Manners
"and he's well brought up. See, he answers
nicely when spoken to.
Man or beast, that's good manners.
Be sure that you both always do" (Bishop 49).
I like this poem because it talks about manners. It is about teaching a child manners. The grandfather teaches the child.
The fact that he says "man or beast" means that everyone can have good manners, no matter what they do or who they are.
The poem has a good teaching towards a younger child. I personally think that teaching kids at a young age manners is a good path to take because they'll remember them.
Elizabeth Bishop must have wrote this poem for a specific reason. The real reason no one knows.
Maybe her grandfather is the one that sat her down and said "Be sure to remember to always speak to everyone you meet' (48).
The fact that the child looks up to of their grandfather is a huge part life. I know my grandparents a huge part of my life and they have taught me so many things and manners and everything about life. How about everyone else's grandparents? Who did you learn your manners from?
http://jerz.setonhill.edu/EL267/2009/03/poetry_selections/#comments
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Juli Banda on Manners: I particularly enjoyed how lig
I particularly enjoyed how light-hearted this poem was compared to most of the other ones we have read. There is no hidden message in it and it is far from depressing.
I also enjoy how it is teaching kids manners at a young age and that the child looks up to their grandfather. I have learned much from my grandparents in the field of manners, and my grandpa lived next door to me most of my life so he influenced me most. I believe grandparents have so much to teach us because the time that they lived in was completely different from ours.
I wrote about this poem in my blog too. It is nice how the child is taught manner the grandfather. In my blog I wrote about how the manners of that time are so different compare to today. http://blogs.setonhill.edu/NikitaMcClellan/2009/03/with_out_manners.html
I must say i can relate to the peom in a similar way to you. I was very close to my grandfather and this poem does bring up many memories of him. I learned many things from him, one of which I'm sure was manners.