Although well-known primarily among a small circle of poetry lovers during much of her lifetime, Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979) has emerged since her death as one of the most accomplished female English-language poets of the twentieth century. Her popularity was overshadowed during her most productive years (1946-1975) by the more outspokenly feminist and confessional poets Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton; however, Bishop’s versatile and engaging verse has gone on to command a lasting influence, despite the fact that she published a relatively modest number of poems. She often negotiated with publishers to permit her to combine new poems with recent collections to make up a slim volume, and late in life frequently complained that she simply hadn’t written enough. She was a meticulous…
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Citation: Dougherty, David C.. "Elizabeth Bishop". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 10 January 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=418, accessed 11 May 2024.]
