Date of Award
5-2011
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.A.
Degree Program
English
Department
English
Major Professor
Osundare, Olawaniyi
Second Advisor
Loomis, Catherine
Third Advisor
Murphy, Kay
Abstract
Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979) was a Pulitzer-prize winning American poet who did not produce much published work in her career. This was partly due to her low confidence, depression, alcoholism, and difficult personal life, but it was also due to her meticulousness as a poet. Colleagues and critics praised her strong description and mastery of technique, but criticized her early work as lacking depth. While appearing simple, her early works present complex themes of dualism and isolation. Using characteristics of the carnivalesque and the grotesque, her poetry explores these concepts and the need to cover them. This study's close analysis of four works ("From the Country to the City, " "Cirque d'Hiver, " "Pink Dog, " and "The Man-Moth") reveals characteristics of the carnivalesque and the grotesque, adding a previously unnoticed depth to her early work.
Recommended Citation
Dombrowski, Renee, "The Carnivalesque and the Grotesque in Elizabeth Bishop's Poetry" (2011). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 1304.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1304
Rights
The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.