In “Cape Breton,” Elizabeth Bishop describes a landscape for the stark cliffs and water that compose it, but also for its representation on a larger scale . The landscape is a representation of the peaceful world and how it is inevitably interrupted by human presence, influencing its ability to be natural. For Bishop, the landscape is intriguingly mysterious but is constantly awaiting the arrival of civilization, demonstrating that we cannot always have nature alone, but rather must have nature in relation to humans. Bishop describes the landscape not as a world of things, but rather as a repository of hidden ideas and meanings. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Bishop paints a mysterious landscape, with a wall of fog that “hangs in layers between the valleys and gorges of the mainland” and “the ghosts of the glaciers” (Bishop 16, 18). The landscape is menacing and almost nervous, as if waiting for something or someone to arrive. Bishop describes each feature of the landscape as more than just face value. He describes each part of the landscape as having feelings rather than as lifeless and emotionless, suggesting that the meaning of the landscape goes beyond the water and the rock of which it is composed. The glaciers are described as ghostly and the edges of the rocks are irregular and nervous. Bishop paints a more abstract scene that is sometimes difficult to read, focusing not on the physical features themselves , but on the mind's ability to transform them into ideas. The image presents the idea that landscapes and nature in general are more natural and peaceful when left alone, uncontaminated by man. If Bishop painted the picture of trees, water, and all other elements as individual components, it would be simple and without any underlying meaning. But this is where Bishop's description of the landscape and the physical features that comprise it work together to create emotions of mystery and magic. It allows the mind to contemplate the hidden meaning of the landscape, as something more than its physical qualities. The mysterious landscape described by Bishop is interrupted by human presence. There are “occasional little yellow bulldozers” and “miles of burnt forest, standing in gray scratches / like the wondrous sculpture made on stone upon stone” (25, 37-38). The landscape that was once peaceful is now dead and grey. The only sources of light are the yellow bulldozers and the yellow school bus traveling along the abandoned road. The bus is full of people and drops off a man and his child who walk across the meadow to a house near the water. Bishop describes the physical qualities of the landscape and how they relate to human life. Once the man and boy travel from the bus to the house on the water, the landscape is never the same. The landscape is no longer silent and mysterious, as if human presence had contaminated this world. Now it is meaningless and dead: “Everything of meaning in the landscape seems to have been / abandoned” (31-32). Bishop doesn't focus specifically on water or mountains, but focuses on landscape; how it feels and what themes it invokes. The landscape is not a world of things, but rather a deposition of ideas and concepts. It's ironic how when the landscape goes from lonely to inhabited, despite only being inhabited by two people, the tone of the landscape immediately changes. Man, normally considered full of life and noise, makes the landscape more silent than ever: “And these regions now have little to say for themselves” (39). Landscape is more than what can be seen by the eye; it is a representation of nature.