Creak,creak…frozenthongsandcreakingsnow.
Thesedriftsareendless,Ithink;asfarasthePole
theyholdnoshadowsbuttheirown,andours.
Grandfather,pleasestop!Ihaven’tbeenthiscoldinyears.
Mid-1970s?(Vassar65.19);publishedin EdgarAllanPoe&TheJuke-Box.
APPENDIXII:ContentsofElizabeth
Bishop’sBooksofPoetryonFirst
Publication,1946–1977
Themostdramaticchangesbetweeneditionsaretotheorderofpoemsandthe omissionofsomecontent.Bishoprevisedindividualpoemsminimallybetween books,rewordingorreshapinginafewinstanceshalfalineorthree.Inaddition, she added dedications, corrected misprints, and changed punctuation—periods, commas,anddashes,and,mostfrequently,hyphens(omittedoradded).Allthe variants between editions are noted in Candace W. MacMahon’s Elizabeth Bishop:ABibliography,1927–1979(Charlottesville:BibliographicalSocietyof UniversityofVirginia,UniversityofVirginiaPress,1980).Thiseditionfollows The Complete Poems (1969) and Geography III (1976); the notes list only instancesinwhichthetextsdifferinwordingfromthefirstbookpublicationsor wherearevisionpublishedin TheCompletePoems,1927–1979(1983)hasbeen adopted.
NORTH&SOUTH(HOUGHTONMIFFLIN,1946)
The Map; The Imaginary Iceberg; Casabianca; The Colder the Air; Wading at Wellfleet;Cheminde Fer;TheGentleman ofShalott;Large BadPicture;From the Country to the City; The Man-Moth; Love Lies Sleeping; A Miracle for Breakfast; 1 The Weed; The Unbeliever; The Monument; Paris, 7 A.M.; Quai D’Orleans; 2 Sleeping on the Ceiling; Sleeping Standing Up; Cirque D’Hiver; Florida;Jerónimo’sHouse;Roosters;Seascape;LittleExercise; 3TheFish;Late
Air;Cootchie;SongsforaColoredSinger; 4Anaphora5
POEMS:NORTH&SOUTH—ACOLDSPRING(HOUGHTONMIFFLIN,
1955)
NORTH&SOUTH
The Map; The Imaginary Iceberg; Casabianca; The Colder the Air; Wading at Wellfleet;Cheminde Fer;TheGentleman ofShalott;Large BadPicture;From the Country to the City; The Man-Moth; Love Lies Sleeping; A Miracle for Breakfast; The Weed; The Unbeliever; The Monument; Paris, 7 A.M.; Quai D’Orleans; Sleeping on the Ceiling; Sleeping Standing Up; Cirque D’Hiver; Florida; Jerónimo’s House; Roosters; Seascape; Little Exercise; The Fish; Late Air;Cootchie;SongsforaColoredSinger;Anaphora
ACOLDSPRING
A Cold Spring; Over 2,000 Illustrations and a Complete Concordance; The Bight; A Summer’s Dream; Cape Breton; At the Fishhouses; 6 View of The Capitol from The Library of Congress; Insomnia; The Prodigal; Faustina, or Rock Roses; Varick Street; Four Poems; Argument; Letter to N.Y.; The Mountain; 7 Invitation to Miss Marianne Moore; Arrival at Santos;8 The Shampoo
POEMS(CHATTO&WINDUS,1956)
TheMap;TheColdertheAir;TheImaginaryIceberg;WadingatWellfleet;The Man-Moth; Large Bad Picture; The Unbeliever; The Weed; Cirque D’Hiver; Sleeping Standing Up; Roosters; The Fish; Little Exercise; Letter to N.Y.; A Cold Spring; At the Fishhouses; The Bight; Faustina, or Rock Roses; The Prodigal;InvitationtoMissMarianneMoore
QUESTIONSOFTRAVEL(FARRAR,STRAUSANDGIROUX,1965)
I.BRAZIL
Arrival at Santos; Brazil, January 1, 1502; Questions of Travel; Squatter’s Children; Manuelzinho; Electrical Storm; Song for the Rainy Season;9 The
Armadillo;TheRiverman;TwelfthMorning;orWhatYouWill;TheBurglarof Babylon10
II.ELSEWHERE
IntheVillage(astory); 11Manners;Sestina;FirstDeathinNovaScotia;Filling Station; Sunday, 4 A.M.; Sandpiper; 12 From Trollope’s Journal; Visits to St.
