First Death in Nova Scotia (Leaving Cert English): Revision Notes
First Death in Nova Scotia
Overview and context
Elizabeth Bishop's "First Death in Nova Scotia" was first published in Questions of Travel in 1965. This five-stanza poem explores the experience of encountering death for the first time through the eyes of a young child. The work is written in free verse, meaning it has no regular rhyme scheme, with lines that are generally similar in length (around seven to ten syllables each).
Many scholars believe the poem reflects Bishop's own childhood memories and innocent perspective on mortality. Bishop spent much of her early childhood in Nova Scotia with her maternal grandparents after her father's death and her mother's mental illness, making this personal connection particularly meaningful.
Summary
The poem tells the story of a young child who is brought by her mother to view the body of her recently deceased cousin Arthur in a cold family parlour. The room contains portraits of British royalty hanging on the walls, and below these sits a stuffed loon that was shot by Arthur's father (Uncle Arthur). The child observes Arthur's pale, doll-like appearance and struggles to understand the reality of death.
The poem concludes with the speaker questioning how Arthur could possibly join the royal court in death when his "eyes shut up so tight" and the roads are "deep in snow." This ending captures the child's fundamental confusion about death and what might come after.
Stanza-by-stanza analysis
Stanza one
The opening stanza establishes the cold, formal setting of the family parlour where young Arthur's body has been laid out. The speaker's mother has arranged the wake beneath chromographs (coloured portraits) of British royalty - Edward Prince of Wales with Princess Alexandra, and King George with Queen Mary.
Textual Analysis: Setting the Scene
The repetition in "cold, cold parlour" immediately establishes both the physical temperature and the emotional atmosphere. The formal arrangement "beneath the chromographs" suggests the family's attempt to create dignity and ceremony around death, placing Arthur in the symbolic company of royalty.
This introduces an important contrast between the living royalty in their portraits and the dead child below them. The stuffed loon, shot by Uncle Arthur (the dead child's father), creates another parallel between death and the deceased boy.
Stanza two
This section focuses entirely on describing the stuffed loon, which serves as a symbolic representation of Arthur himself. The bird has remained silent since Uncle Arthur shot it, just as Arthur will never speak again. The child's imagination transforms the marble-topped table into the loon's "white, frozen lake," giving the bird back some connection to its natural habitat.
Symbolic Analysis: The Loon as Mirror
The detailed description reveals the child's fascination: "His breast was deep and white, cold and caressable; his eyes were red glass, much to be desired." These qualities - the whiteness, coldness, and artificial beauty - mirror exactly what the child will observe about Arthur's corpse.
Stanza three
The narrative shifts as the mother's voice enters through dialogue, asking the child to "come and say good-bye to your little cousin Arthur." The ellipsis suggests missing lines, but we learn that Arthur's coffin resembles "a little frosted cake," showing how the child tries to make sense of death through familiar, innocent comparisons.
The comparison to a "frosted cake" reflects a child's attempt to process the incomprehensible through familiar objects. This innocent metaphor contrasts sharply with the reality of death, highlighting the child's protective psychological mechanisms.
Stanza four
Arthur's appearance is described in detail, emphasising his small size and doll-like qualities. The child perceives him as "all white, like a doll that hadn't been painted yet," suggesting an unfinished quality to his young life.
Metaphorical Analysis: Jack Frost
The reference to "Jack Frost" having started to paint him with "a few red strokes" but then abandoning the work creates a fairy-tale explanation for death that a child might construct. This metaphor transforms the harsh reality of death into something from a children's story, making it more psychologically manageable.
The phrase "left him white, forever" captures both the pale appearance of death and its permanent nature.
Stanza five
The final stanza returns to the royal portraits, describing how the "gracious royal couples were warm in red and ermine" with their "feet well wrapped up" - a stark contrast to Arthur's cold, still state. The speaker then questions how Arthur could possibly join these royals in some kind of afterlife court when he appears so lifeless.
