Ambiguity in “12 o'clock News” by Elizabeth Bishop Elizabeth Bishop constructs the poem “12 o'Clock News” to portray distinct settings with similar descriptions. In the first stanza it is not clear whether it is the swan neck lamp or the moon which "gives very little light" and "could be dead". While there is an implicit distance between the desk setting and the world depicted in the news with the phrase “half the world,” the common theme of dim light gives the different settings a common thread. The lines “We will try to give you an idea of ​​the lay of the land and the current situation” sound like those of a TV news reporter, incorporating the idea of ​​limited perspective within or of the media. The descriptions of “dim visibility” could be a description of the prospect of lamplight, the moon, and the news. Although the meaning of this phrase differs for each example, the all-encompassing element of the description connects the desk to the foreign land and the news. All light sources appear to make very little light. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayThe connection between poetry and media can also be established through the relationship between desk setting and reporting, as both are created according to a limited perspective. The dim light of the lamp refers to Bishop's writing, as he must begin to shape his poetry from a confused and unclear place. Just as the mass media must represent the other from a confused and partial position. Bishop's manipulation of a newsroom through his ambiguous descriptions parallels the way the media distorts our perception of the world. The process of writing and presenting news run parallel just like the columns of poetry. The choice to build columns distances the desk on the left side from the world of news on the right side, while the strophic form equates the two settings horizontally and with cleverly ambiguous descriptions. In the second stanza, a parallel could be drawn between the rows of typewriter keys and the rural terraces of the news. Bishop works at his typewriter to produce poetry, or welfare, to support himself, just as the “little principality” works ceaselessly on their agricultural lands to support themselves. By relating to the work and well-being of these people, Bishop humanizes them to counter the portrayal provided by the media. The connection between contemporary and rural activities, poetry and agriculture, also unites the divided halves of the world and poetry with the universal relationship between work and welfare. The third stanza connects Bishop's writing process to the world of news with the relationship between the pile of manuscripts and the “white and shale” soil. In addition to conjuring up a similar image of sediment/stacked blank paper, “poor quality” could refer to the ground or the pile of writings. By implicitly equating her experience with writing about another newsworthy event, Bishop connects to the world around her and distances herself from media detachment. Bishop follows this connection through the fourth stanza, with the doubly applicable description of the field being “stained dark,” like a sheet of paper filled with typed words. This raises the question of whether the field was a “landing strip” or a “graveyard airstrip” to indicate a void, literally or figuratively, a lack of life or substance, on the sheet of paper. In any case, Bishop is referring to the uncertainty of the news, which structurally predisposes her to empathy. Bishop criticizes the newsin the fifth stanza with a sarcastic tone and an increase in the distance between the two worlds of this poem. The columns present two different forms of communication. The news report describes communications in the “backward country” as “crude” and in the form of giant signs. In contrast, the envelopes in the list on the left reveal a very different form of communication. Signs are an entirely public spectacle with indirect and impersonal messages, while envelopes are associated with direct communications of personal intent. Bishop feels distant from this country as the journalist describes it, but provides his commentary by repeating the word “backward” and the quotation marks about “industrialization.” This draws attention to these two words and indicates that the country is considered backward only because it lacks industrialization. Here we return to the limited perspective of the mass media, considering and presenting the underdeveloped world only in relation to the familiarity of industrialization. In the sixth stanza, the duality between “secret weapon” and “savior” refers to both the ink bottle and the “strangely shaped black structure” discovered in the news report. The “faint” moonlight reminds the viewer that the absence of adequate lighting hints at a lack of real understanding of the place. The “powerful and terrifying 'secret weapon'” first of all reveals a prejudicial assumption. The next question about “what we know” reveals a momentary reflection on the previously presented prejudices and hypotheses. The short-lived interrogation quickly turns into another hypothesis of religious dependence and "helplessness...". The quotation marks on "savior" and the reference to "serious difficulties" indicate a lack of clarity of perspective as it appears that the journalist is making fun of the country's religion and culture. The idea of ​​a bottle of ink as a savior, as a “last hope of salvation” for the poet could relate to the previous connection with work and well-being, since his writing, with ink if not with a typewriter, supports it . ” combined with “typewriter eraser” presents the unicyclist-courier as a sort of case study for the “elusive natives.” The expression “elusive natives” sounds mocking, like in a show about wild animals, and in this way dehumanizes these natives. The description of the "thick and spiky black hair" also evokes an animalistic image, as does the grouping of the individual within the "natives". Dehumanization manifests itself in the death of the unicyclist, and the metaphor is enriched by the “deceptive lighting” that allows the news such a limited perspective. The typewriter eraser chronicles the erasure of the person's life, both literally and in its dehumanization in the mass media, and also indicates an editing process for Bishop. The final stanza emphasizes the relationship between the ashtray and the corpses with ambiguous language. The “nest” of soldiers lying “huddled together” and “in horribly contorted positions, all dead” mirrors the image of an ashtray full of cigarette butts. This sad relationship raises the issue of disposableness, equating the writer burning cigarettes to the same way death burns human beings. The phrase “superior position of advantage” reinforces the idea of ​​imperialistic representation of this nameless country in the news. And the references to “battle dress” and “winter war” draw attention to the portrayal of these people as “inscrutable” but “childish” and “hopeless” and of their leaders as corrupt. It is only in this last stanza that the reality of the war is realized, which offers a further explanation for the partial presentation of the adversaries. This ashtray could also represent the.