Elizabeth Bishop Taken from Wikipedia: February 9 1911- October 6, 1979 Poet Laureate 1949-1950; Pulitzer Prize Winner

1956; National Book Award Winner 1970. Elizabeth Bishop House is artists retreat in Great Village, Nova Scotia. 101 poems during her life time Poems are precise descriptions of the physical world and an air of poetic serenity. Underlying themes include the struggle to find a sense of belonging, and the human experiences of grief and longing. Painter as well as poet, therefore her poetry captures significant scenes. Celebrates working class settings: factories, farms and fishing villages. (opposing her social class of a wealthy woman.

** Taken from poetryfoundation.org/bio/Elizabeth-bishop Father died in 1911. Mother suffered mental instability and was permanently committed to an institution when Elizabeth was only five years old. Adopted by her maternal grandparents in Nova Scotia. Paternal grandparents sought custody and moved her to Massacheusetts. o Bishop was sent to an elite school for girls (Walnut Hills School for Girls and Vassar College). Marianne Moore (poet at Vassar and lifelong friend). o Same circle as Mary McCarthy, Eleanor Clark and Margaret Miller At Vassar she founded a literary journal Con Spirito Great traveler- spent lots of time in Europe and North Africa. (reflected in poetry) 1983- moved to Key West Moved to Petropolis, Brazil with her lesbian lover, Lota de Macedo Soares. o In 1967, Soares killed her self. 1970: Bishop took a teaching position at Harvard. Her reputation increased greatly in the years prior to her death. o After publication of Geography III (1976) o Winning of Neustadt International Prize for Literature

Bishop kept a list of the ships that passed and told one friend, poet and translator Robert Fitzgerald, that if she had been born a boy, she would have been a sailor ( 3 Remembering Elizabeth Bishop)

Conversations with Elizabeth Bishop

Poetry was not to be published in anthologies of women poetry. Ive always considered myself a strong feminist (viii) Discreet Bishop seemed always ready to talk about her requirement that poetry be accurate. (ix) (faithful adherence to what was possible in the real world.) I always try to stick as much as possible to what really happened when I describe something in a poem Bishop told Wehr. Sometimes a poem makes its own demands On criticism Critics find the most extraordinary philosophies that never could have occurred to you when you wrote the poem Bishop complained to Eileen McMahon. (x) somethings neednt be large to be good Critics have often written that I write more about things than people. This isnt conscious on my part. I simply try to see things afresh. A certain curiosity about the world around you is one of the most important things in life. Its behind almost all poetry. descriptive poetry is not a bad thing if its done well.

On feminism: Ive always been more interested in visual things than politics. But I was, and am, a feminist; and that is why I refuse absolutely to contribute to all-women volumes or allwomen readings she said to Sheila Hale in 1978