Elizabeth Bishop (1911–1979)

Author of The complete poems, 1927–1979

75+ Works 4,810 Members 50 Reviews 65 Favorited

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

Includes the names: Elizabeth Bishop, Elizabeth Bishop, Ed. Elizabeth Bishop, Elizabeth Bishopová, translated and edited by Elizabeth Bishop

Image credit: Elizabeth Bishop

Works by Elizabeth Bishop

Popular Recent

The complete poems, 1927–1979 (1983) 2,007 copies

Poems, Prose, and Letters (2008) 314 copies

Geography III (1976) 312 copies

Poems (2011) 298 copies

One Art (1994) 292 copies

The Collected Prose (1984) 280 copies

Edgar Allan Poe & the juke-box: uncollected poems, drafts, and fragments (2006) 244 copies

Words in Air: The Complete Correspondence Between Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell (2008) 230 copies

Brazil (1962) 94 copies

Becoming a Poet: Elizabeth Bishop with Marianne Moore and Robert Lowell (1938) 87 copies

Prose (2011) 74 copies

An Anthology of Twentieth-Century Brazilian Poetry (1972) — Editor; Translator — 71 copies

The Complete Poems (1969) 70 copies

Poems (2011) 53 copies

Questions of Travel (1965) 51 copies

Elizabeth Bishop and The New Yorker: The Complete Correspondence (2011) 46 copies

Exchanging Hats: Paintings (1996) 44 copies

Poems / Prose (2011) 41 copies

North & South (1946) 21 copies

Miracolo a colazione (1980) 17 copies

Poemas escolhidos (2012) 14 copies

Poems: North & south. A cold spring (1955) 13 copies

The Voice of the Poet: Elizabeth Bishop (2000) 12 copies

El arte de perder (Spanish Edition) (2019) 10 copies

Verliezen is een kunst gedichten (2004) 8 copies

Una locura cotidiana (1992) 8 copies

Antología poética (2003) 7 copies

Il mare e la sua sponda (2006) 7 copies

O Iceberg Imaginário e Outros Poemas 7 copies

Scrivere lettere è sempre pericoloso (2014) 6 copies

The Ballad of the Burglar of Babylon 4 copies

Elizabeth Bishop (The North Haven Journal, 1974-1979) (2015) 4 copies

Uma cidadezinha distante: A Diamantina de Helena Morley (Portuguese Edition) (2020) 4 copies

Gedichte zweisprachig (2018) 3 copies

Obra completa (2016) 3 copies

The Little of our Earthly Trust 3 copies

Poemas (2000) 3 copies

Soguk Bir Bahar (1997) 3 copies

De kracht van het zichtbare / Raster 113 (2005) 3 copies

Selected Poems 3 copies

Esforços do Afeto e Outras Histórias (2000) 3 copies

Geografia III (Portuguese Edition) (2007) 2 copies

Iets dat te groot is om te zien moderne Amerikaanse dichters (1991) 2 copies

Elizabeth Bishop( Poems Prose and Letters)[LIAM ELIZABETH BISHOP][Hardcover] (2008) 1 copy

No Royalty A/C Selected Poems Elizabeth Bish (1967) 1 copy

Casabianca 1 copy

Brasilien (LIFE Länder und Völker) 1 copy

Una Antologia De Poesia Brasile･A: 4 (2009) 1 copy

The imaginary iceberg 1 copy

The moose 1 copy

Brasil - biblioteca universal de LIFE en español 1 copy

Conscious Service: Ten ways to reclaim your calling, move beyond burnout, and make a difference without sacrificing… (2022) 1 copy

Norte Y Sur (2002) 1 copy

The Fish 1 copy

Becoming Activist: Critical Literacy and Youth Organizing (Critical Praxis and Curriculum Guides) (2015) 1 copy

