Elizabeth Bishop

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EB , a leading US poet of the later twentieth century, published six volumes of poetry during her lifetime, of which several collect writing already published. Her prose included translations, essays, a travel book, and scintillating personal letters. Her fellow-poet Anne Stevenson calculates her total output at fewer than a hundred poems, including prose poems, of which Bishop herself would have accepted by no means all as worthy or finished. Yet her impact has been extraordinary.
Stevenson, Anne. “The Geographical Mirror”. Elizabeth Bishop: Poet of the Periphery, edited by Linda Anderson and Jo Shapcott, Bloodaxe Books, 2002, pp. 31 -41.
31
Scholar Linda Anderson argues that EB has had unprecedented significance . . . for a younger generation of British poets.
Anderson, Linda. “Introduction”. Elizabeth Bishop: Poet of the Periphery, edited by Linda Anderson and Jo Shapcott, Bloodaxe Books, 2002, pp. 7 - 11.
7
Black-and-white photograph of Elizabeth Bishop in 1964. Her hair is short and wavy; her chin rests on one hand. She wears pearl ear studs and a shirt with notched collar. In front of her stands an object which might be a group of miniature national flags.
"Elizabeth Bishop" Retrieved from https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/72/Elizabeth_Bishop%2C_1964.jpg/1280px-Elizabeth_Bishop%2C_1964.jpg. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication license. This work is in the public domain.

Milestones

8 February 1911
EB was born at 875 Main Street, Worcester, Massachusetts.
Astley, Neil. “Elizabeth Bishop: A Bibliography; Elizabeth Bishop: Chronology”. Elizabeth Bishop: Poet of the Periphery, edited by Linda Anderson and Jo Shapcott, Bloodaxe Books, 2002, pp. 175 -00.
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August 1946
EB 's first book, the poetry collection North & South, appeared after hanging fire for years. The year before publication it won her the Houghton Mifflin Poetry Prize: the first time that this thousand-dollar award was made.
Astley, Neil. “Elizabeth Bishop: A Bibliography; Elizabeth Bishop: Chronology”. Elizabeth Bishop: Poet of the Periphery, edited by Linda Anderson and Jo Shapcott, Bloodaxe Books, 2002, pp. 175 -00.
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December 1976
EB published Geography III, a volume of poems for which she received the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Astley, Neil. “Elizabeth Bishop: A Bibliography; Elizabeth Bishop: Chronology”. Elizabeth Bishop: Poet of the Periphery, edited by Linda Anderson and Jo Shapcott, Bloodaxe Books, 2002, pp. 175 -00.
200
6 October 1979
EB died in Boston, Massachusetts, from a cerebral aneurism.
Astley, Neil. “Elizabeth Bishop: A Bibliography; Elizabeth Bishop: Chronology”. Elizabeth Bishop: Poet of the Periphery, edited by Linda Anderson and Jo Shapcott, Bloodaxe Books, 2002, pp. 175 -00.
200
By January 1983
EB 's The Complete Poems, 1927-1979, was posthumously published; The Collected Prose followed by November the same year, though its title-page says 1984.
Book Review Index. Gale Research.
1 (1965-1984): 491-2
Contemporary Authors: New Revision Series. Gale Research, 1981.
61: 83

Biography

Birth

8 February 1911
EB was born at 875 Main Street, Worcester, Massachusetts.
Astley, Neil. “Elizabeth Bishop: A Bibliography; Elizabeth Bishop: Chronology”. Elizabeth Bishop: Poet of the Periphery, edited by Linda Anderson and Jo Shapcott, Bloodaxe Books, 2002, pp. 175 -00.
193