Elizabeths13
SELECTEDPOEMS(CHATTO&WINDUS,1967)14
From NORTH&SOUTH
TheMap;TheImaginaryIceberg;TheColdertheAir;FromtheCountrytothe City; The Man-Moth; A Miracle for Breakfast; Large Bad Picture; The Monument; Cirque D’Hiver; Florida; Jerónimo’s House; The Fish; Cootchie; SongsforaColoredSinger;Roosters
From ACOLDSPRING
Over 2,000 Illustrations and a Complete Concordance; The Bight; Faustina, or RockRoses;ASummer’sDream;CapeBreton;AttheFishhouses;TheProdigal; VarickStreet;TwoPoems; 15InvitationtoMissMarianneMoore;TheShampoo From QUESTIONSOFTRAVEL
I.Brazil
Arrival at Santos; Brazil, January 1, 1502; Questions of Travel; Squatter’s Children; Manuelzinho; Electrical Storm; Song for the Rainy Season; The Armadillo;TheRiverman;TwelfthMorning;orWhatYouWill;TheBurglarof
Babylon
II.Elsewhere
Manners;Sestina;FirstDeathinNovaScotia;FillingStation;Sandpiper;From Trollope’sJournal;VisitstoSt.Elizabeths16
THEBALLADOFTHEBURGLAROFBABYLON(FARRAR,STRAUS
ANDGIROUX,1968)17
Introduction;TheBalladoftheBurglarofBabylon
THECOMPLETEPOEMS(FARRAR,STRAUSANDGIROUX,1969;
CHATTO&WINDUS,1970)
NORTH&SOUTH
The Map; The Imaginary Iceberg; Casabianca; The Colder the Air; Wading at Wellfleet;Cheminde Fer;TheGentleman ofShalott;Large BadPicture;From the Country to the City; The Man-Moth; Love Lies Sleeping; A Miracle for Breakfast; The Weed; The Unbeliever; The Monument, Paris, 7 A.M.; Quai D’Orleans; Sleeping on the Ceiling; Sleeping Standing Up; Cirque D’Hiver; Florida; Jerónimo’s House; Roosters; Seascape; Little Exercise; The Fish; Late Air;Cootchie;SongsforaColoredSinger;Anaphora
ACOLDSPRING
A Cold Spring; Over 2,000 Illustrations and a Complete Concordance; The Bight; A Summer’s Dream; At the Fishhouses; Cape Breton; View of The Capitol from The Library of Congress; Insomnia; The Prodigal; Faustina, or RockRoses;VarickStreet;FourPoems;LettertoN.Y.;Argument;Invitationto MissMarianneMoore;TheShampoo
QUESTIONSOFTRAVEL
I.Brazil
Arrival at Santos; Brazil, January 1, 1502; Questions of Travel; Squatter’s Children; Manuelzinho; Electrical Storm; Song for the Rainy Season; The Armadillo;TheRiver-man;TwelfthMorning;orWhatYouWill;TheBurglarof Babylon
II.Elsewhere
Manners;Sestina;First DeathinNova Scotia;FillingStation; Sunday,4A.M.; Sandpiper;FromTrollope’sJournal
III.TranslationsfromthePortuguese
Carlos Drummond de Andrade: Seven-Sided Poem; Don’t Kill Yourself;
Travelling in the Family; The Table; 18 João Cabral de Melo Neto: From The DeathandLifeofaSeverino
NewandUncollectedWork
Rainy Season; Sub-Tropics; The Hanging of the Mouse; Some Dreams They Forgot; Song; House Guest; Trouvée; Going to the Bakery; 19 Under the Window:OuroPrêto
GEOGRAPHYIII(FARRAR,STRAUSANDGIROUX,1976;CHATTO&
WINDUS,1977)
IntheWaitingRoom;CrusoeinEngland; 20NightCity;TheMoose;12O’Clock News;Poem;OneArt;TheEndofMarch;Objects&Apparitions;FiveFlights Up
NOTES
1. Inline32,“madeformeamiracle”became“madeformebyamiracle”in Poems:North&South—AColdSpring(1955).
2. AdedicationtoMargaretMillerwasaddedin TheCompletePoems.
3. A dedication to Thomas Edwards Manning was added in The Complete Poems.
4. Lines15–17ofsectionI
andfinditveryhard
thatallwegotforallhisdollarsandcents
’sapileofbottlesbythefence
wererewrittentoread:
andfinditveryhard.
Whathavewegotforallhisdollarsandcents?
/>
—Apileofbottlesbythefence.
in TheCompletePoems. InsectionII,line5
’causethisoccasion’sallhisfault.
wasrewrittentoread
thisoccasion’sallhisfault.
5. A dedication in memory of Marjorie Carr Stevens was added in The CompletePoems.
6. Acommawasaddedtotheendofline4in TheCompletePoems,1927–1979
(achangenotfollowedinthisedition).
