The Imaginary Iceberg

Many of Bishop’s contemporary post-war American poets sought self-expression. They wrote in autobiographical and confessional forms explaining themselves to the outside world. In many ways, Bishop works in the opposite direction of these confessional poets. Looking outward, Bishop’s speakers find their own reflection. In this way, Bishop shares similarities with the 19th century European romantics, who looked to the natural world for answers to human questions. In “The Imaginary Iceberg,” Bishop engages with the immediate experience of an object and its environment. Through close observation of such objects and their effect on the viewer, Bishop’s speakers gain understand of the human experience. In “The Imaginary Iceberg,” this new understanding centers on the links between the human soul, travel, and the imagination.

The poem’s titular iceberg stands for human imagination. The poem’s title and emphasis on its subject’s imaginary state establishes this connection between the iceberg and what it represents. This connection carries through the speaker’s description of the iceberg, and is most evident when the speaker states “a sailor’d give his eyes” (Line 12) to see the mass of ice. Being “[i]maginary” (Title), the mass is visible within one’s mind rather than through one’s eyes. As with the imagination, the iceberg’s true scale and beauty are hidden.