
My Breakfast with Elizabeth Bishop - samclemens
http://www.claremont.org/crb/basicpage/my-breakfast-with-elizabeth-bishop/
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tps5
I thought this was an interesting review though I'm not familiar with the poet
in question.

However, I reacted negatively to criticisms like this:

> _Her closing lines are often summaries that feel tacked-on and avoid placing
> the scene in a larger context_

Must poems "place scenes in a larger context?" Is that necessarily the goal of
poetry?

> _A striking aspect of Bishop’s early poems is that they rarely seem to go
> anywhere_

Again, why must poems "go anywhere?" I often find myself appreciating poems
that specifically don't go anywhere. These poems, I find, are often more
emotionally evocative than poems that seem to be searching for "deeper
meaning" or belong in a "social context."

> _In short, many of her poems lack the spiritual or philosophical
> underpinnings_

Again, I find myself wondering: so?

> _Bishop largely ignored politics, charitable work, and the communities
> around her, living as a non-participating observer_

This just feels nasty. Again, I see no relationship between these
observations, which feel more like accusations, and the quality of a poet's
work.

~~~
awinter-py
I'm with you. I couldn't believe that "I let the fish go" was the example of
'not going anywhere'. She spends the first half of the poem dissecting it with
her eyes and the second half writing its biography -- if this isn't a journey
I don't know what is.

If you haven't heard her reading it the audio is here
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJsFCI9_BeA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJsFCI9_BeA).

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horsa
It's worth noting that the reviewer, "A.M. Juster," is actually former Social
Security Commissioner Michael Astrue:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_J._Astrue](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_J._Astrue)

Similarly, Wallace Stevens was VP of an insurance company. Saint-John Perse,
who won the Nobel for his poetry, was also France's leading diplomat:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-
John_Perse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-John_Perse)

