One Art
by Elizabeth Bishop
The art of losing isn’t hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.I lost my mother’s watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn’t a disaster.—Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan’t have lied. It’s evident
the art of losing’s not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.
Meanings of One Art
The poem “One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop presents a speaker teaching the art of losing things fast without inviting adverse repercussions. The poem highlights the main idea of developing indifference to losing things to develop resilience to face major disasters.
Meanings of Stanza -1
The art of losing isn’t hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.
The speaker states that losing is an art, and it is not hard or difficult to become a master in this art. She states that there are several things that intend to lose themselves. Therefore, one must not take their loss as a disaster. The personification of things makes things clear that even if a person does not want to master this art, things make him a master. The stanza contributes to the main idea of losing things and becoming resilient.
Meanings of Stanza -2
Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.
The speaker presents a piece of good advice. She says that you must lose something every day. Her argument is that it is necessary to perfect this art. It is because if you lose the keys to your door, you feel flustered. Then your time seems to pass very badly. This shows that this is not easy to become perfect in this art. The advice of the speaker is sane that you must accept the frustration after losing something. This shows that becoming perfect in some art requires practice. This stanza shows the main idea of losing things and becoming perfect in losing.
Meanings of Stanza -3
Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.
The speaker presents another idea of perfecting the art of losing. She says that you must lose more things and most of them fast. These could include the names and the places that you have visited or that you mean to travel to. None of them will ever bring any disaster. This shows the sanity of the speaker that she advises her interlocutors first to become masters in things that are harmless and do not cause any disaster. This is the first step toward learning the art of losing. This stanza contributes further to the main idea of losing and perfecting this art.
Meanings of Stanza -4
I lost my mother’s watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.
The speaker enumerates certain other things she lost in the past. She states that she lost the watch of her mother and three previous houses. All of these are very precious things and not easy to forget. However, she has deduced a lesson from these losses, which is that it is not hard to master the art of losing things. This stanza further highlights the main idea of resilience and evolving the strength to tolerate losses.
Meanings of Stanza -5
I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn’t a disaster.
The speaker states that she has lost two cities that she used to love more than any other place. The city was more vast than the other. She owned a realm that she lost and, with it, two rivers and even a whole continent. Now the situation is that she often misses all of them, but this is not a disaster for her. She can easily tolerate such things. Therefore, her advice is that the readers must learn the art of losing. This stanza contributes to the main idea of losing things and learning to tolerate the losses.
Meanings of Stanza -6
—Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan’t have lied. It’s evident
the art of losing’s not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.
The speaker cuts a joke on the readers, saying that she is now a master in the art of losing and that she can lose even her friend. She says that although she is joking, she is serious as she can now lose the interlocutor as well. Therefore, it is clear that this art is very easy to learn. A person only needs practice. Although it seems that it is hard to master it as it seems a disaster, yet it is not that hard. This stanza completes the main idea of losing things and then becoming perfect in this art through practice.
Summary of One Art
- Popularity of “One Art”: Written by Elizabeth Bishop, a famous American poet, and short story writer, “One Art” is a marvelous piece about losing and forgetting important. It was first published in 1976. The poem is about exercising the art of losing to catch up with a healthy pace of life. It also reminds us to cope with the losses we face in life no matter how big or small they are.
- “One Art”, As a Representative of Loss: The poem presents an autobiographical glimpse of the speaker’s life about the things and people she has lost in life. The speaker catalogs the things she has lost and explains that the art of losing is not really hard to master. Instead, it is a creative venture that enables her to get over those graves. Therefore, she has mastered this art to spend a healthy life. Also, she has learned these tactics through bitter experiences. However, what enchants the readers is the way she presents the idea of losing.
- Major Themes in “One Art”: Losing, acceptance, and sadness are the major themes found in the poem, incorporated with powerful language and other literary elements. The poet’s message includes that losing something or someone does not bring disaster. She details her own losses to support her idea that the art of losing teaches us how to come out of precarious situations and be happy.
Analysis of Literary Devices in One Art
literary devices are tools that enable writers to present their ideas, emotions, and feelings with the use of these devices. Elizabeth also used some literary elements in this poem. The analysis of some of the literary devices used in this poem is given below.
- Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line such as the sound of /l/ and /f/ in “Then practice losing farther, losing faster” and the sound of /l/ in “though it may look like (Write it!) Like disaster.”
- Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things with their five sense. For example, “of lost door keys, the hour badly spent”, “I lost my mother’s watch. And look! My last,” and “next-to-last, of three loved houses went.”
- Enjambment: It is defined as a thought or clause that does not come to an end at a line break rather moves over the next line. For example,
“I lost my mother’s watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.”
- Symbolism: Symbolism means the use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities by giving them symbolic meanings different from their literal meanings. “Lost door keys” and “watch” symbolize the hours misspent in life. “Watch” also symbolizes her relationship with her mother, while “You” is the symbol of her lost love.
- Irony: Irony is a figure of speech in which words are used in such a way that their intended meaning is different from the actual meanings of the words. She uses this device in the opening of the last stanza, “Even losing you.” The speaker has used an ironic tone for her loss, that even losing her love was not hard to master.
- Personification: Personification is to give human qualities to non-human things. Poet has personified her lost objects as if they have a purpose. For example,
“so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.”
- Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /o/ and /a/ in “the art of losing’s not too hard to master”.
- Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between the objects that are different. There is only one metaphor used in this poem. It is used in the final stanza where it is stated as, “—Even losing you” Here, “you” is the metaphor for the speaker’s lost happiness.
Analysis of Poetic Devices in “One Art”
Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is the analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.
- Stanza: Stanza is a poetic form of some lines. There are six stanzas in this poem.
- Terza Rima: Terza rima is a three-lined stanza borrowed from Italian poetry. There are five three-lined stanzas in the poem.
- Quatrain: A quatrain is a four-lined stanza borrowed from Persian poetry. Here, the last stanza is a quatrain.
- Rhyme Scheme: The rhyme scheme followed by the entire poem is ABA ABAA.
- Iambic Pentameter: It is a type of meter consisting of five iambs. This poem comprises iambic pentameter such as, “The art of losing isn’t hard to master”.
- Repetition: There is a repetition of the line “The art of losing isn’t hard to master” has created a musical quality in the
- Refrain: The lines that are repeated again at some distance in the poems are called a refrain. The line, “The art of losing isn’t hard to master.” is repeated with the same words. It has become a refrain as it has been repeated in all six stanzas.
Quotes to be Used
The lines stated below can be used when talking about any personal loss and to console someone.
“I lost my mother’s watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.”