Exchanging Hats

“Exchanging Hats” is arguably a narrative poem, as it takes the reader through a sequence of specific, described events with a cast.

While not all poets incorporate their lives into their work, their lives shape their beliefs and fixations. Much of Bishop's life did not fit into the excepted mold. She was not raised by her mother and father, encountered death and mental illness at an early age, had romantic relationships with women, and excelled in a male-dominated field. Fittingly, “Exchanging Hats” deals with societal expectations and conformity.

The poem opens in first-person plural, a trend among 20th-century American poets to indicate a group or community. The first-person plural allows the speaker to simultaneously include their family, society, and the audience in the critique. The speaker implies that many have unfunny uncles who wear women's clothing as a punch line. Alternatively, the speaker's many uncles make the same joke for their nieces' and nephews' entertainment. Either way, the frequency and plurality of the joke signal that it is a part of a more significant societal trend. Although the speaker and their peers feel embarrassed by their uncles' jokes, they and many others possess a fascination with crossdressing.

In the next stanza, the speaker explains that people want to cross-dress because “costume and custom are complex,” which allows for experimentation (Lines 6-8). The third stanza begins with the speaker discussing another farce completed by older relatives. The speaker portrays the aunts as hyper-feminine. Not only does the word anandrous brings up the connection between women and flowers, it specifically means a flower without male parts (Line 9).

While the women try on the yachtsmen's caps, they fail to transcend their pre-assigned gender roles. The caps are too large for their heads, and they do not take their transgression seriously. Instead, the aunts make “exhibitionistic screech[es],” drawing attention to the perceived absurdity of women taking on traditionally masculine roles and showmanship (Line 12).

While the speaker notes these experiments are just two variations in a long line of gender-defying entertainment routines, they still make the speaker wonder about society. Hats do not naturally occur. People created hats and continue to make hats. By linking gender roles with the hats, Bishop implies humanity manufactured gender roles. The hat roleplay emphasizes “the natural madness” of enforced gender roles (Line 21).  

The speaker wonders what would happen to society's other preconceived notions of gender roles vanished. They think about people abandoning opera hats, representing wealth, and crowns, representing hierarchal political power. Once people start questioning these systems, they will start questioning more philosophical and existential beliefs. The wisdom of the church, represented by a bishop's miter, would mean nothing.

The speaker switches to the second-person singular as Bishop shifts the poem from cultural exploration to a more intimate one. The speaker's thoughts seem to have come from their uncle's death. Hats move from only representing gender identity into individual identity. The reader learns the uncle loved hats. As the speaker thinks about him, they remember all the hats he wore while alive. The speaker then uses that personal detail to frame their unanswered question about the afterlife. Although the speaker receives no answer, they ask the uncle if he now sees stars inside his hat. The stars, associated with the heavens, symbolize the afterlife.

The speaker then focuses on their aunt, either also dead or in mourning. They think about the aunt's eyes looking at the changes under her hat. However, the speaker does not know the exact nature of those changes. They only assume they are happening. Once again, the speaker receives no closure nor definite answer. The miter does not matter to the speaker since it cannot give her any access to her aunt's or uncle's inner thoughts. The hats only represent the possibility of comprehension and empathy rather than grant it.

“Exchanging Hats” proposes gender as one of Americans' central systems to organize and comprehend the world. These systems provide comfort in a world where many things remain mysteries. However, the system is a false and arbitrary one. In reality, it conceals existential concerns around death. If society were to forgo gender roles, Bishop implies that society must re-evaluate all its preconceived beliefs and classifications.