A Distant Inheritance: The Poetry of Elizabeth Bishop and the American Transcendentalism

Among post-modern American poets, Elizabeth Bishop stands as a unique poetic voice. In the poetry produced in the second half of the twentieth century, the Bishop style, which is characterized by precision, objectivity and delicacy, represented a tradition. The present essay, however, intends to explore the relationship between Elizabeth Bishop and the American Transcendentalism. A close reading of Bishop's poetry with association to the basic ideas and doctrines of the New England Transcendentalism reveals that Bishop's deep concern with herself as an individual at all costs, her constant preoccupation with and sympathy for nature, and the haunting mysterious temperament of her poetry actually make her a distant descendent from the transcendentalist tradition, an acknowledgement made by Miss Bishop herself.