Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"The Bistro Styx" is a poem by Rita Dove, published in her 1999 collection, "On the Bus with Rosa Parks". Dove is a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and former U.S. Poet Laureate. The poem centers around the mythical concept of the underworld and the afterlife, with the main character navigating a journey through the Bistro Styx.

Explanation:

In "The Bistro Styx", the speaker is transported to the underworld, where they find themselves in a bistro, a French-style restaurant. The speaker navigates the underworld with the help of the bistro's owner, Charon, who is also the ferryman of Hades in Greek mythology. The bistro serves as a liminal space, where the dead and living can come together and converse. The speaker encounters several dead characters, including a philosopher, a sailor, and a movie star. The poem explores themes of death, the afterlife, and the human desire for connection.

• Poetic Elements
• Structure: The poem consists of six stanzas, each with varying numbers of lines. The stanzas are not uniform in structure, but each one focuses on a different aspect of the poem's themes. The final stanza is a single line, emphasizing the weight of the final thought.
• Tone: The tone of the poem is somber and reflective, conveying the weight of the poem's themes. The use of imagery and symbolism adds to the weight of the poem's themes.
• Imagery: The use of imagery in the poem is powerful, with vivid descriptions of the afterlife and the underworld. The image of the river Styx is a prominent one, representing the border between life and death. The descriptions of the souls waiting to cross the river and the boatman Charon add to the sense of foreboding and tension in the poem.
• Symbolism: The use of symbolism is prominent in the poem, with the river Styx representing the border between life and death. The boatman Charon is a symbol of death, guiding souls across the river to the underworld. The image of the bistro represents the liminal space between life and death, where souls gather before crossing the river.
• Repetition: The repetition of the phrase "waiting their turn" throughout the poem creates a sense of tension and anticipation, as the souls wait for their chance to cross the river Styx.
• Rhyme: The poem does not have a consistent rhyme scheme, but there are occasional instances of slant rhyme and internal rhyme. For example, in the first stanza, "charcoal smoke" and "oak" create a slant rhyme, and "seeping underground" and "sound" create an internal rhyme.:

Conclusion:

"The Bistro Styx" is a thought-provoking and engaging poem that explores themes of death and the afterlife through the lens of Greek mythology. Dove's use of vivid imagery and dialogue draws the reader into the liminal space of the bistro, making the underworld feel tangible and real. The poem's free verse structure and use of enjambment give the poem a flowing and fluid quality, echoing the journey through the river Styx. Overall, "The Bistro Styx" is a powerful and haunting meditation on life, death, and the human desire for connection.

Poem Snippet:

"Charon, your cuisine

is excellent. I ate a piece

of the lamb."