Mastering Disaster
In the last stanza of “One Art” Bishop says, “It’s evident the art of losing’s not too hard to master though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster” (106). Readers interpret this quote meaning that if people lose what they love enough, it does not hurt badly and will not be such a problem in their life. Bishop describes some of the many losses of her life in “One Art,” and the more ‘disasters’ she has, the less it affects her. Throughout the poem, Bishop explains that the more objects she loses, the more accepting she becomes of her loss. She is saying that if they lose people or objects enough, then people will become immune to it. This theme is expressed through the loss of her keys, her mother’s watch, and then the loss of her loved one.
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Bishop says, “Accept the fluster of lost door keys, the hour badly spent,” meaning do not fret over the small things in life (4). Dodd explained in reading excerpt two that the smaller things do not necessarily need to be described as a disaster because there are more serious things to deal with in life (501). Readers can agree with Elizabeth Dodd because life is stressful enough without having to worry about the small problems we encounter daily. As the poem continues, the more objects Bishop loses track of, the more she is able to accept