The Truths Of Loss In Elizabeth Bishop's Poem, One Art

The Truths of Loss The routine movement of forgetting where something was put and scrambling to find it — whether it is important or not — is all too familiar. Hands graze tabletops of restaurants searching for that coupon. Fingers puncture couch cushions, poking and prodding for that ten dollar bill that was just in a back pocket. If these movements are so commonplace, then why is fear instilled in hearts when the location of something is no longer known? Elizabeth Bishop took on this challenge and wrote “One Art,” a poem about losing anything and everything, along with the emotions attached to the loss. Ranging from the loss of jingling car keys to the sudden end of a life, the poem attempts to seize these emotions and normalize

The most prominent suggestion of this is in the phrase “(Write it!),” which appears towards the end of the poem. The jab of this line discloses the “recognizing, and naming, of the loss itself and finding the form that will arm one against disastrous losses” (Schwartz). The “formality of the structure contributes to a universalizing element” (Schwartz), referring to the villanelle. The villanelle consists of 19 lines and only two rhymes throughout the whole poem, and in Bishop’s case, it “can barely control the grief, yet helps the poet keep her balance” (Doreski). It also creates

“On ‘One Art.’” Modern American Poetry. University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, 1997. Accessed 24 Jan. 2018.

Diehl, Joanne. “On ‘One Art.’” Modern American Poetry. University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, 1990. Accessed 29 Jan. 2018.

Dodd, Elizabeth. “On ‘One Art.’” Modern American Poetry. University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, 1992. Accessed 25 Jan. 2018.

Doreski, C.K.. “One ‘One Art.’” Modern American Poetry. University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, 1993. Accessed 29 Jan. 2018.

Elliot, Norbert. “Bishop, Elizabeth.” Bloom’s Literature. Encyclopedia of America’s Poetry, 2 Vol. set, Second Edition. Accessed 29 Jan. 2018.

McCabe, Susan. “On ‘One Art.’” Modern American Poetry. University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, 1994. Accessed 23 Jan. 2018.

McClathy, J.D.. “On ‘One Art.’” Modern American Poetry. University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, 1989. Accessed 25 Jan. 2018.

Schwartz, Lloyd. “On ‘One Art.’” Gale Literary Sources, 2008. Accessed 24 Jan. 2018.

Bishop, Elizabeth. “One Art”. Poetry Foundation. Accessed 25 Feb. 2018

Works Consulted

Bidart, Frank. “On ‘One Art.’” Gale Literary Sources. Vol. 50, 1997. Accessed 24 Jan.