is described in detail” (1). While this definition suggests ekphrastic writing to concern man-made works of art primarily, poets like Elizabeth Bishop implement this style to portray the beauty of nature. In Bishop’s case, moving to Brazil inspired her poetry to take an ekphrastic approach to commenting politically on the controversial history of the Portuguese colonization of the country. As an artist ruminates how abstract ideas may translate into specific tangible hues, Bishop’s poetic use of color imagery glorifies the pristine quality of nature, condemns the brutality in which colonialism predominated Brazilian history, and expresses an ambivalent perspective regarding the role of the Catholic Church in her adopted homeland.

While in the technical use, color is defined in terms of wavelength or perceptible hue, its colloquial representation in poetic imagery often takes into account luster and texture, and the grouping of such traits proves quite valuable for Bishop in tying a particular color to its most strongly associated entities. For example, when Bishop elaborates on “five silver crosses”...