Personal Response to the Poetry of Elizabeth Bishop

Personal Response to the Poetry of Elizabeth Bishop

  • Submitted By: Athanasius
  • Date Submitted: 01/14/2009 10:45 AM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 1552
  • Page: 7
  • Views: 4

Elizabeth Bishop essay Write a personal response to the poetry of Elizabeth Bishop. In my opinion, the poetry of Elizabeth Bishop is one that cannot be compared to any other poet’s works as it will, without question, overshadow that other poet’s work completely. Elizabeth Bishop is a one of a kind poet, who blatantly refuses to depict her memories in any other way than it occurred. Her musical language and intense imagery in her poetry are highly varied but intriguing as they enhance her ability to instil an emotional response in her readers. Bishop is quite unusual as a poet in that she never becomes dogmatic in any of her poems but remains suggestive throughout. What I enjoy most about Elizabeth Bishop’s poetry is her depiction of the indomitable human spirit which is revealed in many of her poems on the leaving certificate course. Her almost obsessive interest in travel, different places and the importance of place and what it represents is utterly enthralling to read and has added to my appreciation of her poetry in general. Her misfortune in life has clearly inspired her to write some of the saddest of her poems in which she explores her own identity, the loss she has experienced since an early stage and the sense of home and all its implications all the while, issuing an emotional response from the reader without question. Her artist’s eye for detail is also something which is deeply fascinating for a reader as it is captured with cinematographic detail. Finally, the way in which Elizabeth Bishop has captured her moments of awareness, and the moments of epiphany she encountered is incredibly revitalising as we feel these emotions with her throughout. The language Bishop uses in “First Death in Nova Scotia” and in “Sestina” is completely different to the language in the rest of her poetry on the course. Her language in each of these poems is simplistic but does possess an underlying, sinister quality which inspires us to bury below the surface to the...

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