The Art of Losing is Hard to Master: An Analysis of "One Art"

In Elizabeth Bishop’s poem “One Art,” she talks about the art of losing things throughout her life. Her poem expresses the force of circumstance that life contains and that there is nothing anyone can do about loss (Diehl 498). The poem suggests that people lose things both significant and insignificant in their everyday lives. She almost makes it seem as if losing something or someone is easy, whether it is significant or not. Bishop seems as if she has the art of losing mastered, however, when it comes to more significant losses, she does not have it mastered.

Bishop begins the poem as if loss is not a big deal to her. She feels that there are many things that are intended to be lost, so it is not a disaster once they are gone. She states, “the art of losing isn’t hard to master; so many things seem filled with the intent to be lost that their loss is no disaster” (lines 1-3). Because she says this, she seems as if she is not upset when she loses things in her life. Furthermore, Bishop goes on to the second stanza still acting as if loss is no big deal. In the second stanza, she t...