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Very Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring
Elizabeth Bishop has been described as the 'best-loved' poet in English of the second half of the twentieth century. This Very Short Introduction explores the 90 or so published poems that are at the core of her remarkable canon of verse. Drawing on biographical and critical material, Jonathan Post also makes frequent use of Bishop's letters and commentary by fellow poets, including Marianne Moore, Robert Lowell, and James Merrill to illuminate her writing and contemporary literary landscape.
Throughout, Post places Bishop's lyric poetry within the context of her life and aesthetic values, showing how these shaped her work. The book covers a wide range of core themes present in her poetry, including her powerful use of description, the environment, balance, and ideas of love and loss, as well as looking at Bishop's interest in the visual arts.
ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
List of contents
- 1: Less is more: a world in miniature
- 2: Formal matters
- 3: 'The Armadillo', the art of description, and 'Brazil, January 1, 1502'
- 4: Poetry and painting
- 5: Love known
- 6: Late travel poems
- Epilogue, with acknowledgements
- Timeline
- References
- Further reading
- Index
About the author
Jonathan F. S. Post is Distinguished Research Professor of English, UCLA, former Chair of the Department and Dean of Humanities, and the author of numerous studies of poetry in the Early Modern and Modern periods of literature. Post is the author of
The Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare's Poetry (2013);
A Thickness of Particulars: The Poetry of Anthony Hecht (2018); and
Shakespeare's Sonnets and Poems: A Very Short Introduction (2017).
Summary
Elizabeth Bishop has been described as the 'best-loved' poet in English of the second half of the twentieth century. This book explores the published poems at the core of her remarkable canon of verse, along with her letters and other writings, and draws out key themes of the environment, balance, and ideas of love and loss.
Additional text
Jonathan F. S. Post has written a fine guide.
Report
A generous, sensitive overview of Bishops life and work. - Kimberly Johnson, Brigham Young University, George Herbert Journal
