Elizabeth Bishop (1911–1979)
Author of The Complete Poems, 1927–1979
About the Author
An American poet, Elizabeth Bishop was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1911. Following the death of her father and the extended illness of her mother, Bishop was raised by relatives. During World War I she lived in Nova Scotia. She graduated from Vassar in 1934 and later traveled in Europe and show more Africa. For many years she lived in Brazil. She returned to the United States in 1970. In 1945, North and South, Bishop's first book, was published. Her Complete Poems (1969) won the National Book Award in 1970. With Emanuel Brasil, Bishop coedited An Anthology of Twentieth Century Brazilian Poetry (1972) Her influence on other poets was not obvious during her life, but many have tried to emulate her distinctive talent, and her reputation continues to grow. Bishop died in 1979. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Elizabeth Bishop
Works by Elizabeth Bishop
Edgar Allan Poe & the juke-box: uncollected poems, drafts, and fragments (2006) 248 copies, 3 reviews
Words in Air: The Complete Correspondence Between Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell (2008) 232 copies, 4 reviews
O Iceberg Imaginário e Outros Poemas 7 copies
The Ballad of the Burglar of Babylon 5 copies
The Little of our Earthly Trust 3 copies
Selected Poems 3 copies
Becoming Activist: Critical Literacy and Youth Organizing (Critical Praxis and Curriculum Guides) (2015) 2 copies
Poems 1 copy
Casabianca 1 copy
The imaginary iceberg 1 copy
The moose 1 copy
Conscious Service: Ten ways to reclaim your calling, move beyond burnout, and make a difference without sacrificing… (2022) 1 copy
Santarem 1 copy
寫給雨季的歌 1 copy
Poetry 1 copy
Dai libri di geografia 1 copy
Poem / Elizabeth Bishop 1 copy
Bishop, Elizabeth Archive 1 copy
The Complete Poems 1927-79 1 copy
Ve vesnici : a jiné prózy 1 copy
Associated Works
The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms (2000) — Contributor — 1,308 copies, 9 reviews
Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama (1995) — Contributor, some editions — 952 copies, 7 reviews
A Book of Luminous Things: An International Anthology of Poetry (1996) — Contributor — 850 copies, 12 reviews
Fierce Pajamas: An Anthology of Humor Writing from The New Yorker (2001) — Contributor — 717 copies, 6 reviews
American Poetry: The Twentieth Century, Volume Two: E. E. Cummings to May Swenson (2000) — Contributor — 419 copies, 1 review
From Totems to Hip-Hop: A Multicultural Anthology of Poetry Across the Americas 1900-2002 (2002) — Contributor — 174 copies
Poetry Speaks Expanded: Hear Poets Read Their Own Work from Tennyson to Plath (2007) — Contributor — 153 copies, 2 reviews
The Sophisticated Cat: A Gathering of Stories, Poems, and Miscellaneous Writings About Cats (1992) — Contributor — 101 copies, 1 review
Writing New York: A Literary Anthology (Expanded 10th-Anniversary Edition) (2008) — Contributor — 95 copies, 1 review
The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Concise Edition (2003) — Contributor — 68 copies, 1 review
Buzz Words: Poems About Insects (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets Series) (2021) — Contributor — 40 copies
Sunlight on the River: Poems About Paintings, Paintings About Poems (2015) — Contributor — 10 copies, 2 reviews
Direction Vol.1 No.3 (April-June 1935) — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Other names
- BISHOP, Elizabeth
- Birthdate
- 1911-02-08
- Date of death
- 1979-10-06
- Burial location
- Hope Cemetery, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
- Place of death
- Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Cause of death
- cerebral aneurysm
- Places of residence
- Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
Great Village, Nova Scotia, Canada
Cliftondale, Massachusetts, USA
Key West, Florida, USA
Petropolis, Brazil
North Haven, Maine, USA - Education
- Vassar College (AB|1934)
Walnut Hill School
North Shore Country Day School
Saugus High School - Occupations
- poet
short-story writer
literary critic
translator
painter - Relationships
- Moore, Marianne (friend)
Lowell, Robert (friend)
Soares, Lota de Macedo (lover) - Organizations
- American Academy of Arts and Letters (Literature ∙ 1976)
