Ambiguity in Elizabeth Bishop's “12 o'Clock News” Elizabeth Bishop constructs the poem “12 o'Clock News” to describe distinct contexts with similar descriptions. In the first stanza, it is unclear whether it is the gooseneck lamp or the moon that "gives very little light" and "might be dead." Although there are implicit distances between the office and the world described in the news with the expression "half the world", the common theme of dim light gives a common thread to the different environments. The lines “We will try to give you an idea of ​​the lay of the land and the current situation” sound like those of a news reporter, which incorporates the idea of ​​a limited perspective within or from the media. Descriptions of “poor visibility” could be a description of lamplight, moonlight, and perspective of information. Although the meaning of this phrase differs for each example, the overall element of the description connects the bureau to the foreign country and the story. All light sources seem to illuminate very little. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get an original essayThe connection between poetry and media can also be made through the relationship between office and report, as both are created using a limited approach. perspective. The dim light of the lamp relates to Bishop's own writing, as she must begin to shape her poetry from a confused and unclear place. Just like the media must represent the other from a confused and biased position. Bishop's manipulation of a newsroom through his ambiguous descriptions parallels the way the media distorts our perception of the world. The process of writing and presenting the news is parallel, as are the columns of the poem. The choice to build columns distances the left desk from the world in the news on the right side, while the strophic form assimilates the two settings. horizontally and with cleverly ambiguous descriptions. A parallel could be drawn in the second stanza between the rows of typewriter keys and the rural news terraces. Bishop works on his typewriter to produce poetry, or well-being, to support himself, just as the "little principality" works endlessly on his farmland to support himself. By relating to the work and well-being of these people, Bishop humanizes them to contrast with the representation provided by the media. The connection between contemporary and rural activities, poetry and agriculture, also unites the divided halves of the world and poetry with the universal relationship between work and well-being. The third stanza connects Bishop's writing process to the world of current events with the relationship between the pile of manuscripts and the "white and shale" ground. In addition to evoking a similar image of stacked white sediment/paper, "poor quality" could refer to the ground or the pile of writings. By implicitly equating his own experience of writing with another newsworthy event, Bishop connects to the world around him and distances himself from the detachment of the media. Bishop follows this connection to the fourth stanza, with the doubly applicable description of the field "speckled with black," like a sheet of paper filled with typed words. This raises the question of whether the field was an "airstrip" or a "graveyard" to indicate a void, literally or figuratively, a lack of life or substance, on the sheet of paper. Regardless, Bishop relates to the uncertainty of reporting,which prepares her structurally for empathy. Bishop criticizes the reporting in the fifth stanza with a sarcastic tone and an increasing distance between the two worlds of this poem. Two different forms of communication are presented by the columns. The report describes communications in this “backward country” as “crude” and in the form of gigantic billboards. In contrast, the envelopes on the list on the left reveal a very different form of communication. Signs are a completely public spectacle with indirect, impersonal messages, while envelopes are associated with direct communications of personal intent. Bishop feels distant from this country as the journalist describes it, but provides her own commentary through the repetition of the word "backward" and the quotes around "industrialization". This draws attention to these two words and indicates that the country is only considered backward because it lacks industrialization. Here we return to the limited perspective of mass media, considering and presenting only the underdeveloped world in relation to the familiarity of industrialization. In the sixth stanza, the duality between the "secret weapon" and the "savior" concerns both the ink bottle and the "oddly shaped black structure" discovered in the report. The “faint” light of the moon reminds the viewer that the lack of adequate lighting alludes to a lack of real understanding of the place. The powerful and terrifying “secret weapon” first reveals a prejudiced hypothesis. Subsequent questioning of “what we know” reveals a momentary reflection on the biases and assumptions previously presented. The short-lived questioning quickly turns to another hypothesis of religious dependence and “helplessness”. The quotes around "savior" and the reference to "grave difficulties" indicate a lack of clarity of perspective because they give the impression that the journalist is mocking the religion and culture of the country. The idea of ​​a bottle of ink as a savior, as a "last hope of rescue" for the poet could be linked to the previous link with work and well-being, like his writing, with ink if not with a typewriter, supports it. “Deceptive illumination” combined with “writing eraser” presents the unicyclist courier as a sort of case study for “elusive natives.” The phrase “elusive natives” sounds mocking, like in a show about wild animals, and thus dehumanizes these natives. The description of “thick, spiky black hair” also evokes an animal image, as does the grouping of the individual within the “natives”. The dehumanization manifests itself in the death of the unicyclist, and the metaphor is reinforced by the “misleading lighting” that gives the report such a limited perspective. The typewriter eraser narrates the erasure of the person's life, both literally and in its dehumanization in mass media, and also indicates an editing process for Bishop. The final stanza emphasizes the relationship between the ashtray and the corpses with ambiguous language. The “nest” of soldiers lying “huddled together” and “in hideously contorted positions, all dead” reflects the image of an ashtray filled with cigarette butts. This sinister relationship raises the question of disposability, equating the writer burning cigarettes to the same way death burns humans. The phrase “superior vantage point” reinforces the idea of ​​an imperialist representation of this anonymous country in the reporting. And the quotes around "battle gear" and "winter wars" draw attention to the depiction of these people as "inscrutable" but "childish" and ".