Elizabeth Bishop

This sestina poem considers a scene from Elizabeth Bishop’s own childhood through the sounds of six repeating words: house, grandmother, child, stove, almanac, tears. These six words repeat — in different order — as the final words of the poem’s lines, creating a kind of contemplation on how those repeated words informed her childhood: a childhood marked by loss, displacement, and a kind grandmother. “Time to plant tears” the poem states, in one of its most famous lines, as if the scene recalled has information about the future.Elizabeth Bishop was an American poet and writer. She served as Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1949 to 1950, was the Pulitzer Prize winner for Poetry in 1956, and won the National Book Award in 1970.Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.

Explore the life and work of American poet Elizabeth Bishop with insights from Mark and Seamus. They discuss her unique approach to form, domesticating heroic themes, and the emotional disruption in her poetry. Delve into her childhood, battle with alcoholism, and dedication to perfection in crafting poetic forms.