One Art

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.


http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15212

The first thing that drew me to this poem was its title. Based on the title alone, I thought it would be about drawing or painting. However after reading it quickly becomes apparent that it will be about not visual art, such as painting, but a social art, or learning to deal with loss. I love how Bishop has broken up her poem into siz stanzas, it is like looking in her mind and seeing her compartmentalize and deal with the things she has lost. She says she has “practice, losing farther, losing faster,” which seems to mee like she has analyzed and learned to deal with such loss. Bishop also is able to narrate in different persons. She switches back between first and third persons, and it makes the poem feel more personal. She is able to connect with her audience. I love how Bishop also uses some unusual punctuation and word choices. She turns vast into vaster, and does not capitalize the first letter of “my” after an exclamation point. The not capitalizing works because it just seems like she is continuing a thought. Slightly changing vast works because it makes the line seem slightly strange, but it also works because you understand what Bishop is trying to say.