Lady Sings the Blues

LADY SINGS THE BLUES

What is a song but a poem set to music? Take away the music from a good song and the rhythm of the words will create its own musical sound. “Songs For a Colored Singer”, a poem written by Elizabeth Bishop, is a song without the music. Bishop’s use of repetitive rhymes creates the lyrical, song like, structure to her poem. The voice of the song belongs to a black woman who encounters adversity throughout the poem. The sum of the elements, a black woman singing about hard times, equal one distinct style of music, namely the blues. Bishop divides the poem into four parts. Through each part the poem, Bishop uncovers different aspects of the colored woman. What Bishop reveals is the difficult situations which face underprivileged black citizens in America. Bishop’s poem has similarities to a song by Billie Holiday, and is linked to a Langston Hughes poem. By using the voice of a colored singer, Bishop exposes the inequality of early twentieth century African-Americans.

Bishop examines the life of a colored domestic woman and portrays the difficult existence through song. Part one of the poem portrays a melancholy domestic who is having trouble with her man, a classic situation for the blues. The use of simple rhymes and syllable structure in the first stanza forecasts the lyrical tone of the poem. To create a sense of flow, the first and third stanzas have identical rhyme patterns, and the second and fourth stanzas also mirror each other. The use of the same line at the end of the second and fourth stanzas, “Le Roy, you’re earning too much money now,” (Part 1. Lines 13 & 26), distinguishes this poem as a song. Rarely are lines repeated in poems, but the use of repetition is essential in songs, because of the need for a chorus. Part one of the poem brings to light the inequality among race and class. Due to the economic conditions of African-Americans, they find themselves working as domestics for much wealthier Caucasians. The singer expresses the difficulty working as a domestic, as she witnesses firsthand the inequalities of the classes, “none of these things I can see belong to me” (P1 L3-4), she continues to describe in detail the differences between the colored and the whites, “they got a lot of closet space; we got a suit case.” (P1, L7-8) The circumstances of the colored singer establish the melancholy tone of the poem. Put to music the situation makes a perfect blues song.

Confronted with adversity the singer is faced with a situation of fight or flight. In part two of the poem the colored singer, seeing her lover acting unfaithful, is confused on who to blame, first blaming her lover, “this occasion’s all his fault” (P2, L4), then herself, “perhaps that occasion was my fault” (P2, L13), and finally her lover again, “for this occasion’s all his fault” (P2, L27). Regardless who is at fault, the blues singer wants to leave town, and gives every indication she will go, but something holds her to the town. The singer’s situation is the perfect setting for a blues song. Bishop maintains the lyrical atmosphere of the first part of the poem by continuing to use simple rhyme structures. The use of single syllable words in lengthier lines accompanied with longer stanzas, create a lyrical intensity, which differs from the first part of the poem, and mirrors the singer’s current situation. Bishop’s method of cramming more words onto the page creates a change of tempo of the poem producing a crescendo effect, which is necessary for a song. Bishop also uses the hectic pace to heighten the chaos occurring in the protagonist’s life. The colored singer appears to be on her way out of town. Will any thing keep her here?

The burden of responsibility anchors the protagonist to her pain. Part three of the poem introduces a new character, a baby. By singing a lullaby the colored singer informs the reader of her obligations. Having a child makes it harder for the singer to leave town. The baby symbolizes the singer’s entrapment, “the shadow of the crib makes an enormous cage” (P3, L9). The singer’s responsibility creates a feeling of helplessness, forcing the singer to return to her depressing job and eventually reconcile with her man, who could be the father of the singer’s child. The situation produces a sullen tone to the lullaby, which contrasts the idea of a children’s bed time song. The use of harsh words such as in the line, “the big ship sinks and dies, lead in its breast” (P3, L4-5), paint a picture of violence and destruction in the singer’s life. One gets a feeling the baby will face the same perilous future as its mother’s. Bishop is commenting on the vicious cycle of poverty and its grasp on the African-American community. Bishop uses the structure of the lullaby to