The poem's ending - "clutching his tiny lily, with his eyes shut up so tight and the roads deep in snow?" - represents the child's growing awareness that death may be permanent separation rather than a journey to join others. This question reveals doubt creeping into childhood faith.
Key themes and motifs
Childhood innocence versus awareness of death
Throughout the poem, we see the tension between a child's natural innocence and their first real encounter with mortality. The young speaker tries to process death through familiar concepts - dolls, cakes, fairy tales - but gradually begins to grasp the harsh reality that Arthur will never move or speak again.
This theme reflects the universal experience of losing childhood innocence when confronted with death's finality. The poem captures that precise moment when protective childhood fantasies begin to crumble in the face of reality.
The strangeness and finality of death
Bishop explores how death can seem both fascinating and deeply unsettling, especially to a child. The dead appear to retain some life-like qualities (Arthur looks like he could be sleeping, the loon seems to be watching) yet are permanently separated from the living world. The poem captures this strange duality - the dead can look dignified or beautiful, but they cannot participate in life anymore.
Nature and symbolism
The natural imagery throughout the poem - the loon, the lily, the winter setting - creates symbolic connections between death and the natural world. The stuffed loon serves as a mirror for Arthur, both creatures having been "stopped" in their natural state.
The lily of the valley traditionally symbolises humility and the return of happiness, making it an appropriate funeral flower, while the winter landscape reinforces themes of coldness and dormancy.
Symbolism and imagery
The poem is rich with symbolic elements that deepen its exploration of death and childhood understanding:
Symbol Analysis: The Stuffed Loon
The stuffed loon represents both death itself and the child's confusion about mortality. Like Arthur, it has been silenced forever but retains a lifelike appearance that can be both attractive and unsettling. The loon "kept his own counsel" just as Arthur now keeps eternal silence.
The marble-topped table transformed into a "white, frozen lake" shows how the child's imagination tries to give meaning and natural context to the artificial setting of death.
The royal portraits create a contrast between the warm, living world of the portraits and the cold reality of death. They also suggest the child's fantasy that Arthur might join some kind of royal court in death.
Color Symbolism Analysis
Colour imagery plays a significant role throughout the poem:
- White represents death and innocence (Arthur's pallor, the loon's breast, the "frozen lake")
- Red symbolises both life and the violence that ends it (the loon's glass eyes, the royal couples' warm clothing, Jack Frost's "red strokes")
- Warm colors of the royal portraits contrast sharply with the cold whites of the death scene
Poetic techniques
Bishop employs several important poetic devices to enhance the poem's impact:
Free Verse Structure The lack of regular rhyme or metre allows the natural speech patterns and thought processes of a child to flow without constraints. This creates authenticity in capturing how a child might actually process such a profound experience.
Personification brings the stuffed loon to life in the child's imagination, making it an active observer rather than just a dead object.
Juxtaposition Examples
Bishop creates powerful contrasts throughout the poem:
- Life and death (living royalty vs. dead Arthur)
- Warmth and cold (royal couples "warm in red and ermine" vs. "cold, cold parlour")
- The child's innocent perceptions vs. harsh reality
- Natural vs. artificial (real loon vs. stuffed loon, real lake vs. marble table)
Simple, concrete imagery reflects the direct way children observe and try to understand their world, making complex themes accessible through familiar objects and comparisons.
Key Points to Remember:
- Childhood perspective: The poem gains its power from being told through innocent eyes trying to make sense of death for the first time
- Symbolic connections: The stuffed loon mirrors Arthur's condition - both silenced forever but retaining a strange, compelling beauty
- Temperature imagery: The repeated emphasis on cold (parlour, frozen lake, marble table) contrasts with warmth of life and creates the atmosphere of death
- Unresolved questions: Like childhood itself, the poem ends with questions rather than answers, reflecting the ongoing mystery of death and what comes after
- Free verse structure: The natural, unrhymed lines mirror how a child might actually think and speak about such a profound experience