20世紀後期には英語圏で最も重要かつ優れた詩人といわれたエリザベス・ビショップ（1911-79年）の業績のうち、90ほどの詩作品に焦点を当てます。その生きざまや美的価値観が投影されている短編小説や翻訳など抒情詩以外も取り上げ、伝記や評伝のほか書簡やM・ムーア、R・ローウェル、J・メリルら交友のあった同時代の詩人の回想も盛り込んでいます。その力強い描写、創作環境、バランス感覚、愛や喪失の概念、視覚芸術への関心にも目を向け、作品と作家性を浮き彫りにすることを試みます。
  

　　　
Elizabeth Bishop has been described as the 'best-loved' poet in English of the second half of the twentieth century. This Very Short Introduction explores the 90 or so published poems that are at the core of her remarkable canon of verse. Drawing on biographical and critical material, Jonathan Post also makes frequent use of Bishop's letters and commentary by fellow poets, including Marianne Moore, Robert Lowell, and James Merrill to illuminate her writing and contemporary literary landscape.
　　　　
Throughout, Post places Bishop's lyric poetry within the context of her life and aesthetic values, showing how these shaped her work. The book covers a wide range of core themes present in her poetry, including her powerful use of description, the environment, balance, and ideas of love and loss, as well as looking at Bishop's interest in the visual arts.