The Loon (Symbol)
The loon is a complex symbol, particularly because the speaker makes it a character in her fluid imaginative life. It fundamentally symbolizes the relationship between the dead and the living—the way in which these two groups interact closely on the one hand, and yet are completely alien to one another at the same time. The loon is a fixture in this parlor, and is a very real presence in the life of the family who lives with it. The speaker is engaged with it both in terms of its history (she reflects that it was shot and stuffed by her uncle) and its sensory reality (she observes its red eyes and white body). However, the loon itself is lifeless, lacking in agency, identity, or interiority.
Lily of the Valley (Symbol)
This flower is an unusual symbol because it does not merely carry symbolic meaning within the poem—rather, it has a symbolism and meaning of its own in the outside world. The flower symbolizes purity and innocence and is also linked with death and funerals, making its appearance within this poem multi-layered. On one level, the speaker and her family place these flowers in Arthur's hand because they hold these real-life symbolic associations, making them a common choice for graveside and funeral flowers. On a second level, within the specific narrative of this poem, Bishop uses the flowers to symbolize Arthur's vulnerability, innocence, and youth at the time of his death. Because Arthur and the speaker are paralleled with one another and are both children, the flowers also symbolize the speaker's innocence during her first encounter with death.
Cold (Motif)
Images of cold and winter appear frequently in this poem. Though the speaker discusses death somewhat obliquely and even whimsically, these references to cold are in keeping with a more somber, adult understanding of death. At the same time, these references to the cold do not only evoke death, but also help to lay out the setting more vividly—the intensity of the Canadian winter is a constant presence in the background of the work. The speaker describes the parlor where her cousin's body lies as "cold, cold." The breast of the loon is "cold and caressable," while the table where the loon sits is compared to a frozen lake. Outside, the roads are "deep in snow." Other choices of diction evoke cold more obliquely—the use of the word "frosted" to compare Arthur's coffin to a cake, allusions to Jack Frost and changing seasons, and the repetition of the word "white." The only things described as warm in the poem, by contrast, are the clothes worn by members of the royal family. In the speaker's hopeful imagination, her cousin will escape the cold and join the royalty in a place of warmth.