7. Omittedfromthepaperbackedition(1965)andfrom TheCompletePoems.
8. In the Questions of Travel (1965) version, a misprint of “self-pitying, mountains”inline3wascorrectedtoread“self-pityingmountains.”Line5, withalittlechurchontopofone.Andsomewarehouses
became
withalittlechurchontopofone.Andwarehouses
Line26,
aretiredpolicelieutenant,andsixfeettall,
became
aretiredpolicelieutenant,sixfeettall,
Line31,
andleaveusourScotchandcigarettes.
became
andleaveusourbourbonandcigarettes.
Also, the subscript “January 1952” was added. In her instructions to the publisherof CompletePoems, Bishopwrote,“‘ArrivalatSantos’should,of course,beusedonlyonce.…Iwouldliketohaveitappearinthe Questions ofTravelsection,intheversionitappearsinin QuestionsofTravel”(EBto MichaeldiCapuaandCynthiaMuser,September21,1968,copiesatVassar
andTheNewYorkPublicLibrary).
9. A subscript “Síto da Alcobaçinha, Fazenda Samambaia, Petrópolis” was addedin TheCompletePoems,1927–1979.
10. Inline112,themisprintof“outatthesea”wascorrectedtoread“outatsea,”
and an extra gap between stanzas 43 and 44 (setting off the final four stanzas)wasclosedin TheCompletePoems. An extra gap between stanzas 45 and 46 (setting off the final two stanzas, which was Bishop’s wish) was addedin TheCompletePoems,1927–1979.
11. Omittedfrom TheCompletePoemsbutproposedforinclusioninanedition
of her prose that Bishop contemplated entitling In the Village & Other Storiesor IntheVillage:StoriesandEssays.
12. Line13:
Theworldisamist.Theworldisuniquely
wasrewrittentoread
Theworldisamist.Andthentheworldis
in TheCompletePoems.
13. Asubscript“November,1951”wasomittedin TheCompletePoems.
14. The selection was made by Elizabeth Bishop. In a letter published in The Times Literary Supplement, Bishop responded to complaints that Chatto & Windushadomitted“IntheVillage”fromher SelectedPoems:“Itistruethat the publishers did not choose to include a story that appeared in my last volume of poems published in the United States. However, I was entirely responsible for the selection of poems. It is possible I was over-fussy”
(ElizabethBishoptotheEditor, TLS, February15,1968,p.157).
15. “RainTowardsMorning”and“WhileSomeoneTelephones.”
16. Asubscriptdated“November,1951”isomittedin TheCompletePoems.
17. WithwoodcutsbyAnnGrifalconi.
18. Inline236,“Whatnothing”wasrevisedtoread“Butno!”(tobetterreflect the Portuguese “Qual nada”) in The Complete Poems, 1927–1979. Bishop wrotethischangeinthemarginofEamonGrennan’scopyof The Complete Poems(1969,sixthprinting1978),andinitialedthechange.
19. Arevisionof“Oh,poorhabit!”to“Oh,meanhabit!”inthepenultimateline wasincludedin TheCompletePoems,1927–1979.
20. In line 24, “over-lapping” became “overlapping” in The Complete Poems, 1927–1979 (the second change not followed in the present edition). In Bishop’s own copy of Geography III, she canceled “the” in line 173 (“the shrivelledshoes”)andwrote“those?”inthemargin,butthechangewasnot adoptedin TheCompletePoems,1927–1979.
IndexofTitlesandFirstLines
Theindexthatappearedintheprintversionofthistitledoesnotmatchthepages inyoureBook.PleaseusethesearchfunctiononyoureReadingdevicetosearch fortermsofinterest.Foryourreference,thetermsthatappearintheprintindex arelistedbelow.
Aboutthesizeofanold-styledollarbill
Acoldspring:
Acrossthefloorflitsthemechanicaltoy
AfterRishikesh
Aloneontherailroadtrack
ALONGGALEANASTREET(OctavioPaz)
Althoughitisacoldevening
ANAPHORA
Andyouneverlikedparties…
Anendlessandflooded
Anewvolcanohaserupted
APARTMENTINLEME
ARGUMENT
ARMADILLO,THE
ARRIVALATSANTOS
Asfarasstatuesgo,sofarthere’snot
Asweliedowntosleeptheworldturnshalfaway
Asyouallknow,tonightisthenightofthefullmoon
Atevening,somethingbehindme.
