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raloveridge's review against another edition
5.0
I will never be done reading or thinking about Elizabeth Bishop.
shuashwa18's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
slow-paced
5.0
caracabe's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
jonbrammer's review against another edition
4.0
Possibly my favorite poem of all time, "Skunk Hour" by Robert Lowell, is dedicated to Elizabeth Bishop, so I had to check her out.
Many of these poems are impressionistic, capturing a moment - like "Late Air". Some use extended metaphor, like "The Unbeliever" - taking a line from John Bunyan about the dangers of unbelief and twisting it into something different - making it seem that the atheist is both able to dream differently than those on the deck below:
Asleep he was transported there
asleep he curled
in a gilded ball at the mast's top,
or climbed inside
a gilded bird, or blindly seated himself astride
The metaphor becomes something strange and mysterious - what is the unbeliever? A dreamer? A sage?
Bishop likes to weave natural imagery in with the emotions and ideas expressed in her poems - a classic example is "The Fish", where the defeat of the veteran fish by the fisherman is problematized by the imagery of the decrepit boat, where there is a "pool of bilge / where oil had spread a rainbow / around the rusted engine"
The fish is something noble battling against the crude ugly trappings of man.
Many of these poems are impressionistic, capturing a moment - like "Late Air". Some use extended metaphor, like "The Unbeliever" - taking a line from John Bunyan about the dangers of unbelief and twisting it into something different - making it seem that the atheist is both able to dream differently than those on the deck below:
Asleep he was transported there
asleep he curled
in a gilded ball at the mast's top,
or climbed inside
a gilded bird, or blindly seated himself astride
The metaphor becomes something strange and mysterious - what is the unbeliever? A dreamer? A sage?
Bishop likes to weave natural imagery in with the emotions and ideas expressed in her poems - a classic example is "The Fish", where the defeat of the veteran fish by the fisherman is problematized by the imagery of the decrepit boat, where there is a "pool of bilge / where oil had spread a rainbow / around the rusted engine"
The fish is something noble battling against the crude ugly trappings of man.
denaedivo's review against another edition
5.0
Another continuous read. Not daunting for the non-poet, but enriching for the soul of the poet as well.
cheryl6of8's review against another edition
4.0
I was very pleased to come across this book on a quick scan of my shelves a while ago. I had set a goal of reading at least one poem a day for a whole month, so I knew the book would help me achieve that. I have enjoyed the poems of Bishop I have become familiar with in English classes over the years, which is likely why I picked this book up somewhere secondhand. I was amazed at her range, even in here earliest works from her late teens, and was pleased to find a few new ones that will be added to my personal favorites collection. She had some very lovely translations in there, as well, of works by Brazilian poets mostly, which were an interesting glimpse into a literary world I have never studied.
spacestationtrustfund's review against another edition
4.0
So "Man-Moth" (mammoth) and "Velocipastor" (velociraptor) are functionally in the same clade. Nice.
aceface's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.75