Poems 1 copy

Ploughshares Vol.2 No.4 (1975) 1 copy

Un printemps froid (2003) 1 copy

Dai libri di geografia 1 copy

Poetry 1 copy

Alles Meer ein gleitender Marmor: Gedichte ; Zweisprachig (2011) 1 copy

The Alice Methfessel Collection of Paintings 1 copy

Una antologia de poesia brasilena (2009) 1 copy

Der stille Wahn (1990) 1 copy

Die Farben des Kartographen: Gedichte (2001) 1 copy

寫給雨季的歌 1 copy

L' arte di perdere (2013) 1 copy

Poem / Elizabeth Bishop 1 copy

Santarém : wiersze oraz trzy małe prozy (2018) 1 copy

Bishop, Elizabeth Archive 1 copy

Elizabeth Bishop (Video Tape: Voices & Visions Series, 60 Minutes) (VHS) (1988) 1 copy

The Complete Poems 1927-79 1 copy

Questoes De Viagem (Em Portugues do Brasil) (2019) 1 copy

Bishop: Poems, Prose and Letters (Library of America) 1 copy

Ve vesnici : a jiné prózy 1 copy

Work Explorer

Associated Works

The Best American Short Stories of the Century (2000) — Contributor — 1,567 copies

The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms (2000) — Contributor — 1,270 copies

Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama (1995) — Contributor, some editions — 929 copies

A Book of Luminous Things: An International Anthology of Poetry (1996) — Contributor — 835 copies

The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Poetry (1990) — Contributor — 762 copies

Fierce Pajamas: An Anthology of Humor Writing from The New Yorker (2001) — Contributor — 713 copies

The Best Loved Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis (2001) — Contributor — 552 copies

A Pocket Book of Modern Verse (1954) — Contributor, some editions — 446 copies

American Poetry: The Twentieth Century, Volume Two: E. E. Cummings to May Swenson (2000) — Contributor — 410 copies

Contemporary American Poetry (1962) — Contributor, some editions — 385 copies

Americans in Paris: A Literary Anthology (2004) — Contributor — 298 copies

The Faber Book of Modern Verse (1936) — Contributor, some editions — 289 copies

Writing New York: A Literary Anthology (1998) — Contributor — 281 copies

The 40s: The Story of a Decade (2014) — Contributor — 279 copies

The Best American Poetry 2001 (2001) — Contributor — 223 copies

The Best American Poetry 1999 (1999) — Contributor — 208 copies

The Art of Losing (2010) — Contributor — 204 copies

Love Letters (1996) — Contributor — 183 copies

Eight American Poets: An Anthology (1994) — Editor, some editions — 181 copies

From Totems to Hip-Hop: A Multicultural Anthology of Poetry Across the Americas 1900-2002 (2002) — Contributor — 174 copies

The Diary of "Helena Morley" (1942) — Translator, some editions — 167 copies

American Religious Poems: An Anthology (2006) — Contributor — 164 copies

Poetry Speaks Expanded: Hear Poets Read Their Own Work from Tennyson to Plath (2007) — Contributor — 152 copies

The Faber Book of Beasts (1997) — Contributor — 141 copies

The Big New Yorker Book of Cats (2013) — Contributor — 135 copies

Magical Realist Fiction: An Anthology (1984) — Contributor — 113 copies

Emergency Kit (1996) — Contributor, some editions — 109 copies

The Best American Poetry 1992 (1992) — Contributor — 102 copies

The Sophisticated Cat: A Gathering of Stories, Poems, and Miscellaneous Writings About Cats (1992) — Contributor — 100 copies

Writing New York: A Literary Anthology (Expanded 10th-Anniversary Edition) (2008) — Contributor — 93 copies

Stories from The New Yorker, 1950 to 1960 (1958) — Contributor — 80 copies

The Oxford Book of Travel Stories (1996) — Contributor — 74 copies

The Everyman Anthology of Poetry for Children (1994) — Contributor — 73 copies

The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Concise Edition (2003) — Contributor — 68 copies

