Elizabeth Bishop (1911–1979) was an American poet best known for the precision of her imagery, particularly in her reflections on the natural world. Bishop employed an objective writing style that took a distant point of view, which contrasted sharply with the more direct “confessional” mode that some of her contemporary poets—including her friend, Robert Lowell—took on. Although Bishop tended to avoid outwardly reflecting her personal experiences in her poems, her letters and papers have revealed much to scholars since her death, and some details can be inferred through the close and informed reading of some of her short stories and poems.

Born in 1911 an only child in Worcester, Massachusetts, Bishop’s life was deeply affected by the death of her affluent father eight months later. Her mother struggled with mental illness, leading to her being institutionalized from 1916 until her death in 1934. Bishop spent what appears to have been a bleak and sheltered childhood as she was moved between relatives, struggled with illnesses including asthma, and received little schooling outside of the home. Once she did start attending schools, however, Bishop’s circumstances improved. Starting at Vassar College in 1929, Bishop first studied music, then English. She co-founded a literary magazine, had her work first published, and struck up many impactful friendships. One friendship was with a fellow student, the writer Mary McCarthy. It was also while at Vassar that Bishop became acquainted with the poet Marianne Moore, who helped her in numerous ways and remained friends until Moore’s death in 1972. 

Like many of Bishop’s friendships, the one with Moore was sustained largely through letters, since Bishop spent a large portion of her life traveling. This was made possible by an inheritance from her father that she carefully managed so that she was not obliged to find employment until later in her life. Bishop’s travels are a theme that come through repeatedly in her poems. In the mid-1930s, she lived in France with Louise Crane, a friend from Vassar, heiress, and supporter of the arts. The two bought a house in Key West, Florida, in 1937. Bishop’s longest sojourn was the 15 years she spent living in Santos, Brazil, starting in 1951. For most of this time, she was in a relationship with the Brazilian architect Lota de Macedo Soares. We know that the latter part of the relationship was unhappy, and Soares committed suicide in 1967. Nearing the point where she could no longer rely on her inheritance for income, Bishop taught and lectured in Harvard, New York University, and elsewhere throughout most of the 1970s until her death in 1979. During much of her time back in the United States, Bishop was in a relationship with Alice Methfessel, who became her literary executor after she died.

Bishop published relatively few works and left behind many unfinished works—two facts that are indicative of her tendency towards perfectionism. Despite her sparse literary output, Bishop did garner an impressive number of awards, including Guggenheim Fellowships in 1947 and 1978, a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1956, a National Book Award for Poetry in 1970, and a National Book Critics Circle Award in 1977. Among poets and critics, esteem for Bishop grown since her death. Indeed, many critics of the present day rank her work among the very best American poetry of the twentieth century.