AtfirstItookitforabird
Atfouro’clock
Atlowtidelikethishowsheerthewateris
Atnightthefactories
Atsixo’clockwewerewaitingforcoffee
ATTHEFISHHOUSES
Awashinghangsupontheline
BANKS(MaxJacob)
Bed,birdcage,andachestofdrawers
Beneaththatlovedandcelebratedbreast
BIGHT,THE
BRAZIL,JANUARY1,1502
BRAZILIANTRAGEDY(ManuelBandeira)
BREAKFASTSONG
BURGLAROFBABYLON,THE
CAPEBRETON
Carlos,keepcalm,love
CASABIANCA
Caught—thebubble
CEMETERYOFCHILDHOOD(JoaquimCardozo)
CHEMINDEFER
CIRQUED’HIVER
COLDERTHEAIR,THE
COLDSPRING,A
CONVERSATION
COOTCHIE
Cootchie,MissLula’sservant,liesinmarl
CRUSOEINENGLAND
Dawnanunsympatheticyellow.
Daysthatcannotbringyounear
“DEAR,MYCOMPASS…”
Dear,mycompass
DEATHANDLIFEOFASEVERINO,FROMTHE(JoãoCabraldeMeloNeto)
DEATHOFMIMOSO
DON’TKILLYOURSELF(CarlosDrummonddeAndrade)
DRUNKARD,A
Eachbargeontherivereasilytows
Eachdaywithsomuchceremony
Earliestmorning,switchingallthetracks
Early,earlyinthemorning,evenbeforefiveo’clock,themousewas
Easilythroughthedarkenedroom
EDGARALLANPOE&THEJUKE-BOX
ELECTRICALSTORM
ELEGYFORMARIAALVES(JoaquimCardozo)
ENDOFMARCH,THE
Enormousandsolid
EXCHANGINGHATS
FAMILYPORTRAIT(CarlosDrummonddeAndrade)
Farmafternoons,there’smuchtoomuchblueair.
FAUSTINA,ORROCKROSES
FILLINGSTATION
FIRSTDEATHINNOVASCOTIA
FISH,THE
FIVEFLIGHTSUP
FLOOD,THE
FLORIDA
FLORIDAREVISITED
FORA.B.
FORGRANDFATHER
FOURPOEMS
I/CONVERSATION
II/RAINTOWARDSMORNING
III/WHILESOMEONETELEPHONES
IV/OBREATH
FOURSAMBAS(Anonymous)
Fromamagician’smidnightsleeve
FromB
rooklyn,overtheBrooklynBridge,onthisfinemorning
Fromnarrowprovinces
FROMTHECOUNTRYTOTHECITY
FROMTROLLOPE’SJOURNAL
GENTLEMANOFSHALOTT,THE
GIANTSNAIL
GIANTTOAD
GOINGTOTHEBAKERY
GOOD-BYE—
GROVE,THE(OctavioPaz)
Halfsquatter,halftenant(norent)—
Hammerspoundthereabove
HANGINGOFTHEMOUSE,THE
HELLISGRADUATED(MaxJacob)
Here,above
Hereisacoast;hereisaharbor;
Hesleepsonthetopofamast
Hexahedronsofwoodandglass
Hidden,ohhidden
HOUSEGUEST
Howfarnorthareyoubynow?
HYMNTOTHEVIRGIN
Iamtoobig,toobigbyfar.Pityme.
Ibringyounowtheseflowers
Icanmakeouttheriggingofaschooner
Icaughtatremendousfish
Icomplainliketheflute
Idreamedthatdead,andmeditating
Ifyoutastetearstoooften,inquisitivetongue
Igotupinthenight
“IHADABADDREAM…”
Ihadabaddream
Iliveonlyhere,betweenyoureyesandyou
IMAGINARYICEBERG,THE
Imakeatriptoeachclockintheapartment:
INAROOM
INFANCY(CarlosDrummonddeAndrade)
InoneoftheAssyrianwars
INSOMNIA
Insteadofgazingatthesea
InthecemeteryofChildhood
Inthecold,coldparlor
InthedesertofItabira
INTHEMIDDLEOFTHEROAD(CarlosDrummonddeAndrade)
Inthemiddleoftheroadtherewasastone
INTHEWAITINGROOM
Inthewalled-offswimming-poolthewaterisperfectlyflat.
INVENTORY
INVITATIONTOMISSMARIANNEMOORE
InWorcester,Massachusetts
InyournextletterIwishyou’dsay
Itfindstheparkfirst,andthetrees
“ITISMARVELLOUSTOWAKEUPTOGETHER…”
Itismarvelloustowakeuptogether
Itissopeacefulontheceiling!
Itwascoldandwindy,scarcelytheday
Itwasthehourwhennightmakesthemountainslament
Iwillbegood;Iwillbegood.
Iwillnotplaytheslot-machine.
Iwouldlikemylastpoemthus
Poems Page 18