First Death in Nova Scotia

“First Death in Nova Scotia” is a lyric poem by the Pulitzer Prize-winning American poet Elizabeth Bishop. First published in her third poetry collection, Questions of Travel (1965), the poem, like many of Bishop’s poems, relies on jarring images and acute diction. Through themes like The Eeriness of Death, Innocence and Defamiliarization, and A Lack of Emotion Surrounding Death, Bishop conveys the message that death is a strange, disorienting experience. “First Death” is one of Bishop’s more well-known poems, though it is not as famous as “The Fish” (1946) or “One Art” (1976). Aside from poetry, Bishop published short stories, translations, essays, and a travel book about Brazil, where she lived for many years.

Content Warning: The poem and this guide discuss death and a funeral, and this guide briefly mentions death by suicide.

Poet Biography

Elizabeth Bishop was born on February 8, 1911, in Worcester, Massachusetts. Her father, William Bishop, came from an affluent family, but William died from Bright’s disease (a historical term for kidney inflammation) when Bishop was eight months old. Bishop’s mother, Gertrude Bulmer, was an ice skater and trained nurse.