Complete Poems 1927-1979: Amazon.ca: Elizabet Bishop: Books

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Elizabeth Bishop was vehement about her art--a perfectionist who didn't want to be seen as a "woman poet." In 1977, two years before her death she wrote, "art is art and to separate writings, paintings, musical compositions, etc., into two sexes is to emphasize values in them that are not art." She also deeply distrusted the dominant mode of modern poetry, one practiced with such detached passion by her friend Robert Lowell, the confessional.

Bishop was unforgiving of fashion and limited ways of seeing and feeling, but cast an even more trenchant eye on her own work. One wishes this volume were thicker, though the perfections within mark the rightness of her approach. The poems are sublimely controlled, fraught with word play, fierce moral vision (see her caustic ballad on Ezra Pound, "Visits to St. Elizabeths"), and reticence. From the surreal sorrow of the early "Man-Moth" (leaping off from a typo she had come across for "mammoth"), about a lonely monster who rarely emerges from "the pale subways of cement he calls his home," to the beauty of her villanelle "One Art" (with its repeated "the art of losing isn't hard to master"), the poet wittily explores distance and desolation, separation and sorrow.

Review

"Of all the splendid and curious works belonging to my time, these are poems that I love best and tire of least. And there will be no others."--James Merrill, The Washington Post Book World

"Bishop was one of the finest poets this country produced in [the twentieth] century; we are lucky to have all her work collected now in one volume."--Jane Howard, Mademoiselle

"Bishop was not just a good poet but a great one. She accomplished a magical illumination of the ordinary, forcing us to examine our surroundings with the freshness of a friendly alien."--David Lehman, Newsweek

"With their wit, honesty, abundance, imaginative breadth, and prosodic grace . . . thirty or forty of the poems in this book seem as valuable as any written in English since the last war."--Christopher Reid, The Sunday Times (London)

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14 Reviews

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4.6 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars one of the best in american poetry, Dec 13 2003

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adead_poet@hotmail.com "adead_poet@hotmail.com" (Beaumont, tx USA) - See all my reviews

Ce commentaire est de: Complete Poems 1927-1979 (Paperback)

Elizabeth Bishop is one of the greatest American poets we've ever had--only Frost and perhaps maybe Whitman are more important. She is certainly Emily Dickinson's equal, and in my opinion, a finer poet. When discussing American poetry, Bishop can't be ignored. Her imagery, her use of form, her command over the language is rarely matched, and this collection contains all her work. There's her first book, _North & South_, which is one of the finest volumes of poetry produced. You'll find poems like "The Map," "The Man-Moth," "The Weed," "The Imaginary Iceberg," "Seascape," and the masterful poem, "The Fish." _A Cold Spring_ follows, containing "At the Fishhouse" and "Letter to N.Y." "The Armadillo" (Bishop's poem to Robert Lowell), "Filling Station," "Visits to St. Elizabeths" and "Sestina" (one of the few poems in this form that actually works) follows in _Questions of Travel_. Then there is a selection of uncollected work (1969) before we hit _Geography III_ which contains two of her best poems, "Cruso in England" and "One Art"--which is in my opinion her best poem. The collection rounds out with some more uncollected poems, juvenalia, and some fine translations. Overall, you have an important book by one of our most important poets.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Can't be ignored, Jan 31 2003

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J. Ott "John Ott" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

Ce commentaire est de: Complete Poems 1927-1979 (Paperback)

No matter what sort of poetry you are drawn to--and here I include the Beowulf poet, the Metaphysical poets, the Modernists, etc.--Elizabeth Bishop can't be ignored. Her poems, from set forms like the villanelle "One Art" ("The art of losing isn't hard to master.") to the patchwork of imagery that is "The Fish" are all at the peak of expression. Bishop demonstrates virtuousity in a number of forms of poetry in this (relatively) slim volume. I especially appreciate her poems on travel and Brazil. This is a dead writer whose ideas of culture are still ahead of our time.

This book is a treasure trove. It rewards multiple readings. Bishop's craftsmanship has ensured that this book will continue to endure even as bigger names of her era fall by the wayside.

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4.0 out of 5 stars All-encompassing = fun fun fun!, Jan 18 2003

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"cotes" (the left coast) - See all my reviews

Ce commentaire est de: Complete Poems 1927-1979 (Paperback)

Elizabeth Bishop's use of structure (especially the villanelle) blows me away. This is a satisfying collection of poems because they're all there, and it's fairly easy to randomly thumb your finger through and stop on a poem that you don't know, but will enjoy. Though I know that it wasn't the goal of this book, I personally wish I could have found out more about her biography. A nice present to give to people who are a fan of "One Art" but who haven't read anything else by her.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A Harvest of Joy
Gosh, it is hard to sum up one's feelings about the poetry of Elizabeth Bishop. She is one of those artists, like Shakespeare and Mozart and Cervantes, whose work contains such... Lisez davantage

Published on Sep 11 2002 by Randall Ivey

5.0 out of 5 stars A Poet's Poet
Elizabeth Bishop was a poet's poet. Without fail, I return to this book and re-read it at least once a year, and without fail, Bishop's work continues to become increasingly... Lisez davantage

Published on April 21 2002 by Lee Ann Roripaugh