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Poems by Elizabeth Bishop
Poems
- GenresPoetry
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About the author
Elizabeth Bishop
144 books593 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Elizabeth Bishop was an American poet and writer from Worcester, Massachusetts. She was the Poet Laureate of the United States from 1949 to 1950, a Pulitzer Prize winner in 1956. and a National Book Award Winner for Poetry in 1970. She is considered one of the most important and distinguished American poets of the 20th century.
Elizabeth Bishop was an American poet and writer from Worcester, Massachusetts. She was the Poet Laureate of the United States from 1949 to 1950, a Pulitzer Prize winner in 1956. and a National Book Award Winner for Poetry in 1970. She is considered one of the most important and distinguished American poets of the 20th century.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
December 14, 2025
Elizabeth Bishop remains underrated despite her recent comeuppance (she seems to be mentioned in every poetry podcast I listen to, her name more than anyone's).
"At the Fishhouses" is quickly becoming an all-time favourite for me, with two unforgettable lines: the repeated 'Cold dark deep and absolutely clear' along with 'our knowledge is historical, flowing, and flown'.
"At the Fishhouses" is quickly becoming an all-time favourite for me, with two unforgettable lines: the repeated 'Cold dark deep and absolutely clear' along with 'our knowledge is historical, flowing, and flown'.
December 18, 2025
Written during 1930-90s (20th c, American modernist” but not modernist like ee Cummings; rather, it is very exact, to quote Edgar Allen Poe. She was also lesbian and a feminist but never published in feminist journals)
Her writing is detached, lacking all aspects of personal life. This gives her writing an exactness and clarity, like the excruciating detail of “The Fish” or the contemplation of “Questions of Travel” which somehow places her out and above the abstract traveler itself. There are whimsical works like “The Man-Moth” about a fictional creature trying to escape the subway to the moon, and “Casabianca” (based off of 1826 poem about true story of boy in battle of the Nile who perished waiting for father’s command - who had already died). In “Edgar Allen Poe and the Jukebox” she quotes Poe that poetry should be “exact”. However, exactness does not imply faithfulness (information can still be lost), and where the poetry ends the jukebox begins again.
This element of jukebox authenticity—which the first portion of the poems lack—is brought back in the unpublished manuscripts at the end of the collected works. Some words are barely legible in the manuscript “Good-bye”, which appears to be blotted by tears, and smeared on “a half-wet paper napkin”. The opening lines: “You are leaving the earth / but only a little distance, / a hairsbreadth, your flight — / a short curving(curly?) hair of your head / laid on the earth, would describe it”. Not so far as death, alas, an arc away from earth. Probably my favorite line in this entire collection appears in “Keaton”: “My backbone / through these endless etceteras painful”, which is about a silent comedian “made at right angles to the world”. An idealist, not a sentimentalist.
The final poem ends with a sunset and a cameraman, like bishop and her pen: “Was it the last one in the world / that he thought he had to record it?” Perhaps she felt Iike she was there, like the cameraman, to capture with a brilliant eye and not with tear-smeared lenses.
Her writing is detached, lacking all aspects of personal life. This gives her writing an exactness and clarity, like the excruciating detail of “The Fish” or the contemplation of “Questions of Travel” which somehow places her out and above the abstract traveler itself. There are whimsical works like “The Man-Moth” about a fictional creature trying to escape the subway to the moon, and “Casabianca” (based off of 1826 poem about true story of boy in battle of the Nile who perished waiting for father’s command - who had already died). In “Edgar Allen Poe and the Jukebox” she quotes Poe that poetry should be “exact”. However, exactness does not imply faithfulness (information can still be lost), and where the poetry ends the jukebox begins again.
This element of jukebox authenticity—which the first portion of the poems lack—is brought back in the unpublished manuscripts at the end of the collected works. Some words are barely legible in the manuscript “Good-bye”, which appears to be blotted by tears, and smeared on “a half-wet paper napkin”. The opening lines: “You are leaving the earth / but only a little distance, / a hairsbreadth, your flight — / a short curving(curly?) hair of your head / laid on the earth, would describe it”. Not so far as death, alas, an arc away from earth. Probably my favorite line in this entire collection appears in “Keaton”: “My backbone / through these endless etceteras painful”, which is about a silent comedian “made at right angles to the world”. An idealist, not a sentimentalist.
The final poem ends with a sunset and a cameraman, like bishop and her pen: “Was it the last one in the world / that he thought he had to record it?” Perhaps she felt Iike she was there, like the cameraman, to capture with a brilliant eye and not with tear-smeared lenses.
