Summary
In the parlor of their house, the speaker's mother lays out the body of a child named Arthur, who has died. Around him are framed photographs of the British royal family. The speaker names the princes, princesses, and kings in these pictures. Nearby on a table rests a loon that has been shot, stuffed, and put on display. It was shot by the speaker's uncle, who is also named Arthur. This Uncle Arthur is the father of the child who has died. Since Uncle Arthur killed the loon, it has not spoken, and has simply watched in silence over the marble tabletop where it stands. To the speaker, this looks like a frozen lake. The loon has a soft, white body and bright red eyes, which the speaker finds appealing.
Analysis
The poem opens by establishing its setting as well as the identity of its speaker. Its title informs us that somebody has died, and that we find ourselves in Nova Scotia, a Canadian province. In the first stanza, Bishop zooms in more closely. We discover that the speaker is a child, though of a somewhat ambiguous age, and that the person who has died is her cousin. We are in a family home, apparently at Arthur's wake. From the start, then, the poem is propelled by unexpected juxtapositions. The mundane domesticity of the family's house contrasts sharply with the destabilizing, otherworldly presence of death.
At the same time, one way in which the speaker grapples with the death of her cousin is by comparing him to other dead, or not-quite-alive, beings already present in her life. One such being is the loon that now watches over her cousin. The loon is a record of violence and death, and is in some ways a gruesome, frightening figure. Yet it has been neutralized and made beautiful, even comforting, to the speaker, absorbed into the familiarity of the domestic. Though they are evidently still living at the time at which the poem takes place, the royalty decorating the family's walls are also, in their own way, non-living in a peculiar sense: they are immobilized by photography, made into decor in the same way as the loon. The speaker, having never encountered death before, tries to understand her cousin's body in relation to these other figures. In what way, she seems to ask as she observes the loon and the royal portraits, is Arthur similar to these other beings—and in what ways is he different, or more significant?
The speaker focuses on the decoration of the room, rather than on the presence of death, to a degree that seems surprising—she is young enough that she cannot grasp the gravity of death, and therefore finds it no more remarkable than the furniture surrounding it. This is a valid reading, and it does seem true that the speaker is unable to understand the significance, permanence, or tragedy of the situation. But her seemingly random descriptions also represent a curious, grasping attempt to contextualize death. Because she is young, Bishop makes clear, and because she is from a relatively provincial place, the speaker has little life experience and very few reference points. Items like the loon offer her the best available material through which to make sense of an overwhelming new situation.
