Elizabeth Bishop

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Elizabeth Bishop
Elizabeth Bishop was born on February 8, 1911 in Worcester, Massachusetts to Gertrude Bulmer and William Thomas Bishop, the owners of J.W. Bishop contracting firm. Her father died when she was eight months old of Bright’s disease. Her mother lost her citizenship because of this and they were forced to move to Nova Scotia (Anne A. Colwell). Bishop’s mother spent the next five years constantly moving in and out of psychiatric hospitals. When Bishop was five years old, her mother had a complete breakdown and was hospitalized in a public sanatorium in Dart Mouth, Nova Scotia where she was diagnosed as permanently insane. Bishop never saw her again (“Elizabeth Bishop”).
She lived with her grandparents in Worcester where, “in isolated wealth, Bishop felt keenly her lack of relations” (Anne A. Colwell). She then moved in with her aunt in South Boston where she suffered from eczema, asthma, St. Vitus’ dance, and nervous ailments. Bishop did not go to school until the age of fourteen when she attended the Walnut Hill School for Girls. She joined the class of 1934 at the Vassar College, where she met Marianne Moore who influenced her to begin writing poetry (Anne A. Colwell “About Elizabeth Bishop”).
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Moore also recommended Bishop for the Houghton Mifflin Prize and her first collection titled North and South was published in 1946. In 1950, Robert Lowell helped Bishop gain the position of poetry consultant for the Library of Congress while she was working on her second book. Also during this year, she won the Lucy Martin Donnelly Fellowship from Bryn Mawr College (Anne A. Colwell “About Elizabeth Bishop”). In 1951 Bishop traveled to South America, where she planned on exploring the Amazon when she h...

... middle of paper ...

...rutable house (Sestina).

Works Cited

Colwell, Anne A. “Bishop, Elizabeth.” American National Biography Online. 2000.
05 Mar. 2014 .
Colwell, Anne A. “About Elizabeth Bishop.” Modern American Poetry. 11 Mar. 2014
.
“Elizabeth Bishop.” A City of Words-The Worcester Writers Project. 05 Mar. 2014
.
“Elizabeth Bishop’s Writings Honored by Library of America.” PBS. PBS. 11 Mar. 2014
.
“Sestina.” Sestina. 11 Mar. 2014
.
“Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979).” Elements of the Literature. Fifth Course. Ed. Kathleen Daniel, et al. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1997. Print 1034.

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