https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/47536 “One Art” is a beautiful poem describing the complex relationship between loss and love. In this poem author Elizabeth Bishop demonstrates the idea of losses and how they affect our lives. The poem begins as the speaker suggests that there are some things that have "the intent to be lost”, people lose things everyday and they might be as simple as a set of keys, however losing such simple things can still lead to a “fluster”. According to the speaker, losing these little things "isn't hard to master". Eventually we get used to misplacing or losing simple things in our lives and adapt. In the third stanza the idea of losing happens "faster" and goes "farther" and becomes more intense. The speaker mentions the inability to remember a name or a place which is very common in the busy lives we live, and she mentions that these moments of forgetfulness are trivial and "None of these will bring disaster". It is almost as if the speaker is not only trying to convince her reader, but also herself, that the losses she has suffered will not cause her to lose control. As the poem continues we seem to connect to the speaker and her personal losses. She mentions losing her mother’s watch, I connected this object to the idea of time and that maybe she has lost her relationship and time with her mother. “Three loved houses went”, and with this I feel she has lost memories and times past with this significant other. Following the fourth stanza the poem shifts and begins to escalate as the losses identified seem to be of more importance and of deeper meaning. She says, " I lost two cities/...two rivers, and a continent". Clearly she couldn’t have actually owned any of these things, but I feel like these objects are connected to memories of her past. The past tense use of the word “owned” signifies that she no longer has them and when she say’s “I miss them” I get the feeling that maybe she misses the love and affection she once received from a person in these places. Finally we see the meaning of the poem revealed in the last stanza. It becomes extremely personal once the loss of love is explicitly identified, the loss of control can be seen. The parenthesis in these last few lines contain critical information that show readers how she misses this person’s laugh and how she cherished it. The last line was forcefully written and she used the parenthesis to encourage herself to get the final words out. As seen in her prior stanzas, the speaker is trying to convince herself that these losses are not as hard as they seem to be and that this will not be the cause of her “destruction”. I interpreted the title “One Art” to mean that loss is an art form and the repetition of the word “master” leads me to assume that no one has the ability to master the art of loss.
4 Comments
Haleigh
4/5/2017 05:47:32 am
This poem is beautiful. I love the transfer from keys to an actual loss. Your analysis was right on. It's crazy how we lose simple things like keys and our whole day is messed up and we can't seem to get it back together. Or when you're out in public and an old friend walks up but you stumble upon their name because it has been too long. Then the idea of losing a significant other is almost the worst kind. After that person has become your best friend, the person you confide in, that is when your heart feels broken. This kind of loss messes up not just your day but the next few months or years. Then it goes on to speak about the loss of a parent. The little time you spent with them because you were too busy growing up yourself, you forgot they were growing older too. This kind of loss leaves a mark on you, and it takes longer than a day, a month, or even a year. You may never even forget this kind of loss. This poem is absolutely beautiful in the shifts and tone of the poem. It brings great questions to the table. Do you think loss is one of the biggest things people suffer with in life?
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Alyssa
4/5/2017 05:49:46 am
Hey Cassi! I loved this poem and found it very relatable. I liked how you mentioned the growing intensity because there was a notable shift in the size of the things we forget. I found it interesting that she didnt talk about a loved one who she lost but a "loved house". While loosing a loved one can be unbearable, loosing memories and house can be very painful. I really liked your point about the loss of love causing the loss of control, thus her not mastering the art of loss but it mastering her.
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Kaylee Olivas
4/5/2017 09:33:37 am
Great job analyzing this poem! I enjoyed how you made a comment on the gradual intensity because there is a change in the things we forget. It's wild to think about how losing one thing can throw off our entire day, it has happened to me several times. However, the thought of losing someone dear to us can throw us off for more than a day, a year, or even a lifetime. Awesome job on pointing out the key aspects to this reading.
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soyun
4/5/2017 09:38:01 am
I really liked your translation of the poem. I also thought it was interesting how the author used "rivers" "cities," and "continents" to describes her losses.
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AuthorCassi LeCompte |