Elizabeth Bishop was Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (the position now called Poet Laureate) in 1950. It was a miserable year for her. (“Just about my worst, so far—“, she wrote on her journal.) Back then, the Consultant’s office had this stunning view.

She didn’t write many poems that year. Eventually, though, looking out of her window, this poem came together. (My dates in the margin come from her journal.) The Korean War was beginning, and she was thinking about what it meant to be a poet in relation to her view.

A few years ago, I got to visit the office and look out that window myself. I’ve also written about that office, that view, and a few other things besides here, in @MModernity. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/609695