"Sestina," by the American poet Elizabeth Bishop, explores family trauma, the gap between adult understanding and childhood innocence, and the persistence of grief. The poem describes what at first seems like a sweet domestic scene: a grandmother and her grandchild sit at a table, "laughing and talking" as rain falls outside. But the grandmother, aware that some big loss or change has occurred, is also trying to hide tears from her grandchild as the latter "proudly" draws pictures of a house. "Sestina" was first published in a 1956 issue of The New Yorker. Though not strictly autobiographical, the poem draws inspiration from Bishop's own life: Bishop's father died when she was a baby, and the poet was later sent to live with her grandparents when her mother was institutionalized for mental illness. As the title reveals, the poem is a "sestina": a complicated form that consists of six stanzas of six lines plus a final tercet. The words that end the lines in the first stanza repeat as end words throughout the rest of the poem, appearing in a different order in each subsequent stanza according to a fixed pattern.

• Read the full text of “Sestina”

• “Sestina” Summary

• “Sestina” Themes

  • 

    Family Trauma and Communication

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-39
  • 

    Time, Change, and Grief

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 7-10
    • Lines 25-39

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Sestina”

  • Lines 1-6

    September rain falls ...
    ... hide her tears.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 7-11

    She thinks that ...
    ... on the stove.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 12-16

    She cuts some ...
    ... on the house.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 17-22

    Tidying up, the ...
    ... dark brown tears.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 23-26

    She shivers and ...
    ... says the almanac.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 27-30

    With crayons the ...
    ... to the grandmother.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 31-36

    But secretly, while ...
    ... of the house.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 37-39

    Time to plant ...
    ... another inscrutable house.

    

    

    

    

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• “Sestina” Symbols

  • 

    Houses

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “September rain falls on the house.”
    • Line 8: “and the rain that beats on the roof of the house”
    • Line 16: “the way the rain must dance on the house.”
    • Lines 23-24: “She shivers and says she thinks the house / feels chilly”
    • Lines 27-30: “With crayons the child draws a rigid house / and a winding pathway. Then the child / puts in a man with buttons like tears / and shows it proudly to the grandmother.”
    • Lines 33-36: “the little moons fall down like tears / from between the pages of the almanac / into the flower bed the child / has carefully placed in the front of the house.”
    • Line 39: “and the child draws another inscrutable house.”
  • 

    The Almanac

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 5: “reading the jokes from the almanac”
    • Lines 7-9: “She thinks that her equinoctial tears / and the rain that beats on the roof of the house  / were both foretold by the almanac”
    • Lines 17-19: “the old grandmother / hangs up the clever almanac / on its string”
    • Lines 19-22: “Birdlike, the almanac / hovers half open above the child, / hovers above the old grandmother / and her teacup full of dark brown tears.”
    • Line 26: “I know what I know, says the almanac.”
    • Lines 33-36: “the little moons fall down like tears / from between the pages of the almanac / into the flower bed the child / has carefully placed in the front of the house.”
    • Line 37: “Time to plant tears, says the almanac.”
  • 

    The Child's Drawing

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 27-30: “With crayons the child draws a rigid house / and a winding pathway. Then the child / puts in a man with buttons like tears / and shows it proudly to the grandmother.”
    • Lines 33-37: “the little moons fall down like tears / from between the pages of the almanac / into the flower bed the child / has carefully placed in the front of the house. / Time to plant tears, says the almanac.”
    • Line 39: “and the child draws another inscrutable house.”

• “Sestina” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

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    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Lines 15-16: “dance like mad on the hot black stove, / the way the rain must dance on the house.”
    • Lines 20-21: “hovers half open above the child, / hovers above the old grandmother”
    • Line 25: “says the Marvel Stove.”
    • Line 26: “says the almanac.”
    • Line 37: “says the almanac.”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 2-3: “grandmother / sits”
    • Lines 3-4: “child / beside”
    • Lines 7-8: “tears / and”
    • Lines 8-9: “house  / were”
    • Lines 13-14: “child / is”
    • Lines 14-15: “tears / dance”
    • Lines 17-18: “grandmother / hangs”
    • Lines 18-19: “almanac / on”
    • Lines 19-20: “almanac / hovers”
    • Lines 21-22: “grandmother / and”
    • Lines 23-24: “house / feels”
    • Lines 27-28: “house / and”
    • Lines 28-29: “child / puts”
    • Lines 29-30: “tears / and”
    • Lines 31-32: “grandmother / busies”
    • Lines 33-34: “tears / from”
    • Lines 34-35: “almanac / into”
    • Lines 35-36: “child / has”
    • Lines 38-39: “stove / and”

  • Imagery

    

    

    

    

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    Where imagery appears in the poem:

    • Line 8: “the rain that beats on the roof of the house ”
    • Line 11: “The iron kettle sings on the stove.”
    • Lines 13-16: “but the child / is watching the teakettle's small hard tears / dance like mad on the hot black stove, / the way the rain must dance on the house.”
    • Lines 19-22: “Birdlike, the almanac / hovers half open above the child, / hovers above the old grandmother / and her teacup full of dark brown tears.”
    • Lines 33-36: “the little moons fall down like tears / from between the pages of the almanac / into the flower bed the child / has carefully placed in the front of the house”

  • Anthropomorphism

    

    

    

    

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    Where anthropomorphism appears in the poem:

    • Line 11: “The iron kettle sings on the stove.”
    • Lines 14-16: “the teakettle's small hard tears / dance like mad on the hot black stove, / the way the rain must dance on the house.”
    • Line 18: “the clever almanac”
    • Lines 25-26: “It was to be, says the Marvel Stove. / I know what I know, says the almanac.”
    • Lines 31-36: “But secretly, while the grandmother / busies herself about the stove, / the little moons fall down like tears / from between the pages of the almanac / into the flower bed the child / has carefully placed in the front of the house.”
    • Line 37: “Time to plant tears, says the almanac.”

• “Sestina” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Little Marvel Stove
  • Almanac
  • Equinoctial
  • Foretold
  • Kettle
  • Rigid
  • Inscrutable
  • (Location in poem: Line 4: “beside the Little Marvel Stove,”; Line 25: “It was to be, says the Marvel Stove.”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Sestina”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Sestina” Speaker

• “Sestina” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Sestina”

• More “Sestina” Resources

  • External Resources

    • Listen to a Reading of "Sestina" — "Sestina" read aloud by the poet Charles Simic. 

    • A Biography of the Poet — Read more about Elizabeth Bishop's life and career in this biography from the Poetry Foundation. 

    • What Is a Sestina? — A definition of the poetic form Bishop uses, as well as examples of other famous sestinas. 

    • Voices and Visions Short Film — Watch a 1988 documentary about the poet.

    • An Interview with the Poet — A 1977 Ploughshares interview where Bishop discusses her poetry and influences. 

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Elizabeth Bishop

    • Crusoe in England

    • Filling Station

    • First Death in Nova Scotia

    • One Art

    • The Fish

    • The Man-Moth

    • The Mountain

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