February 2011

A Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets from 1966 to 1979, Elizabeth Bishop is increasingly recognized as one of the greatest English language poets of the twentieth century—loved by readers and poets alike. Her poems combine humor and sadness, pain and acceptance, and observe nature and lives in perfect miniaturist close-up. The themes central to her poetry are geography and landscape—from New England, where she grew up, to Brazil and Florida, where she later lived—human connection with the natural world, questions of knowledge and perception, and the ability or inability of form to control chaos.

On the web at:
www.poets.org/ebish

Elizabeth Bishop Centennial

2011 National Poetry Month Poster
Bishop at 100: A Centennial Celebration
On Poets.org: Poems, Poets on Bishop & More

2011 National Poetry Month Poster:
"Bright objects hypnotize the mind"

The Academy of American Poets has unveiled the 2011 National Poetry Month poster, which features a line by the beloved poet Elizabeth Bishop, from her poem "A word with You." The poster appears just in time for the February 8 centennial of Elizabeth Bishop's birth.

The poster was designed by acclaimed graphic designer Stephen Doyle, winner of the National Design Award in Communications in 2010, who worked with photographer Victor Schrager using a sign Doyle commissioned from Let There Be Neon. Of the design, Doyle said, "Neon is not usually a medium that you associate with poetry, but for me it created a dynamic contrast with the natural world, and seemed an apt way to commemorate this profound thought. This poster is an interpretation of a line that transcends the rational. And after all, isn't that what poetry is all about?"

Download a PDF version of the poster, or request one for your school, bookstore, library or community center.

On the web at: www.poets.org/poster

Bishop at 100: A Centennial Celebration

Join us for a tribute to Elizabeth Bishop's 100th birthday, featuring readings from her poetry and selections from Elizabeth Bishop and The New Yorker, a new volume of her correspondence. Guest poets include Elizabeth Alexander, John Ashbery, Frank Bidart, Gabrielle Calvocoressi, Tina Chang, Jonathan Galassi, Kimiko Hahn, Richard Howard, Marie Howe, Yusef Komunyakaa, David Lehman, Paul Muldoon, Robert Polito, Marie Ponsot, Alice Quinn, Vijay Seshadri, Tom Sleigh, Tracy K. Smith, Mark Strand, Maria Tucci, and Jean Valentine.

February 8, 2011, 7:00 p.m.
Cooper Union, The Great Hall, 7 East 7th Street at Third Avenue
Manhattan, NY

Co-sponsored by the Poetry Society of America; Farrar, Straus and Giroux; the Academy of American Poets; the National Book Foundation; and the Unterberg Poetry Center of the 92nd Street Y

On the web at: www.poets.org/ebish

Bishop on Poets.org

Poems

At the Fishhouses

Filling Station

In the Waiting Room

One Art

Suicide of a Moderate Dictator

The Armadillo

The Moose

Visits to St. Elizabeths

Poets on Bishop

• "Visibility is Poor": Elizabeth Bishop's Obsessive Imagery and Mystical Unsaying by Katie Ford

• Elizabeth Bishop's "New" Poems by Lloyd Schwartz

• The Beautiful Changes by John Ashbery