Loss In Elizabeth Bishop's Poem One Art

Growing accustomed to the idea of loss, and acceptance of change builds strength. In the poem “One Art” author Elizabeth Bishop details the challenge of welcoming change while acknowledging the art of loss. Due to continual loss, a new coping perspective makes way and categorizes loss in an unsuspecting way.
Loss comes in a variety of forms. Perceiving the idea of loss as an art form, the speaker conveys that certain things are inherently “filled with the intent to be lost” (2) and that, when they do get lost, “their loss is no disaster” (3). Starting out with small losses such as “lost door keys” (5) and “the hour badly spent,”(5) the speaker demonstrates her initial approach to loss in a casual manner. Furthermore the speaker also illustrates that she’s familiar with the seemingly small troubles. Irony sets in, and to practice the art she gains the understanding that she must “practice losing farther, losing faster” (8) proving the losses manageable, and normalized. Underneath the speakers seemingly calm surface, however, a subliminal feeling arises that the speaker still feels each loss profoundly. Utilizing a first person point-of-view, to narrate the piece advances a newfound understanding of loss and

A metaphor of lost time arises when the speaker “lost [her] mother’s watch” (10) representing time spent with family that essentially becomes lost forever. The build up of emotional tension continues as the speaker confronts her loss of not only “three houses”(11) where she presumably resided but also “two cities, lovely ones” (13) This seems drastic and soon escalates to “two rivers” (14) and even a whole “continent”(14). Going from a set of door keys to a continent illustrates the speaker’s endurance during times of drastic loss and the level of loss she’s experienced. Her experience has taught her that no matter how terrible a loss seems, people always survive, and the lesson she attempts to install in this poem echoes that