Chapter 1 Summary

North and South spans the United States, Canada and Europe with a series of poems devoted to Bishop's observations, mainly pertaining to nature. Even in the poems that reflect the feeling and mood of a person, the work seems to maintain a sense of objectivity.

Several of the poems pay homage to the water, from Newfoundland to the United States to Paris. The waters seem to have a secret life, their colors and feelings never recorded quite right even if their location has been documented on maps for hundreds of years. The caves and shores on the water earn the same kind of reverence as if they were masterfully created by a great artist but left unseen by most. Bishop also speaks of an iceberg, a jewel-like thing that benefits the soul and is endlessly more interesting than the ship on which the...