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Loss In Elizabeth Bishop's Poem 'One Art'

427 Words2 Pages

In “One Art”, Elizabeth Bishop uses the strict verse form of villanelle and repetition to reveal how the loss she describes in lines 16-19 lead to her descent into madness seen in lines 1-15. “---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 words in quotes are Bishop’s commentary to herself, so she has entered a state of madness. This idea is reaffirmed when she repeats the word “like” similar to how a mental patient stutters. Also, she states lines 16-19 in a joking voice, but it is meant to be a serious statement. She is unable to focus on the discussion and have it remain serious. She has created a new world to escape her own. …show more content…

To her, loss is a skill that can be mastered, and she believes she has done so. She believes that she is the root cause of all the loss in her life, so
1980 Poem: “One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop
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 reader’s understanding of these

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