Bishop, Elizabeth

Bishop, Elizabeth
born Feb. 8, 1911, Worcester, Mass., U.S.
died Oct. 6, 1979, Boston, Mass.

U.S. poet.

Bishop was reared by relatives in Nova Scotia, Can., after her father died and her mother was institutionalized. In the 1950s and '60s she lived principally in Brazil with the Brazilian woman she loved. Her first book of poems (1946) contrasts her New England origins and her love of hot climates; reprinted with additions as North & South: A Cold Spring (1955), it received the Pulitzer Prize. Her works are celebrated for their formal brilliance and their close observations of everyday reality. They have elicited much admiration from other poets. Posthumous publications include The Collected Prose (1984) and One Art (1994), a collection of her letters.

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▪ American poet
born Feb. 8, 1911, Worcester, Mass., U.S.
died Oct. 6, 1979, Boston, Mass.

      American poet known for her polished, witty, descriptive verse. Her short stories and her poetry first were published in The New Yorker (New Yorker, The) and other magazines.

      Bishop was reared by her maternal grandparents in Nova Scotia and by an aunt in Boston. After graduating from Vassar College in 1934, she traveled abroad often, living for a time in Key West, Florida (1938–42), and Mexico (1943). She was consultant in poetry at the Library of Congress (now poet laureate consultant in poetry) from 1949 to 1950. During most of the 1950s and '60s she lived with Lota de Macedo Soares in Petrópolis, Braz., near Rio de Janeiro, later dividing the year between Petrópolis and San Francisco. Her first book of poems, North & South (1946), captures the divided nature of Bishop's allegiances: born in New England and reared there and in Nova Scotia, she eventually migrated to hotter regions. This book was reprinted in 1955, with additions, as North & South: A Cold Spring, and it won a Pulitzer Prize.

      Much of Bishop's later work also addresses the frigid-tropical dichotomy of a New England conscience in a tropical sphere. Questions of Travel (1965) and Geography III (1976) offer spare, powerful meditations on the need for self-exploration, on the value of art (especially poetry) in human life, and on human responsibility in a chaotic world. The latter collection includes some of Bishop's best-known poems, among them “In the Waiting Room,” “Crusoe in England,” and the exquisite villanelle “One Art.” A collection entitled The Complete Poems was published in 1969.

      Bishop taught writing at Harvard University from 1970 to 1977, and she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1976. Her posthumously published poetry collections include The Complete Poems, 1927–1979 (1983) and Edgar Allen Poe & the Juke-Box (2006), the latter of which contains previously unpublished material. The Collected Prose, a volume of fiction and nonfiction, appeared in 1984. A selection of her letters was published under the title One Art in 1994. Elizabeth Bishop: Poems, Prose, and Letters (2008) is a comprehensive collection of her published and unpublished work.

      Bishop also wrote a travel book, Brazil (1962), and translated from the Portuguese Alice Brant's Brazilian classic, The Diary of Helena Morley (1957). She edited and translated An Anthology of Twentieth-Century Brazilian Poetry (1972). Bishop also was an artist, and Exchanging Hats (1996) is a collection of more than 50 of her paintings.

Additional Reading
Studies of her life and works include Brett C. Millier, Elizabeth Bishop: Life and the Memory of It (1993); Lloyd Schwartz and Sybil P. Estess (eds.), Elizabeth Bishop and Her Art (1983); Thomas J. Travisano, Elizabeth Bishop: Her Artistic Development (1988); Lorrie Goldensohn, Elizabeth Bishop: The Biography of a Poetry (1992); and Anne Stevenson, Five Looks at Elizabeth Bishop (1998).

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Bishop,Elizabeth — Bish·op (bĭshʹəp), Elizabeth. 1911 1979. American poet noted for her spare, largely descriptive works, such as “Filling Station” (1965). * * * …   Universalium

  • Bishop, Elizabeth — (8 feb. 1911, Worcester, Mass., EE.UU.– 6 oct. 1979, Boston, Mass.). Poeta estadounidense. Bishop se crió con sus familiares de Nova Scotia, Canadá, luego de la muerte de su padre y de que su madre fuera internada. En las décadas de 1950–60,… …   Enciclopedia Universal

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  • Elizabeth Bishop — Infobox Writer name = Elizabeth Bishop imagesize = 140px caption = Elizabeth Bishop at Vassar. pseudonym = birthdate = birth date|1911|2|8 birthplace = Worcester, Massachusetts deathdate = Death date and age|1979|10|6|1911|2|8 deathplace = Boston …   Wikipedia

  • Elizabeth Bishop — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Bishop. Elizabeth Bishop (8 février 1911 6 octobre 1979), est une poétesse et femme de lettres des États Unis originaire de Worcester (Massachusetts). Elle fut poète lauréat consultant en… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Bishop — /bish euhp/, n. 1. Elizabeth, 1911 79, U.S. poet. 2. Hazel (Gladys), born 1906, U.S. chemist and businesswoman. 3. John Peale, 1892 1944, U.S. poet and essayist. 4. Morris (Gilbert), 1893 1973, U.S. humorist, poet, and biographer …   Universalium

  • Bishop (surname) — Family name name = Bishop imagesize= caption= pronunciation = BISH Up meaning = region = English origin = English related names = footnotes = [ [http://www.census.gov/genealogy/names/names files.html 1990 Census Name Files ] ] Bishop is a surname …   Wikipedia

  • Elizabeth — /i liz euh beuhth/, n. 1. Douay Bible. Elisabeth. 2. (Elizaveta Petrovna) 1709 62, empress of Russia 1741 62 (daughter of Peter the Great). 3. (Pauline Elizabeth Ottilie Luise, Princess of Wied) ( Carmen Sylva ) 1843 1916, queen of Rumania 1881… …   Universalium

  • bishop — bishopless, adj. bishoplike, adj. /bish euhp/, n., v., bishoped, bishoping. n. 1. a person who supervises a number of local churches or a diocese, being in the Greek, Roman Catholic, Anglican, and other churches a member of the highest order of… …   Universalium

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