One Art

Analysis of One Art The opening stanza of Elizabeth Bishop's “One Art”, the narrator reveals the clear statement of the poem, which is her struggle with grasping and coping with and the idea of loss. Bishop uses the implication of word structure and word choice to further the message of the poem. She increases the emotional seriousness with each stanza to create a firm foundation on which to deliver a dramatic conclusion, and integrates communicative words throughout the poem. To further emphasize the last stanza's attitude shift from negligence into seriousness. One Art begins its approach to loss in a rather casual manner. It does not dive straight in and attack the large issues we as people believe to be most important,
As the poem progresses, the symbols of loss become increasingly more meaningful, as do the impacts of their loss. Bishop's progression of the seriousness of loss through her poem seems to reflect the progressive seriousness of loss that we endure as life goes on. the poem also seems to act as a rehearsal towards grasping the concept of losing something, as if it is an art that must be mastered. In the Poem, Bishop utilizes the second stanza to help the reader visualize the ponderings of the first stanza. Readers learn precisely how to master this "art" of losing, and are urged to practice it so that it might become a natural habit, She writes, "Lose something every day." (4) A further instruction to make the act of losing more common and less abstract and unfamiliar. Bishop implements an increasingly dynamic schedule of loss in the third stanza, but then quickly shifts the focus to the next lesson. The poem moves from discussing manageable, bite sized losses, to detailing the greater, more devastating losses in life. This abrubt switch of intensity evokes a far more emotional and empathetic reaction form the reader. The original intent of the first stanza
The narrator’s ideas have built up from small to large with extreme precision, and at the same time, the items lost become also more personal with each passing stanza. Loss and love are somewhat bundled within the first two lines of this final stanza. They not only confess that loss and love are bound forever, but give continuing evidence for the claim made. The most intimate words in the poem fail to be inconspicuous by hiding between parenthesis, but instead jump out at the reader to display Bishop's quick and drastic transition from a relaxed to a serious mood. There does appear be a breakdown of emotional strength, the speaker seems to make it seems as if loss is an easy thing or an art to master, but then contradicts herself. For example, in the final line, she makes it evident that losing is difficult and can cause disaster and hardship. Here conflict explodes as the growing tension within the desire to repeat the message and to not. This starts the doubts of its accuracy. Her diminishing in emotional fortitude in the last line, the repetition of the word "like", and the interjection "Write it!" (19) demonstrate the true difficulty of coming to terms with loss. For the first time in the poem, we see her front of confidence and good humor disintegrate; the fact that she must force herself to even