Self-Identification in Elizabeth Bishop's Poetry

Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979) is one of the most important American poets and short-story writers. She is the Poet Laureate of the United States (1949-1950), Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry  (1956),  National  Book  Award  winner  (1970)  and  recipient  of Neustadt  International Award  for  Literature  (1976).  Bishop  is  famous  of  writing  poems  implicitly  referring  to  her personal life and suffering. The  objective of this research is to study the life and poetry  of Elizabeth  Bishop  and  to  show  how  her  life  is reflected  in  her  poems  through  self- identification. However, the research is divided into three sections and a conclusion. Section one  is  an  introduction.  It  consists  of  two  parts.  The  first  part  sheds  light  on  Bishop's  life, how she grew up, her suffering, the things and persons she lost in her childhood, the places she  lived  in  and  their  effect  on  her.  The  second  part  of  this section  deals  with  her  literary career. It tackles her poems, short-stories, style and use of self-identification. Section two is completely  devoted  to  Bishop's  poem  "Sestina".  This  poem  describes  the  moment  her mother  is  taken  to  the  asylum. Here,  Bishop  constructs  a  picture  of  a  grandmother  and  a grandchild  on  a  gloomy  autumn.  She  identifies  her  sadness  with  the  rain,  the  failing light, the  water  drops  on  the  iron  kettle  and  drawings.  However,  the  section  tackles  the paraphrasing, form and analysis of the poem. Section three deals with Bishop's poem "One Art".  This  poem  is  a  villanelle.  At  the  beginning,  the  poet  talks  about  losing.  She  suggests that  we  get  used  to  loss  by  losing  little  things  like  house  keys  and  wasting  time.  You become  comfortable  with  these  losses  and  then  you  would  be  ready  to  cope  with  the  big ones.  By  talking  about  loss,  the  poet  indirectly  identifies  her  own  loss.  In  the  end,  she confesses  that  she  is  talking  about  a  dear  person.  Anyway,  the  section  shows  the paraphrasing, form and analysis of the poem.