18 pages • 36 minutes read
Elizabeth BishopThe Armadillo
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1957A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Cultural Context: Saints’ Days in Brazil
“The Armadillo” is about a seasonal celebration in Brazil called Festa Junina (June Festival), or Festa de São João (Festival of St. John). The month of June is in the winter in South America, and it contains celebrations for several saints, especially St. John the Baptist, whose birthday is celebrated on June 24. Other saints who are celebrated during June in Brazil include St. Anthony (whose celebration day is on June 13) and St. Peter (whose celebration day is on June 29). This seasonal celebration highlights Brazil’s Catholic culture and Portuguese colonialism. It is modeled off of the European midsummer celebrations (which happen during Brazil’s winter) as a harvest festival. The Festa de São João can be compared to the annual Carnival (celebrated in February), which is the only festival more popular in Brazil than the Festa de São João. Both are Catholic celebrations, and both include dancing, music, costumes, food, and drinks. The Festa Junina features a dance called quadrilha and a type of music called forró.
It also includes games, bonfires, and fireworks. Fire balloons, which are similar to paper lanterns, which are released daily during the June celebrations are the focus of “The Armadillo.” Bishop notes the frequency of the fireworks, “almost every night” (Line 2) in June.
Literary Context: Travel Literature
The title of the poem in its initial publication, The New Yorker, is “The Armadillo—Brazil,” and the title of the book in which it first appears is Questions of Travel (1965). These titles indicate that the poem is a piece of travel literature about South America, specifically Brazil. Travel literature became popular alongside the Grand Tour, beginning around 1660. The Grand Tour started in Europe and was originally undertaken by upper class men as part of their education. They visited locations such as Paris and Rome to learn about history and become cultured. The genre of travel literature was popularized by books like A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy by Laurence Stern (1768) and satirized in books like Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain (1869). A book of travel literature that can be compared to Bishop’s poetry about her travels in South America is the 1855 travel anthology Magical Sites: Women Travelers in 19th Century Latin America. This book includes Ida Pfeiffer’s “Travels Through the Brazils,” which is relevant to “The Armadillo” despite being published close to 100 years prior to Bishop’s 1965 book. In these 100 years, tourism became more popular and accessible due to advances in transportation technology. Additionally, Bishop’s travels are a signifier of her class, as being independently wealthy allowed her to travel extensively.
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