The Stoic Comedy of Elizabeth Bishop and Buster Keaton

Abstract

Elizabeth Bishop famously asserted in 1964 that poetry “can be cheerful AND profound! – or, how to be grim without groaning,” delineating a form of tragicomic equilibrium which she found embodied by “any of Buster Keaton’s films.” This article explores how Keaton provided Bishop with a model of stoic comedy, one through which she could reimagine worldly tribulation as slapstick poetry. Examining the dramatic monologue “Keaton” alongside “Sandpiper” and other poems, I argue that Bishop’s imaginative investment in slapstick film is most palpable in a recurrent scenario from her poetry, in which a singular figure exists on brinks and limits. In these poems, humor functions as an invitation to read more deeply, while the reserve for which Keaton’s character is famous becomes a self-referential play on Bishop’s own reputation as a reticent poet.