English - Elizabeth Bishop: Filling Station

Filling Station Themes

Appearance

Feminine Touch

Appearance Quotes

"Oh, but it is dirty!"

"Be careful with that match!"

"Several quick and saucy and greasy sons assist him"

"Oh, but it is dirty!"

The speaker's disgust slaps the reader immediately. The exclamation makes it sound as if the filth is unbearable, as though the station itself is something repulsive and untouchable.

"Be careful with that match!"

This sudden command adds tension—there's a sense that danger is just below the surface.

The filling station isn't just dirty; it feels unstable, ready to go up in flames.

This could also reflect deeper social tensions: the lives of the working class are often fragile, always one step away from crisis.

"Several quick and saucy and greasy sons assist him"

This line adds comic colour and lively rhythm to the poem through its use of alliteration and the tricolon structure.

The adjectives — "quick," "saucy," and "greasy" — are deliberately chosen to build a vivid, slightly chaotic image of the sons who work in the station.

"Quick" suggests energy and youth,

"saucy" implies cheekiness or rebellion, while

"greasy" links them directly to the dirty, oily environment.

Feminine Touch / Domesticity Quotes

"A set of crushed and grease-impregnated wickerwork;"

"A dirty dog, quite comfy."

"Some comic books provide / the only note of color—"

"Heavy with gray crochet."

"Somebody embroidered the doily."

"A set of crushed and grease-impregnated wickerwork;"

symbolises the clash between domesticity and decay, evoking both the harshness of the setting and the subtle efforts to make it feel like home — reinforcing the poem's theme of unseen care and love in neglected places.

"A dirty dog, quite comfy."

The alliteration in "dirty dog" draws playful attention to the image, yet it also evokes affection — this is not a stray , but a beloved presence.

The phrase "quite comfy" feels almost out of place in such a grimy setting, but that contrast is precisely Bishop's point: even in filth, there is comfort, warmth, and a trace of love.

"Some comic books provide / the only note of color—"

symbols of escape, joy, and care within an otherwise bleak, monochrome environment.

"Heavy with gray crochet."

Suggests the emotional labour behind care — "heavy" implies burdensome but meaningful love.

"Somebody embroidered the doily."

The anonymous "somebody" echoes the invisibility of women's work.

Bishop was raised by her grandparents after her mother's mental breakdown.

The unseen "somebody" echoes the caretakers in her own life — anonymous but essential.

Love in Unexpected Places Quotes

"So that they softly say: esso—so—so—so"

"Somebody loves us all."

"So that they softly say: esso—so—so—so"

The sibilance lulls the reader with sound — evokes a mother soothing a child. Industrial noise becomes a cradle song, blending love and labour.

"Somebody loves us all."

Bishop's closing line, "Somebody loves us all," delivers a deeply moving emotional truth, suggesting that even in life's messiness, unseen acts of love and care surround us.