HELP: Bishop - thwarts, strings, gunnels

[Hunter, Robert (Psychology)]

To prevent accidental dumping of an oarlock into the water, they are attached to the boat by a string.  This is particularly likely in a boat that is rented.
     Cheers,
     Robert Hunter
     rhunter at monroecc.edu 

	-----Original Message----- 
	From: Anna Plisetskaya [mailto:annaplis at MAIL.RU] 
	Sent: Thu 5/22/2003 5:39 AM 
	To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU 
	Cc: 
	Subject: [SEELANGS] HELP: Bishop - thwarts, strings, gunnels
	
	

	Dear SEELANGERS,
	
	I am translating into Russian a poem by Elizabeth Bishop "The Fish", and
	there are some lines at the end of it I don't quite understand. The heroine
	sitting in a boat has caught a big fish. I cannot understand some parts of
	the boat, especially strings:
	
	
	I stared and stared
	and victory filled up
	the little rented boat,
	from the pool of bilge
	where oil had spread a rainbow
	around the rusted engine
	to the bailer rusted orange,
	the sun-cracked thwarts,
	the oarlocks on their strings,
	the gunnels--until everything
	was rainbow, rainbow, rainbow!
	And I let the fish go.
	
	
	The dictionaries give "banka na grebnoy shlyupke" for "thwart" and
	"planshir" for "gunnel". It still remains obscure for me but "oarlocks on
	their strings" are totally beyond my understanding.
	
	I would be very grateful for any ideas as it is rather urgent.
	
	Best,
	Anna
	
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