Elizabeth Bishop

It is believed that Elizabeth Bishop realized her sexual orientation while studying at Vassar and subsequently developed a close relationship with Louise Crane, with whom she went on a trip to Europe. On returning to the USA, they bought a house in Key West, but the relationship did not last long.

Marjorie Carr Stevens was probably the next important woman in her life and they lived together until the middle of the 1940s. Thereafter in Brazil, she had a serious relationship with Lota (Maria Carlota) de Macedo Soares, living with her until the latter’s suicide in 1967.

In 1970, she met Alice Methfessel, who became her lover and also the source of her strength for the rest of her life. After Bishop’s death, Alice became her literary executor.

Elizabeth Bishop was born on February 8, 1911, in Worcester, Massachusetts. Her father, William Thomas Bishop, a successful builder, was the scion of a well-to-do Massachusetts family. On the contrary, her mother, Gertrude May nee Bulmer came from Nova Scotia and was of a more humble lineage.

Elizabeth, her parents’ only child, must have experienced great love and warmth for the first eight months of her life. That her parents loved each other and also their tiny daughter is evident from a letter written by Thomas Bishop to Gertrude’s mother Elizabeth Hutchinson Bulmer, soon after his daughter’s birth.

In this letter, dated 12 February 1911, Thomas was found to be bubbling with happiness. But it did not last long. On October 8, 1911, he died of Bright's disease, leaving his wife devastated. She could never get over the shock and suffered a series of nervous breakdowns.

In 1915, after Gertrude had been hospitalized for a couple of times in the USA, the mother and daughter moved to Great Village, Nova Scotia, to live with Gertrude’s parents. Here too, she suffered a series of breakdowns.

Finally on June 20, 1916, Gertrude was admitted to a sanatorium across Halifax and remained there until her death on May 29, 1934. Elizabeth continued to live with her maternal grandparents in Great Village; she never saw her mother again.

By now, Elizabeth Bishop had inherited her father’s estate. Although it was nothing huge, it made sure that she could live without earning for the time being. Therefore in 1935, she set out for Paris, where she lived for four year with Louise Crane, a friend from Vassar.

In between, she traveled extensively, visiting other parts of France as well as Spain, North Africa, Ireland, and Italy. What she saw in those places, she documented in her poetries, many of which remained unpublished.

In 1937, Bishop and Crain returned to the USA. In the following year, they bought a house in Key West, Florida. Here she lived until 1944, making trips to the north intermittently.

On one such occasion in the fall of 1940, she stopped at Brevard, a rustic mountain town in North Carolina to meet her friends Charlotte and Red Russell. She liked it so much that she spent two months at the place before starting on her way to New York, where she put up at a hotel in Murray Hill.

Living all alone by herself, she began drinking heavily. Her aunt’s death and quarrel with her friend and mentor Moore might have induced it. Therefore, she was very happy when it was time to go back to Key West. However, she wrote very little poetry during this period, but concentrated on short stories.

Thereafter in May 1944, she returned to New York, where she tried to stay away from alcohol, lose weight and remain cheerful. On January 15, 1945, at the insistence of her mentor and friend Moore, she submitted the manuscript of ‘North & South’ for a poetry prize fellowship, organized by Houghton Mifflin.

It led to publication of her first book, ‘North & South’ in August 1946. In June, before the book was actually published, she left for Keene in New Hampshire and from there went to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Across the bay from Halifax, she could see the hospital, where her mother lived and died. Feeling miserable, she left for Great Village and other places before returning to New York.

Some time thereafter, Bishop met Robert Lowell, with whom she would eventually develop a close friendship. Although she had her inheritance to look after her daily needs it was not really very big. It was Lowell, who opened her eyes to the practical aspects like fellowships and awards.

In the meanwhile, her book earned good reviews. Many of her poems were also published in different well-known journals. By the fall of 1946, Bishop became well-known as a poet. Soon her financial worries too began to ease.