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Chapter 27 - Gender

from Part V - Identity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 August 2021

By
Deryn Rees-Jones  and
Eira Murphy
Edited by
Angus Cleghorn  and
Jonathan Ellis
Angus Cleghorn
Affiliation:
Seneca College, Canada
Jonathan Ellis
Affiliation:
University of Sheffield
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Summary

This essay traces the development of Bishop’s negotiations of gender from the 1930s to the 1970s. We show how Bishop explores an emerging and increasingly embodied subjectivity as her work develops. In particular, we show the way her use of male and female pronouns can be used to trace an increasing interest in gender as a set of inter-relational differences. Beginning with two early poems, we examine the complex ways in which gender identifications are interrogated in relation to ideas of looking and reflection, and are offered as a negotiation of the male literary tradition: specifically here in relation to Tennyson, and to Defoe. We also explore the way constructions of the feminine become more frequent in the writing and are connected to race.

Keywords

GenderPronounsFeminine“The Man-Moth”“The Gentleman of Shalott”“Crusoe in England”“In the Waiting Room”“Vague Poem”
Type
Chapter
Information
Elizabeth Bishop in Context , pp. 313 - 323
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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