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Bishop's Presentation Of Loss In 'One Art'

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Bishop's presentation of loss in 'One Art' undergoes a series of transformations in tone and mood; and likewise, the displayed attitudes towards loss. Overall, it concludes as a reassuring mantra to both the poet herself and the readers that while dealing with loss is complicated and intricate, it will never destroy you. The poem is self-deprecating at points, which seems perhaps to contradict the predominant tone, but in fact, reinforces it. Referring to time spent attempting to retrieve a lost item as an 'hour badly spent' and the practice of learning to lose 'farther', 'faster' alongside the bracketed comment '(the joking voice, a gesture I love)' are examples of indisputable sarcasm; serving to highlight the idea that while seemingly devastating at the time, loss of all forms and the pain or frustration that arrives by its side will diminish eventually; their absence is 'no disaster', as Bishop states. …show more content…

Some cynicism exists in the notion some things are 'filled with the intent to be lost' in addition to the exclamation 'And look!' that once again conveys some sense of mocking but as I aforementioned, this bitterness only reinforces the overarching tone. By multiplying the stress of loss in the succeeding stanzas, the poet instigates a linearly developing flow from the beginning through to the conclusion. This serves to reveal increasingly more and more of the poem's emotional core, peaking at the final stanza: an effect backed up the form, since the final stanza is the only one that breaks the perfectly identical structure of the poem by extending itself to be a quatrain, instead of a

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The syntax of Elisabeth Bishop's One Art moves from careless movement to doubt and finally to emotional loss. Bishop's repetition of the phrase "the art of losing isn't hard to master" proves how complacent she is with losing objects in her life. Her use of simple sentences, phrases, and semicolons provide closure as she soon begins seemingly (almost as if she is abandoning them) losing items. Her use of the dash in the last stanza creates a shift in the tone, which is almost like her break down after an emotional toll. Through out the entire piece, Bishop's constant use of repetition, commas (which show her constant series of losing items means little to her) and her unusual use of a four line stanza in a villanelle, changes the flow

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