October 31, 2023
This collection of poems and translations by Elizabeth Bishop consists of all her published works plus some uncollected manuscript poems … among the manuscripts, one stands out: “It is marvellous to wake up together…” … thoughtful …
July 25, 2025
Thick but easy to chip away at. I loved the section of her translations of Octavio Paz, and I appreciated the choice to show the unpublished works in facsimile side by side.
There’s a reason Bishop is so enduring.
My favorites, in the order in which they appear: Chemin de Fer, The Weed, Quai d’Oréans, Florida, Roosters, Seascape, The Fish, A Cold Spring, The Bight, At the Fish houses, Insomnia, Questions of Travel, Squatter’s Children, Manuelzinho, Electrical Storm, The Armadillo, Sandpiper, Rainy Season;Subtropics, The Hanging of the Mouse, Going to the Bakery, In the Waiting Room, Night City, The Moose, One Art, North Haven, The Mountain, Good-Bye, We Went to the dark cave of the street corner, To be Written on the Mirror in Whitewash, Pleasure Seas, it is marvelous to wake up together, A short slow life, Dear my compass, and A Drunkard.
There’s a reason Bishop is so enduring.
My favorites, in the order in which they appear: Chemin de Fer, The Weed, Quai d’Oréans, Florida, Roosters, Seascape, The Fish, A Cold Spring, The Bight, At the Fish houses, Insomnia, Questions of Travel, Squatter’s Children, Manuelzinho, Electrical Storm, The Armadillo, Sandpiper, Rainy Season;Subtropics, The Hanging of the Mouse, Going to the Bakery, In the Waiting Room, Night City, The Moose, One Art, North Haven, The Mountain, Good-Bye, We Went to the dark cave of the street corner, To be Written on the Mirror in Whitewash, Pleasure Seas, it is marvelous to wake up together, A short slow life, Dear my compass, and A Drunkard.
December 13, 2024
Bishop is a favourite of mine for the book Geography III alone, though the other poems collected here work well, though never quite hit the same highs for me (with the exclusion of some of her translations of Max Jacob and Octavio Paz). This time, likely because I just finished reading some Walser, I noticed quite a few affinities between the two writers, the apparent lightness imbedded in their poetics, etc, … Walser truly is literature’s missing link
October 12, 2023
One of my favorite poets up there with Szmborska. This collection has it all. Three Valentines is lyrical rendition of love, its heat, cold, bloom, and fade. Of course, this book includes One Art and At The Fishhouses, for which she is well known. Read her slowly, on a rainy day when your mind can wander along with her images.
May 1, 2024
"The Mountain
At evening, something behind me.
I start for a second, I blench,
or staggeringly hald and burn.
I do not know my age.
In the morning it is different.
An open book confronts me,
too close to read in comfort.
Tell me how old I am..."
At evening, something behind me.
I start for a second, I blench,
or staggeringly hald and burn.
I do not know my age.
In the morning it is different.
An open book confronts me,
too close to read in comfort.
Tell me how old I am..."
May 1, 2024
Good but not great. I enjoyed Bishop's poems, but didn't love any of them.
August 7, 2024
More like a hard 3.5, based on the inconsistency of the work over time. All of Bishop's poems published in her lifetime are here. Some are remarkable and some forgettable; some are fascinating, and some are too inaccessible to be interesting. In the end, I have high regard for Bishop, and her best work justifies her status as a major poet. But, there is a lot of disparity between the best work, and the rest.
June 17, 2025
Bishop complicates the simple and simplifies the complicated. Think you know what a map is? A moose? A poem? Think again. And yet, she reminds us, here we all are, failing to figure it out at the same time. "The art of losing isn't hard to master." There is emotional sincerity and personality here that never veers into self indulgence. Lovely read.
December 22, 2025
Bishop’s poems are consistently brilliant, even her unfinished ones. Her earlier work doesnt resonate with me as much, but once you get into Questions of Travel and Geography III, almost every poem is a banger. Loved the Paz translations as well - he’s been on my list forever but this was finally a good push to really dive into him
February 16, 2024
Some beautiful verses in here, with use of extended metaphor and drawn-out images. Preoccupied with the human condition and the way it interacts with nature.
March 4, 2024
Really hate that I'm losing sleep over writing a poetry analysis of a poem called "Poem" in an anthology called "Poems"
May 8, 2025
Por mais que eu ache Bishop seja uma genia da descrição, acredito que eu me encaixo naquele seletro grupo de pessoas que acha sua poesia descritiva *demais*. Sua poesia simplesmente não é para mim.
May 12, 2025
The art of losing is hard to master.
July 23, 2025
love her writing style a lot
Read
May 12, 2024for class
Read
July 20, 2024How can you not love Bishop?
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews