One Art
Poetry Analysis Research: Elizabeth Bishop “One Art”
One Art by Elizabeth Bishop is a villanelle poem. A villanelle poem is a nineteen line poem that consists of five, three-line stanza followed by a quatrain. Bishop’s poem brings a fascinating irony between different levels of losses. Between each stanza, the development of trivial losses escalates into a bigger and traumatic loss that was unprepared for. An intense repetition of the phrase “the art of losing isn’t hard to master” suggests a few given things (Bishop 1499). She attempts to bring out the fact that “losing” is a type of skill that you can gain by overcoming. Therefore, by mastering it, you have the ultimate control.
Throughout the poem, the phrase “art of losing” has been used to emphasize the speaker’s effect on how “it isn’t hard to master,” which suggests “ that the speaker is trying to convince herself that losing things is not hard and she should not worry” (“Essay Interpreting "one Art" By Elizabeth Bishop" Page 1 of 2). In fact, the “art of losing” takes an increasingly significant role all throughout the poem. Each stanza represents what she loss and the level of the loss. ”Language and verse form show in “One Art" how the losses increase in importance as the poem progresses, with the losses in lines 1-15 being mostly trivial or not very important to the great loss in lines 16-19 or a beloved person” (Page 2 of 2). From the beginning of the poem, her losses began to be trivial such as “lost door keys, the hourly bad spent” (Bishop 1499). Bishop used “second person. “Lose something every day.” seems to command one to practice the art of losing things” (Page 1 of 2). Towards the last three stanzas, the second person point of view was shifted to first person point of view after a few references to herself using the subject “I.” Bishop also suggests how you can practice to perform this type of art by using illustrations of progressive losses from trivial to more significant losses
One Art by Elizabeth Bishop is a villanelle poem. A villanelle poem is a nineteen line poem that consists of five, three-line stanza followed by a quatrain. Bishop’s poem brings a fascinating irony between different levels of losses. Between each stanza, the development of trivial losses escalates into a bigger and traumatic loss that was unprepared for. An intense repetition of the phrase “the art of losing isn’t hard to master” suggests a few given things (Bishop 1499). She attempts to bring out the fact that “losing” is a type of skill that you can gain by overcoming. Therefore, by mastering it, you have the ultimate control.
Throughout the poem, the phrase “art of losing” has been used to emphasize the speaker’s effect on how “it isn’t hard to master,” which suggests “ that the speaker is trying to convince herself that losing things is not hard and she should not worry” (“Essay Interpreting "one Art" By Elizabeth Bishop" Page 1 of 2). In fact, the “art of losing” takes an increasingly significant role all throughout the poem. Each stanza represents what she loss and the level of the loss. ”Language and verse form show in “One Art" how the losses increase in importance as the poem progresses, with the losses in lines 1-15 being mostly trivial or not very important to the great loss in lines 16-19 or a beloved person” (Page 2 of 2). From the beginning of the poem, her losses began to be trivial such as “lost door keys, the hourly bad spent” (Bishop 1499). Bishop used “second person. “Lose something every day.” seems to command one to practice the art of losing things” (Page 1 of 2). Towards the last three stanzas, the second person point of view was shifted to first person point of view after a few references to herself using the subject “I.” Bishop also suggests how you can practice to perform this type of art by using illustrations of progressive losses from trivial to more significant losses
Cited: Bishop, E. (2004). One Art. In J. Schilb, & J. Clifford, Making Literature Matter (p. 1625). Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin 's. Elizabeth Bishop 's "One Art". (n.d.). Retrieved May 6, 2008, from www.faculty.english.ttu.edu/miner/documents/ENGL4374/4374_deconstruction.doc "Essay Interpreting "one Art" By Elizabeth Bishop." 123HelpMe.com. 07 May 2008 http://www.123HelpMe.com/view.asp?id=64564 Krishnan, P. (2000, Dec 18). One Art. Retrieved May 6, 2008, from [639] One Art: http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/639.html Schmeer, M. (2005, June 30). THE EMOTIONAL FACTS OF ELIZABETH BISHOP 'S "ONE ART" . Retrieved May 6, 2008, from The Great American Pinup: http://greatamericanpinup.blogspot.com/2005/06/emotional-facts-of-elizabeth-bishops.html Schmeer, M. (n.d.). The Great American Poetry.