“Bishop’s carefully judged use of language aids the reader to uncover the intensity of feeling in her poetry.”

Elizabeth Bishop’s superb use of language in her introspective poetry allows the reader to grasp a better understand of feeling in her poetry. Bishop’s concentration of minor details led to her being referred to as a “miniaturist”, however this allows her to paint vivid imagery, immersing the reader in her chosen scenario. Through descriptive detail, use of metaphor, simile, and many other excellently executed stylistic devices, the reader can almost feel the emotion being conveyed. Bishop clearly demonstrates her innate talent to communicate environments at ease. Throughout her poetry she remains honest, painting an unflattering self-portrait through lyrical beauty, allowing us to empathize with her. One of the key ideas in Bishop’s poetry is a moment of epiphany, this is always supplemented with excellent, stark language.

Through Bishop’s poetry it is evident that her childhood experiences had a very negative impact on her life. She portrays these negative experiences through ingenious, immaculate writing. My personal favourite is ‘Sestina’, her superb technical ability is shown in this poem. Some poets are more challenging to understand, not Bishop. This is due to her excellent choice of language, which makes her poems so easy to understand. In Sestina she chooses an extremely restrictive format, but for a particular reason, to show how her emotion was