"Sestina" - Elizabeth Bishop

On the surface, the language and content of this poem seem pretty clear. But I think it has layers that I have yet to discover, because even though I enjoy it each time I read through it, I keep feeling like I'm missing something. In a way I think it's meant to have an element of mystery, to convey a kind of stillness, confusion, and ambiguity. 

When I first started reading it, I thought the focus was going to be on the grandmother. The mention of rain, "failing light", and autumn, a time when the year is "dying", made me think of old age, regret, and sorrow. But sorrow and loss aren't experienced exclusively by those who have lived a long life. 

It seems like something has happened to the family in this poem, and the grandmother is trying to hide her sadness to protect the child. But despite her efforts, the child can still sense that something's wrong, and carries his/her own sadness inside.

The almanac plays a lot of different, sometimes conflicting, roles. At first it's described as a source of humor, but it's a false kind of humor because it helps the grandmother hide her tears, and in a way, deceive the child. So the first (and one of the only) instance of interaction between the two characters is false and empty in quality. They're disconnected, somehow.

The grandmother thinks her sorrow and the sadness of the family's circumstances (whatever they are) are known and felt only by her. But the almanac - something that's full of facts, dates, predictions, etc. - "hovers"above both her and the child. All of a sudden it has a kind of eerie, all-knowing power that gives the whole poem a sense of foreboding. 

The almanac could represent fate, since it contains dates and times of future events, in which case it's possible that there's more sadness to come - after all, it says, "I know what I know" and then "plants tears" in the child's drawing. It could also just be a record of what's happened to the characters, hanging over them to remind them that repressing their feelings won't make it go away.  

The almanac, the stove, the teakettle, etc. - all technically "inanimate"- are actually more animated and dynamic than the grandmother and the child. They contrast with the stillness of the house and the actual daily, domestic events in the poem, and also the grandmother's refusal to express her sadness. 

I'm not sure how all of these elements work together - like I said, I feel like there's so many other layers to this poem, and so many other ways to look at it. I really love what I've seen and felt so far, but I want to keep looking at it to see what else I may be missing.