American Sonnets: An Anthology (2007) — Contributor — 66 copies

The Hungry Ear: Poems of Food and Drink (2012) — Contributor — 63 copies

The Vintage Book of American Women Writers (2011) — Contributor — 56 copies

Lament for the Makers: A Memorial Anthology (1996) — Contributor — 52 copies

The Ecopoetry Anthology (2013) — Contributor — 49 copies

Travelling in the Family: Selected Poems (1986) — Translator, some editions — 40 copies

Buzz Words: Poems About Insects (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets Series) (2021) — Contributor — 34 copies

Birds in the Hand: Fiction and Poetry about Birds (2004) — Contributor — 33 copies

60 Years of American Poetry (1996) — Contributor — 28 copies

Pulitzer Prize Reader (1961) — Contributor — 27 copies

Conversations with Elizabeth Bishop (1996) — Associated Name — 25 copies

One World of Literature (1992) — Contributor — 24 copies

The Penguin Book of the Ocean (2010) — Contributor — 20 copies

Selected Poetry, 1937-1990 (Wesleyan Poetry) (1994) — Translator — 20 copies

Masquerade: Queer Poetry in America to the End of World War II (2004) — Contributor — 19 copies

The Poetry Cure (2005) — Contributor — 19 copies

Queer Nature: A Poetry Anthology (2022) — Contributor — 17 copies

Modern Women Poets (2005) — Contributor — 13 copies

Sunlight on the River: Poems About Paintings, Paintings About Poems (2015) — Contributor — 10 copies

Alfabet op de rug gezien (1995) — Contributor — 10 copies

The Best American Short Stories 1949 (1949) — Contributor — 7 copies

The Art of Life: An Anthology of Literature about Life and Work (1997) — Contributor — 1 copy

Life and letters today, November 1938 (1938) — Contributor — 1 copy

Life and letters today, Spring 1936 (1936) — Contributor — 1 copy

Life and letters today, Spring 1937 (1937) — Contributor — 1 copy

Direction Vol.1 No.3 (April-June 1935) — Contributor — 1 copy

The Best of American Poetry [Audio] (1997) — Contributor — 1 copy

An Evening of poetry at the Skinners' Hall : for the benefit of the Royal Hospital and Home for Incurables, 15th… — Contributor — 1 copy

Tagged

20th century (261) American (223) American literature (293) American poetry (161) anthology (1,131) biography (69) Brazil (62) cats (55) collection (88) drama (40) Elizabeth Bishop (66) essays (167) fiction (502) history (68) humor (193) letters (170) Library of America (161) literary criticism (54) literature (406) LOA (57) memoir (45) New York (61) New Yorker (88) non-fiction (267) own (70) Paris (37) poems (63) poetics (42) poetry (3,564) poetry anthology (83) read (59) reference (66) short stories (441) stories (36) textbook (76) to-read (453) travel (55) unread (66) USA (45) writing (89)

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

Words in Air: The Complete Correspondence Between… by Elizabeth Bishop

This is a book I'll keep dipping into in front of the fire, the poems at hand, without concern for finishing.

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featherbooks | 3 other reviews | May 7, 2024 |

Geography III by Elizabeth Bishop

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.

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cbwalsh | 4 other reviews | Sep 13, 2023 |

The Complete Poems: 1927-1979 by Elizabeth Bishop

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)

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jonbrammer | 23 other reviews | Jul 1, 2023 |

Words in air : the complete correspondence between… by Elizabeth Bishop

I have never read correspondence before (except in epistolary novels) so I was pleasantly surprised by how readable it was. These letters cover a 30 year span which allows the reader to really get to know Bishop and Lowell. I would recommend either reading their poetry first or having it handy to refer to as (not surprisingly) there are a lot of references to specific poems (even to specific lines or words in the poems).

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leslie.98 | 3 other reviews | Jun 27, 2023 |

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