Beauty out of chaos …

… The American Scholar: “Time to Plant Tears” - Dana Gioia. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Marshall … tells Bishop’s story with admirable clarity and economy. Most biographers are better at gathering material than presenting it; their narratives often bog down in a morass of research notes. Marshall has a novelistic gift for crafting a narrative sensitive to both the inner and outer realities that shape a life. This double perspective is necessary in understanding Bishop’s contradictory existence, so outwardly quiet and inwardly tormented.