Abstract
Bishop’s interest in Brazilian popular music is evident in many writings. In a letter to Lowell, she criticizes the carnival version in the movie Orpheus, manifesting her will to make “a good collection” of sambas in translation. She writes: “I suspect [sambas] are some of the last folk poetry to be made in the world.” Besides the “anonymous four sambas” included in Complete Poems, Bishop translated a selection of well-known Brazilian composers. This unpublished repertoire was meant for a talk on Brazilian popular music at Bristol Community College in 1977, with poet Ricardo Sternberg on guitar. Considering Bishop’s translations from the anonymous sambas to contemporary composers, this study discusses her critical views, cultural and political implications and resonances of Brazilian popular culture in her poetry.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
In Bishop’s drafts, the original title of this section is “The Unselfconscious Arts.”
- 2.
This excerpt is from section I: “The ‘retirante’ explains to the reader who he is and what he does,” “The Death and Life of a Severino,” An Anthology of Twentieth-Century Brazilian Poetry, 126.
- 3.
Bishop’s drafts with originals and unfinished translations belong to “Elizabeth Bishop Collection,” Vassar College Library.
- 4.
Bishop’s letter to Lowell, April 22, 1960, One Art, 381–382.
- 5.
I translate here this and other citations in Portuguese, keeping the original references.
- 6.
This selection is kept in the new edition of Bishop’s Poems and in Elizabeth Bishop: Poems, Prose and Letters.
- 7.
“Elizabeth Bishop Collection,” Vassar College Library.
- 8.
Bishop’s letter to Moore, February 23, 1958, One Art, 356.
- 9.
Bishop’s letter to Merrill, February 22, 1966, One Art, 445.
- 10.
Jornal do Brasil, May 8, 1977, reprinted in Conversations with Elizabeth Bishop, 79.
- 11.
Bishop’s draft with translations and notes belongs to “Elizabeth Bishop Collection,” Vassar College.
- 12.
Bishop’s letter to Charlton, July 24, 1969, “Elizabeth Bishop Collection,” Houghton Library, Harvard University.
- 13.
Reprinted in Conversations with Elizabeth Bishop, 96.
- 14.
Bishop’s letter, April 16, 1976, cited in Sternberg’s essay, 35.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Martins, M.L.M. (2019). Elizabeth Bishop and Brazilian Popular Music: From Anonymous Sambas to Contemporary Composers. In: Cleghorn, A. (eds) Elizabeth Bishop and the Music of Literature. Palgrave Studies in Music and Literature. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33180-1_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33180-1_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-33179-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-33180-1
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)