With any poem, it is important to have a contextual understanding of the poet and the world the poet lived in. This is especially true for Bishop and for this poem.

Bishop’s entire life contained the consistent themes of loss and loneliness. Bishop expresses this in one of her most famous poems, “One Art” (1976), where she says the art of loss is easy to master as she chronicles some of the losses she experienced throughout her life. This goes back to her childhood, as she lost both parents before she was five.

Even in adulthood, while having a good core friend group, Bishop lived a pretty isolated life of travel. And while she experienced love, she also dealt with great tragedy, including the suicide of her lover Lota de Macedo Soares in 1967.

Additionally, Bishop lived in an era where it was almost unthinkable to be an out lesbian, and this certainly caused a great deal of stress. Bishop was always reserved about her sexuality, but it deeply influenced her poetry. “Insomnia” is a good example of a poem with entirely implicit, veiled lesbian themes. This coded expression typifies much of Bishop’s poetry.