Academy of American Poets (chancellor, 1966-79)
Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1968)
National Institute of Arts and Letters (1954)
Harvard University (teacher) - Awards and honors
- Shelley Memorial Award (1953)
Amy Lowell Travelling Fellowship in Poetry (1957-1958)
Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets (1964)
Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (1949-1950)
American Academy of Arts and Letters Academy Award (1951)
Lucy Martin Donnelly fellowship (1956) (show all 14)
Order of Rio Branco (1969)
Harriet Monroe Poetry Award (1974)
Elizabeth Bishop House
Neustadt International Prize for Literature (1976)
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (1956)
National Book Award for Poetry (1970)
National Book Critics Circle Award (1977)
New York Writers Hall of Fame (2010)
Members
Reviews
Elizabeth Bishop: Poems, Prose, and Letters (LOA… by Elizabeth Bishop
I don't have the time to do more than sample now... but I must admit that most seems beyond me. I rather liked "Insomnia" but I have a feeling I'm grasping for the easy interpretation and if I read more deeply it'd make an entirely different interpretation. I also liked the one about the owl who proves he can count, because he repeats himself in phrases of five, over and over again... but unfortunately I didn't mark it & don't remember where in the volume it was. Anyway, I doubt I'll read more by her unless she is rec'd to me afresh.… (more)
This is a book I'll keep dipping into in front of the fire, the poems at hand, without concern for finishing.
Thought I would love this collection but I was left feeling lukewarm. While In the Waiting Room and Night City were my favorites, I didn't really feel much for the other poems.
Possibly my favorite poem of all time, "Skunk Hour" by Robert Lowell, is dedicated to Elizabeth Bishop, so I had to check her out.
Many of these poems are impressionistic, capturing a moment - like "Late Air". Some use extended metaphor, like "The Unbeliever" - taking a line from John Bunyan about the dangers of unbelief and twisting it into something different - making it seem that the atheist is both able to dream differently than those on the deck below:
Asleep he was transported there
asleep he curled
in a gilded ball at the mast's top,
or climbed inside
a gilded bird, or blindly seated himself astride
The metaphor becomes something strange and mysterious - what is the unbeliever? A dreamer? A sage?
Bishop likes to weave natural imagery in with the emotions and ideas expressed in her poems - a classic example is "The Fish", where the defeat of the veteran fish by the fisherman is problematized by the imagery of the decrepit boat, where there is a "pool of bilge / where oil had spread a rainbow / around the rusted engine"
The fish is something noble battling against the crude ugly trappings of man.… (more)
Many of these poems are impressionistic, capturing a moment - like "Late Air". Some use extended metaphor, like "The Unbeliever" - taking a line from John Bunyan about the dangers of unbelief and twisting it into something different - making it seem that the atheist is both able to dream differently than those on the deck below:
Asleep he was transported there
asleep he curled
in a gilded ball at the mast's top,
or climbed inside
a gilded bird, or blindly seated himself astride
The metaphor becomes something strange and mysterious - what is the unbeliever? A dreamer? A sage?
Bishop likes to weave natural imagery in with the emotions and ideas expressed in her poems - a classic example is "The Fish", where the defeat of the veteran fish by the fisherman is problematized by the imagery of the decrepit boat, where there is a "pool of bilge / where oil had spread a rainbow / around the rusted engine"
The fish is something noble battling against the crude ugly trappings of man.… (more)
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Statistics
- Works
- 76
- Also by
- 62
- Members
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- Popularity
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- Rating
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- Reviews
- 49
- ISBNs
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- Favorited
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