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Elizabeth Bishop

エリザベス・ビショップ

Erizabesu Bishoppu

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1911-02-08 （Worcester, Massachusetts）
Died
1979-10-06 （Boston, Massachusetts） age 68
Nationality
American
Languages
English, Portuguese
Religion
Unknown
Residence History
Great Village, Nova Scotia → Worcester, Massachusetts → Key West, Florida → Petrópolis, Brazil → Washington, D.C. → Boston, Massachusetts

Career

Occupations
Poet, Short-story writer, Painter, Professor, Translator
Active Years
1934-1979
Affiliations
Library of Congress
Memberships
American Academy of Arts and Letters, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Influenced By
Marianne Moore, Robert Lowell, João Cabral de Melo Neto, Carlos Drummond de Andrade
Influenced
Robert Lowell

Education

Vassar College
English Department
Degree: AB
Period: 1929-1934
Year of Graduation: 1934
Country: United States
Switched major from music to English.
Walnut Hill School
Music
Period: 1928-1929
Year of Graduation: 1929
Country: United States
Boarding school where she studied music.

Awards

Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
1956
Work: Poems: North & South—A Cold Spring
Category: Poetry
Organization: Columbia University
Result: Winner
National Book Award for Poetry
1970
Work: The Complete Poems
Category: Poetry
Organization: National Book Foundation
Result: Winner
National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry
1976
Work: Geography III
Category: Poetry
Organization: National Book Critics Circle
Result: Winner
Neustadt International Prize for Literature
1976
Organization: World Literature Today
Result: Winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

North & South

1946 Poetry

Early poetry collection featuring precise observations and imaginative works like 'The Fish'.

naturelonelinessobservation

Questions of Travel

1965 Poetry

Poetry influenced by her time in Brazil, exploring travel and other cultures.

travelexotic placesloss

Geography III

1976 Poetry

Late masterpiece collection including 'In the Waiting Room' and 'One Art'.

identitylosseveryday life

Bibliography

  • North & South
  • Poems: North & South—A Cold Spring
  • Questions of Travel
  • The Complete Poems
  • Geography III
  • The Complete Poems: 1927–1979

Translations by Author

  • The Diary of Helena Morley
  • An Anthology of Twentieth Century Brazilian Poetry

Style & Themes

Literary Style
precise and objective descriptioncareful attention to detailrestrained emotionminiaturist's discretion
Recurring Motifs
travel and foreign culturesloss and deathnature and animalssearch for identity

Health

  • Chronic asthma
    幼少期から生涯
    Affected her health lifelong, constraining travel and daily life.
  • Cerebral aneurysm
    1979
    Cause of her death.

Legacy

Regarded as one of the greatest American poets of the 20th century, noted for objective precision and detail. Won numerous awards and influenced later poets.

Museums

  • Elizabeth Bishop House Great Village, Nova Scotia

Archives

  • Vassar College Libraries
  • Houghton Library, Harvard
  • The Rosenbach

In Popular Culture

  • Depicted in the film Reaching for the Moon (2013).
  • Friendship with Robert Lowell in the play Dear Elizabeth (2012).
  • Brazilian period in novel The More I Owe You (2010).

Quotes

  • All the untidy activity continues, awful but cheerful
    Source: The Bight (1955)

Trivia

  • Father died when she was 8 months old; mother institutionalized for mental illness, never reunited.
  • Developed chronic asthma in childhood.
  • Lived in Brazil for 15 years and translated Brazilian poets.
  • Also a painter; paintings published in Exchanging Hats.