Preview

What Is The Speaker's Attitude To Loss In One Art '?

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
568 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
What Is The Speaker's Attitude To Loss In One Art '?
One Art by Elizabeth Bishop
In One Art, the speaker’s attitude toward loss in lines 16-19 is related to her attitude toward loss in lines 1-15 because she develops the idea that losses are not hard to bear throughout her poem. The verse form helps readers understand these attitudes because she starts mentioning small losses and escalates to losses of greater magnitude. In stanza 1 she states, “so many things seem filled with the intent to be lost that their loss is no disaster” ( lines 2-3). The speaker attempts to persuade the readers that losing is not so hard because there are things that are meant to be lost. Therefore, losing is not a “disaster” because it is only a natural process. In stanza 2 she tells the readers to “lose something everyday. Accept the fluster of lost door keys, the hour
…show more content…
The speaker mentions examples of small losses such as losing door keys to further convince the reader that losing is not so tragedious as many people think. Even though you would be agitated by the lost of your keys, you would be able to get over it and continue living. In addition to losing the keys, you lost an hour that you will never get back. She advises the readers to “lose something everyday” because as they lose thing things they will get used to losing things, hence the art of losing is not so hard to master. However, in stanza 3 she tells the readers to lose even “places, and names, and where it was you meant to travel” (lines 7-9). She advances the losses to abstract ideas that are part of an individual’s identity and the losses of such things would alter their identity. Regardless, she still believes that these

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Using Material from ItemA and elsewhere, assess the view that women are no longer oppressed by religion.…

    • 836 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this passage, the author delivers the message that even though you went through hard times in life and being lonely when someone is gone you can still fight for your dreams/goals in life for a purpose that might change your…

    • 810 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Loss is one of the hardest challenges to walk through. Why? It signifies the knowledge of having had something. It was held and cherished and loved, before it was whisked away unexpectedly, out of reach. Nothing can bring it back, and only memories of it’s presence remain. The inevitability does not lessen the pain and emptiness it leaves in it’s wake. In three short stories, “Gwilan’s Harp” by Ursula K. LeGuin, “The Washwoman” by Isaac Singer, and “The Last Leaf” by O. Henry, the theme of loss is illustrated through the loss of a family member, prized possession, and a friend.…

    • 702 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    This stanza is where you see the disaster, that she has been convincing herself does not exist, can be found. It is different from the rest of the stanzas, showing how this loss is different from the rest. The addition of the word ‘even’ in the line “—Even losing you…(16)” adds emphasis to the line which is unlike the tone in the rest of the poem. It shows not only how this loss is different from anything else but how broken the persona feels. The line has a gentleness towards it when said, showing not only how much she still loves this person but how devastating the death of this person was. She had a lover who committed suicide and this line represent how much that death broke her. She lost so much, and she thought she would finally keep this one. She reminisces on her lover in the line “…(the joking voice, a gesture(16)/ I love)(17)…”. Showing not only how much she still loves her, but how even with her trying to get over the loss, it still hurts. The poet has not only broken their confident tone, but their will to convince themselves, as she says “…I shan’t have lied…(17)” as if she's saying she should stop lying to herself. She tells herself she should stop but she does not, as the poet continues saying the line “the art of losing’s not too hard to master…(18)”. The addition of the word ‘too” adds emphasis in the line, as if she is now unsure whether…

    • 1712 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Cambio de Armas

    • 1420 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The first concept is the Divided Identity in which she is unable to combine the notion of who she is now along with who she was as described by her Martina, the man and her surroundings. Her divided identity is blocking her from connecting her past and her present. Due to this blocking, she is unable to put a label on some of the items that surround her. She is also unable to give the man a singular name even though he comes in and comforts her at times. By being unable to label herself as one (Laura), she seems unable to label him as well. Sometimes, it is useful in trying to help readers understand that a person's state of mind is full of arduous thoughts about who they are and what they want to be. People can try to modify their identity as much as they want but that can never change. The theme of identity is a very strenuous topic to understand. By understanding the theme of identity, one is able to analyze the complexity of Laura’s situation. Being unable to identify…

    • 1420 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    * Identity: Dissatisfaction with the labels put on individuals can result in the loss of identity and the desire for independence outside of society. ( The discontent with the labels Edna has as ‘wife”, “mother” has resulted in the loss of her true identity, however the desire to gain back her identity leads her to social alienation and many…

    • 791 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Is it possible to care for one thing so much that the destruction or loss of a city can have no significance to a person? When a person loses so much on a daily basis, when does the loss start to make a difference? In the poem “One Art”, Elizabeth Bishop utilizes structure, rhyme scheme, and conceptual symbolism to portray that the loss of one’s love negates the loss of everything else.…

    • 804 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The speaker also uses material objects she lost as symbols or milestones of her life. She starts off with the first things she ever lost, small things that are not so significant, like an hour badly spent. She does this to make the poem seem more casual, and to make herself appear like she is unconcerned about loss. However, the poem escalates and the speaker begins to mention more important objects, like houses, cities, and continents. But even…

    • 748 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Learn from Experience

    • 581 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In spite of an expression of defeat, what is the predominant emotional tone of the poem?…

    • 581 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Helen in Iliad

    • 2703 Words
    • 11 Pages

    her own person, and increasingly a part of the society in which she is an…

    • 2703 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    According to the Coast Guard’s Leadership Development Framework, leadership is the ability to influence others to obtain their obedience, respect, confidence, and loyal cooperation. I believe that leadership is simply guiding others to succeed. When I think of leadership influences during my career I think of one excellent example, and one example of what I never wanted to be. The first influence was the guidance I was given when I started on Active Duty after September 11th, 2001. My job was to administratively support about 25 Reservists who were called up on Title 10 orders at MSU Wilmington. I had no experience and had only been in the Coast Guard a few years. The Warrant Officer at MSU Wilmington was the best mentor I could have ever asked for. She was tough, consistent, and the most knowledgeable yeoman I had ever been around. She never gave me answers, but made me think and research. She challenged me in so many ways. I cared deeply about the customer service and care my Reservists received. Now when I see those guys they often remark about how I took care of them and helped them, but it is all because of the Warrant who empowered me. The negative…

    • 815 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This represents the lost in the poem and what people are subconsciously thinking everyday. Lines 1 and 2 epitomize this meaning because it says, "Even when I forget you I go on looking for you." This leads on to how life is symbolized in the poem as well. People go their whole lives not realizing they are lost and need time to themselves to become the person they have the potential to be. Some follow behind others and are just a copy of the person next to them, in effect they are not their own person and the things they do are not of their true choice. This symbolism is conveyed in the last two lines as it says, "What they say you who are not lost when I do not find you." In conclusion you are not truly living life if you are not living as yourself and as the…

    • 352 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    important her personal identity is and how confident she is about herself: “At certain times I have…

    • 477 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the story, it implies that taking a risk can be good by leaving your comfort zone. Evidence of this happening in the poem is when she says "For the soft cocoon where I lay, a part of me that keeps pining for the delicate chrysalis smashed and destroyed before my eyes that day. What she means by chrysalis is her comfort zone and she wants it to be destroyed so she can be free but there is a risk in leaving your comfort zone. Later in the poem, she says "When my soul broke free, a part of me thrilled at the lift of its arc".…

    • 684 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Poetry Essay Prompt

    • 2536 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Prompt: Write an essay in which you describe how the speaker's attitude toward loss in lines 16-19 is related to her attitude toward loss in lines 1-15. Using specific references to the text, show how verse form and language contribute to the…

    • 2536 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays