The Impact of Elizabeth Bishop’s Tragic Experiences on her Poetry

Abstract

Elizabeth Bishop is one of the most renowned modern American female poets. Her early life was characterized by some tragic events. However, she overcame all such saddening happenings and established herself as a major twentieth-century American writer. The paper investigates how some of the important topics handled in the author’s poetry can be traced back to her biographical background. The significance of the study is that it brings to light the role played by the tragic incidents in the poet’s life in the formation of her poetic production; which could enable her readers to understand some of her most famous poems better and enjoy them more. The method applied is the Biographical Critical Approach. By applying this approach, the researcher aims to indicate how the poet depended on her memories of actual events which took place in her life to author a number of her well-known poems. The study reaches some significant findings through the analysis of the selected literary texts. The researcher, for instance, draws attention to the way Bishop tackled the idea of death when she encountered it for the first time in her life. Moreover, the effect of the loss of the literary figure’s parents, especially the mother, on the under-discussion literary works is illustrated. Further, the study demonstrates how the writer expressed a lot of wisdom and stoicism in the face of destiny after reaching maturity. The analyzed literary texts evidently immortalize certain tragic events in Bishop’s life.