The Shampoo

Like the speaker in “The Shampoo,” the subject matter is elusive. The title suggests the poem is about shampooing hair, yet the initial lines don't seem attached to a person’s hair or washing it. The poem begins with imagery as a literary device, since the vivid language about the rocks and lichen creates a picture. The image links to nature, not hair, and makes the speaker come across as a botanist or scientist since the speaker meticulously examines the natural world. The speaker notes the “spreading, gray, concentric shocks” (Line 3) of the lichens, which make the speaker think of “the rings around the moon” (Line 5). In Lines 1-5, the speaker expresses their observations and makes detailed connections. They sound detached, which creates an objective tone. The first five lines read something like an impersonal science report.

The speaker and their tone become personal when they state, “[W]ithin our memories they have not changed” (Line 6). Although the lichens move around, they remain the same in the minds of the speaker and the second person in the poem, who's later identified as a close friend. The speaker feels comfortable speaking for themselves and their friend, which underscores their close relationship. If they weren't close, the speaker probably wouldn’t know what’s happening in their friend’s memory and might not feel comfortable speaking of themselves as a unit.

The tone stays personal when the speaker says, “And since the heavens will attend / as long on us” (Lines 7-8). The “heavens” serve as a symbol for the wondrous, carefree lives of the speaker and their friend. When they’re together, it’s like they’re in heaven; or, another way to put it, heaven is watching over them as long as they’re together. Maybe the reason their lives are lovely is that the speaker’s friend isn’t a common friend but a “dear friend” (Line 9), so their closeness makes them feel like they’re in a blessed or heavenly space. Together, they create a magical, spiritual environment.

The speaker doesn’t overtly describe themselves in the poem. They don’t reveal their gender or personality traits, yet the speaker labels their dear friend “precipitate and pragmatical” (Line 10). The line itself is pleasant to say because of the alliteration, which is when words with similar sounds or starting with the same letter reside near one another. The word “precipitate” reveals that the dear friend is a spark; they make things happen or bring about events. The dear friend is also practical and concerned with facts and reality—“pragmatical.” What “happens” (Line 11) due to the friend’s temperament and their union with the speaker makes time “amenable” (Line 12). When the two are together, they don’t feel harried by external factors like time. Time doesn't control them because they can amend time to their liking. Their ability to manage time adds to their enchanting situation.

“The shooting stars in your black hair,” notes the speaker in Line 13. As in Line 9, the speaker directly addresses their friend. This time, they shine the spotlight on the friend’s hair. The star imagery relates to the lichens and moon imagery in Stanza 1 and indicates that Stanza 1 is also about what the speaker sees in their friend’s hair. Once again, the speaker comes across as a keen observer. They’re captivated by the stars’ “bright formation” (Line 14) and wonder where they’re “flocking” (Line 15).

As opposed to Stanza 1, the tone in Stanza 3 is more excitable; it’s less observant and distant and more intimate and responsive. The speaker reacts to the movement of the stars when they tell their friend, “Come, let me wash it in this big tin basin” (Line 17). The line links to the title and confirms that this poem is about shampooing. The title isn’t a trick or a code for some other activity. Bishop called her poem "The Shampoo" because it's about shampooing someone's hair.

Line 17 also reveals something about the speaker—they like to wash their dear friend’s hair. For the first time in the poem, the speaker asserts themselves as a single person with the pronoun “me.” Previously, the speaker only referred to themselves in connection with their close friend—as in, “our memories” (Line 6) and “on us” (Line 8). Now, with "me," the speaker acknowledges that they have an identity separate from their friend.

The speaker ends the poem with a description of the basin, which is “battered and shiny like the moon” (Line 18). This is the second time a moon appears in the poem, and its return bolsters the claim that the images in Stanza 1 relate to the dear friend’s hair. The rocks, the moon, and the “gray, concentric shocks” (Line 3) are images that enter the speaker’s mind when they examine their friend’s hair. The pictures of the "shooting stars" (Line 13) also originate because of the friend's hair. In a sense, the friend's hair precipitates the speaker's sharp impressions and the poem. If the speaker didn't have their friend's hair to wash, they couldn't write a poem about the process.