About
Elizabeth Bishop was a major 20th-century American poet, known for the precision and restraint of her verse. Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, she grew up between New England and Nova Scotia. After graduating from Vassar College in 1934, she lived in Brazil for fourteen years with her partner, architect Lota de Macedo Soares. Though her output was small, it earned her the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the Neustadt International Prize. She taught at Harvard and served as Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress.
* 1911-02-08 — † 1979-10-06
Major works
- North & South (1946)poetry collection
- Poems: North & South / A Cold Spring (1955)poetry collection
- Questions of Travel (1965)poetry collection
- The Complete Poems (1969)poetry collection
- Geography III (1976)poetry collection
Key milestones
- 1949Appointed Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (1949-1950).
- 1956Awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for 'Poems: North & South / A Cold Spring'.
- 1976Awarded the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, the first woman and only American to receive it.
Themes
Geography and travelLoss and griefPrecise observation of natureSolitude and isolationArt and writing
Sources: poetryfoundation.org · loc.gov