Elizabeth Bishop

Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979) was an American poet born in Worchester, MA. Basically orphaned at the age of five when her mother made permanent entrance into a mental hospital, Elizabeth went to live with her parents in Nova Scotia, an experience that shaped a great deal of her writing in later years.

Bishop attended Vassar College in 1929, a prestigious school even in those times. In 1933, she and three other Vassar students co-founded a literary magazine titled Con Spirito, which was considered to be a "rebel literary magazine." Bishop's first poems were published during this time and eventually led Bishop to make the acquaintance of legendary poet Marianne Moore. Moore immediately became a close friend and mentor to Bishop. In fact, it was Moore who dissuaded Bishop from attending Cornell Medical School to follow her literary dreams. Moore would continue to influence Bishop until her death in 1972 and was...