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Loss In Elizabeth Bishop's Poem 'One Art'

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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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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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However, a turn that happens here forces the speaker to see the truth of losing something. Suddenly, in the quatrain, Bishop starts using parentheses, showing the speaking talking to herself. Now, instead of trying to convince the readers that she is right, the speaker is trying to convince herself and the parentheses are her thoughts. She regrets losing “[(] the joking voice, a gesture I love [)]” and forces herself- “(Write it!)” - to say that losing this person is not a disaster. Yet, losing a person, whether it is a love or a family member is painful.

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What do you do when you lose something? Well, Elizabeth Bishop wrote “One Art” to mock how people cannot accept or get over a loss of something. Elizabeth Bishop, used rhyme, meter, and language and structure. Elizabeth Bishop used rhyming to help mock the idea of loss. In line 1 the speaker says, “The art of losing isn’t hard to master.”

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Elizabeth Bishop’s poem, “One Art”, is a villanelle about the speaker being unable to find things that are important to them, and what the speaker thinks of these happenings. At first glance one might assume this poem is about simply misplacing or forgetting these belongings, but in reality, Bishop uses repetition, imagery, and structure to show that the action of constantly losing things can be easily let go after it’s done so many times, yet emotions that come with it are still painful, every time. Perhaps the most significant technique Bishop employs is repetition. Her use of this technique helps to create a sense of reassurance to the speaker and possibly the reader. This is most evident when the speaker reiterates, “The art of losing

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