Marianne Moore and Elizabeth Bishop remain two of the most important American poets of the mid-20th century, after the emergence of “modern” poetry, dominated by T. S. Eliot. Both women were greatly admired by their fellow-poets, mostly men; but unlike them, both women led intensely private lives, avoided celebrity, and wrote relatively small bodies of distinctively polished work. They were both celebrated in their lifetimes as highly original and important, two brilliant modern women poets, whose voices mattered in a rapidly changing modern culture. They remain relevant today.

About ThE Instructor

Dr. James Earl is Professor Emeritus of English in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Oregon.