Elizabeth Bishop and the Carlyles

This article traces the history of Elizabeth Bishop’s posthumously published poem “Mr. and Mrs. Carlyle” and argues for its real ending, conflating a final image of Thomas Carlyle’s “beautiful” head with its beaver hat, under which seethes his preoccupation with the violence of the French revolution. The earlier publication of fragments of this poem is deemed to be significantly incomplete, and, based on a discussion of Bishop’s drafts, the additional pieces focused on for discussion in this essay are shown to be more fascinating and pertinent in both style and subject.