20 pages • 40 minutes read
Elizabeth BishopThe Mountain
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1952A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
“In the Waiting Room” by Elizabeth Bishop (1971)
Like “The Mountain,” “In the Waiting Room” deals with themes of mortality, individuality, and a sense of anxiety over both. Unlike “The Mountain,” which is a persona poem, Bishop writes explicitly from her own memories and autobiographical material, going so far as to call herself out by the name “Elizabeth.” This is one of Bishop’s more personal poems, and though it recounts an occurrence she had at the age of six, she did not publish it until 1971, several years after she explored the same themes in “The Mountain.”
“Crusoe in England” by Elizabeth Bishop (1971)
This is another of Bishop’s persona pieces. The fictional character of Robinson Crusoe, from the book of the same name, recalls the time he spent on the island in isolation from other people except Friday. The poem explores themes of isolation and alienation as well as the physical geography of the island and how it enforces that isolation. The only other character to appear is Friday, who Crusoe notes had “a pretty body.” This may be Bishop’s veiled allusion to her own sexuality and the companionship she finds with other members of the same sex. As with “The Mountain,” this poem does not come to an easy conclusion but ends with the character moving from one form of isolation to another, revealing that after his rescue and return to England, his companion Friday died.
“One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop (1976)
One of Bishop’s most famous poems, “One Art” is considered a prime example of the villanelle form. It recounts how much the speaker has lost over her lifetime, repeating the sentence “The art of losing isn’t hard to master” and four sentences with a similar structure ending with the word “disaster.” “The Mountain,” though not a strict villanelle, also uses repeating phrases to create a circular structure that reflects a seemingly inescapable, repetitive process.
Further Literary Resources
“Introduction to Elizabeth Bishop: her life and poetic style” by Mr. Tobin (2021)
In this brief introduction, Mr. Tobin discusses Bishop’s autobiography and work. He gives anecdotes about how private Bishop was and how that privacy is reflected in her work. He explains how much of her work was influenced by Marianne Moore, who encouraged her to write detailed descriptions of the world around her, and how some critics believe this was a way for her to turn away from the fragility of herself. Lowell, by contrast, was a confessional poet whom Bishop sometimes tried to dissuade from confessing too much.
“The Durable Art of Elizabeth Bishop” by David Mason (2020)
In this book review, David Mason discusses what makes Bishop unique and her work enduring. Many of her contemporaries defined themselves as confessional poets who wrote using their autobiographical information and often discussed taboo subjects. Bishop seemed to turn her readers away from her own personality and instead toward the external subjects of her poem. This, Mason theorizes, is part of what makes readers like her work and part of what makes her work endure.
“Elizabeth Bishop, the loneliest person who ever lived” by Harriet Staff (2017)
This article from The Poetry Foundation summarizes an Elizabeth Bishop biography, named from a line in her letters that she was “the loneliest person who ever lived.” The article documents her reasons for believing so, including the death of her long-time lover, the marriage of her younger lover, and the fact that she continuously needed to hide her sexuality. Though she was a famous poet, with many accolades bestowed upon her in her own lifetime, Elizabeth Bishop was forced to live a veiled and solitary life in many ways. This is part of what led her to write her most famous poem, “One Art.”
Related Titles
By Elizabeth Bishop
