Elizabeth Bishop in an enchanting poem

"The Riverman"

Abstract

This article discusses a way of reading “The Riverman”, written by American poet Elizabeth Bishop while living in Brazil and first published in 1960, in The New Yorker. We keep in mind the gaze of the poet before a culture in otherness and her way of transporting to a poetic piece the wonderment that enchants her in the reception culture, despite having a bookish knowledge about the matter. We thus adopt an approach that highlights the changing of codes and epistemic standings observed in the writing and the consequent indication to the reader of the need to open one’s gaze in order to fully appreciate this poem. When the poet’s and the reader’s previous knowledge is not suitable to the matter, the established repertoire of western formation gives way to new knowledge, to aspects of the culture discovered in Brazil, in particular, in the poem in question, to the traditions Encantarias of the Amazon.