James Merrill described Elizabeth Bishop's poems as "more
wryly radiant, more touching, more unaffectedly intelligent
than any written in our lifetime" and called her "our
greatest national treasure." Robert Lowell said, "I enjoy
her poems more than anybody else's." Long before a wider
public was aware of Bishop's work, her fellow poets
expressed astonished admiration of her formal rigor,
fiercely observant eye, emotional intimacy, and sometimes
eccentric flights of imagination. Today she is recognized as
one of America's great poets of the 20th century. This
unprecedented collection offers a full-scale presentation of
a writer of startling originality, at once passionate and
reticent, adventurous and perfectionist. It presents all the
poetry that Bishop published in her lifetime, in such
classic volumes as North & South, A Cold Spring, Questions
of Travel, and Geography III. In addition it contains an
extensive selection of un_published poems and drafts of
poems (several not previously collected), as well as all her
published poetic translations, ranging from a chorus from
Aristophanes' The Birds to versions of Brazilian sambas.
Poems, Prose, and Letters brings together as well most of
her published prose writings, including stories;
reminiscences; travel writing about the places (Nova Scotia,
Florida, Brazil) that so profoundly marked her poetry; and
literary essays and statements, including a number of pieces
published here for the first time. The book is rounded out
with a selection of Bishop's irresistibly engaging and
self-revelatory letters. Of the 53 letters included here,
written between 1933 and 1979, a considerable number are
printed for the first time, and all are presented in their
entirety. Their recipients include Robert Lowell, Marianne
Moore, Randall Jarrell, Anne Stevenson, May Swenson, and
Carlos Drummond de Andrade.
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