Lloyd Schwartz on Elizabeth Bishop

In 1975, Schwartz was at a dead end on his PhD thesis and realized he’d like to write about [Elizabeth] Bishop though he was afraid her shyness would make her reject his plea. But Schwartz says, “She was very generous. I seemed to tap into a maternal instinct. She felt young people ought to finish their degrees. She’d do anything to facilitate that.” In the following year the two met regularly to discuss her poems. “I was one of the few people who didn’t want to finish a dissertation.”

Join Lloyd Schwartz and musician Sebastien Jean for a fund raiser for the Massachusetts Poetry Festival

Massachusetts Poetry Festival Fund Raiser
Thursday, March 17, 7-9 p.m.
Salem Athenæum
337 Essex Street, Salem MA
Suggested donation: $50
Register now!

Schwartz will discuss the poetry of beloved Massachusetts poet Elizabeth Bishop, as well as his own. Sebastien Jean will perform Air for Orchestral Suite in D major by Bach for electric guitar and piano.

Lloyd Schwartz is Frederick S. Troy Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts Boston and a regular commentator for NPR's "Fresh Air." His poems, articles, and reviews have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, The New Republic, The Paris Review, The Pushcart Prize, and The Best American Poetry.

Sebastien Jean is a composer, rock guitarist and musicologist. Jean received his MFA in musicology from Brandeis University.