One Art: Letters
by Elizabeth Bishop
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bookshelves:
poetry,
women
Has a copy to sell/swap
This selection of poet Elizabeth Bishop's letters is, as her editor Robert Giroux observes, a virtual autobiography. Only Flannery O'Connor ( also an American woman) came so alive for me in her letters. More than a decade later I can recall the professionally playful letters Bishop wrote to fellow poets Robert Lowell, Randall Jarrell and Marianne Moore (well, not so playful to Moore) The descriptions she sent during her years living in Brazil showed her poet's eyeand ear for detail (``Someon...more
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Read in December, 2007
This is one of those books that brings out the compulsive side of me. I read every letter--even the most mundane, and there were many of those: doctor's visits, housekeeping, etc. Since Bishop is among my favorite poets, I was compelled to read everything, not wanting to miss a shred of her life story. The letters work like puzzles; we have only Bishop's, so we have to piece together what she's responding to. That's partly what's so interesting. As with any real person, though, there are sides o...more
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Read in January, 2008
I still don't like her or her asshead high school (I had to pump sixteen inches of water out of a basement there last night and am sitting in the basement of her old dorm as I write this (I think)), but a lifetime of letters is almost always an incredible thing. This set got me very interested in Marianne Moore.
P.S. I think the choice of last letter was unfortunate--even if it was written on the day of her death.
P.P.S. She didn't like Charlotte's Web?!?!?!
P.P.P.S. They engraved an E...more
P.S. I think the choice of last letter was unfortunate--even if it was written on the day of her death.
P.P.S. She didn't like Charlotte's Web?!?!?!
P.P.P.S. They engraved an E...more
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Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
poets, letter-writers, animals-lovers, Brazil
Bishop's favorite show was Sesame Street. This is only one of the many amazing things I found out. While there are long sad sections, many of these letters contain hilarious asides and comments. Her descriptions of Brazil and the many other places she traveled make me want to get on a plane immediately. I love reading this book, and the David Kalstone is a great companion book that explains a lot of biographical details, as well as critically dissecting Bishop's relationships with Moore and Lowe...more
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bookshelves:
poetsandpoetry
Pretty good as far as letters go. The ones between her and "Cal" (Robert Lowell) are the most interesting.
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 4.36 (67 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 4.44 (64 ratings) number of reviews: 5popular shelves
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quote
"The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.
Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.
Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.
I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.
I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.
---Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.
"
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