The Poet As Map-Maker: The Cartographic Inspiration and Influence of Elizabeth Bishop’s “The Map”

Oct 6, 2026

Poems and cartography intersect through Elizabeth Bishop’s seminal twentieth-century work “The Map,” created during her recovery in 1934 and shaped by map imagery of the North Atlantic and the coastal memory of Nova Scotia. The text traces how Bishop’s “The Map” inspired subsequent American map-poems, including Howard Nemerov’s “The Map-Maker on His Art” and Mark Strand’s “The Map,” and situates them within a broader history of poetic map descriptions. It argues that poets and map-makers share an explicit, intimate creative connection, addressing craft, imagination, technical constraint, and ideological potential.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages29

Reading Time45 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Origins and significance of Bishop’s “The Map”

Earlier traditions of map-poetry

Twentieth-century map-poems and featured poets

Analysis focus and comparative scope

Number 38, Winter 2001 37 # The Poet As Map-Maker: The Cartographic Inspiration and Influenceof Elizabeth Bishop’s “The Map” New Year’s Eve of 1934 found Elizabeth Bishop recuperating from theflu. Out of her isolation, the recently orphaned 23-year-old created “TheMap.” Inspired by a map’s depiction of the North Atlantic, Bishop’s ex-quisite poem alludesin part to the“seashore towns”and coastal watersof her childhood home, Nova Scotia. A seminal twentieth-century poemabout maps, Bishop’s “The Map”has inspired a host of other map-poems since it opened her Pulitzer prize-winning collection, Poems: North & South—A Cold Spring, in 1955. My paper, the third in a seriesadvocating the use of poetry in the teaching of geography, will attemptto elucidate Bishop’s masterpiece and introduce the map that, I believe,inspired her poem. The paper also will present two works influencedby “The Map”: Howard Nemerov’s “The Map-Maker on His Art” (1957)and Mark Strand’s “The Map” (1960). Linking these three acclaimedAmerican poets even further is their recognition of an intimate andexplicit connection between poetsand cartographers. Keywords: Poetry about Maps, Map/Geography Education, Poets asCartographers apshave inspired poets since the 8th century BCE when Homer sang about Achilles’ shield, the first verbal description of a cosmo-logical map in classical literature (Iliad 18.483-607; cf. Aujac 1987, 131-32) .Although poetic descriptions of maps can be traced through every period,especially the Early Modern, the twentieth century is unique in its range,quality, and sheer number of poems about maps. In the first third of thecentury alone, no fewer than five pre-eminent poets used maps as theirsubject or theme. Thomas Hardy, whose books often include a map ofSouth Wessex (i.e., Dorset, England), composed “The Place on the Map”about a pivotal moment in an affair:“the map revives her words, the spot,the time” (Hardy [1914] 1930, 918). G.K. Chesterton began his parody ofthe British Empire, “Songs of Education, ii: Geography, Form 17955301,Sub-Section Z,”with the famous lines (Chesterton 1927, 86): The earth is a place on which England is found,And you find it however you twirl the globe round;For the spots are all red and the restis all grey,And that isthe meaning of Empire Day. Robert Frost produced “A Brook in the City,”in which he bemoansthe fate of a brook, imprisoned now in an urban“sewer dungeon”andremembered only by him and a few“ancient maps” (Frost [1921, 1922/24]1969, 231) . Marianne Moore created “Sea Unicorns and Land Unicorns,”a celebration of the mythical beasts that once graced maps (Moore [1924]1967, 77-79). And two years before attempting suicide, Laura Ridingended “The Map of Places” in despair: “All is known, all is found./ Deathmeets itself everywhere./ Holes in maps look through to nowhere” (Rid-ing [1928] 1980, 87) . Adele J. HaftDepartment of Classicaland Oriental StudiesHunter College The City Univ. of New York 695 Park AvenueNew York, NY 10021ahaft@hunter.cuny.edu “Although poetic descriptionsof maps can be traced throughevery period, . . ., the twentiethcentury is unique in its range,quality, and sheer number ofpoems about maps. ” 38 cartographic perspectives Number 38, Winter 2001 “. . . in 1935, Elizabeth Bishop(1911-1979) published ‘TheMap.’A classic inits own right,‘The Map’is one of the seminaltwentieth-century poems aboutmaps and map-makers. ” “The exact craft of thecartographer is perhaps leastassociated, customarily, withour ideas of poetry. ” Then, in 1935, Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979) published “The Map.”Aclassic in its own right, “The Map” is one of the seminal twentieth-cen -tury poems about maps and map-makers. Bishop recognized the impor-tance of her poem and useditto open several works, including her 1955collection Poems: North & South—A Cold Spring (Bishop 1955) . After thatvolume won a Pulitzer Prize in 1956, “The Map” immediately inspired atleast four other American poets

FAQs

How did Elizabeth Bishop create “The Map,” and what influenced its imagery?

During New Year’s Eve of 1934, Bishop recuperated from the flu and, from isolation, created “The Map,” inspired by how maps depict the North Atlantic and by coastal references linked to her childhood home in Nova Scotia.

Which later poets are described as directly influenced by Bishop’s “The Map”?

The text highlights at least four map-poems that followed Bishop, focusing in particular on Howard Nemerov’s “The Map-Maker on His Art” and Mark Strand’s “The Map,” while also noting works by Gloria C. Oden and May Swenson.

What connection does the document emphasize between poets and cartographers?

It argues that Bishop’s recognition is revolutionary because it makes an intimate and explicit connection between poets and cartographers, linking the map-maker’s decisions, imaginative reading, craft, and limitations to poetic exactitudes.

Oct 6, 2026

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