Role Of Failure In Elizabeth Bishop's One Art

Life is What We Make of it Life is not about finding yourself, it is about creating yourself. Everyone has a purpose that is different from one another and that purpose is the goal they strive to achieve. On the road to achieve that goal, there may be physical or mental blocks which make the individual fail, however, the important part is they learn from that mistake and get up and succeed. This is the determining factor of life, because in the words of Elizabeth Bishop in her literary work “One Art,” “The art of losing isn’t hard to master;”(570). This quotation means that everyone, every day, and everywhere experiences loss whether it is little things like losing house keys or bigger things like losing a loved one. Nevertheless, it is the

With a pessimistic disposition, failure is inevitable. The dull pencils represent the premeditated notions about taking the class. By thinking about failure before the individual has started is only putting obstacles in their path and setting them up for failure. For example, most people have difficulties with mathematics and in order to get a Bachelors of Science degree in Biology, calculus is a requirement course. Most students question why calculus is needed for a science major and take the class with reservations. Before they have even entered the classroom, they don’t want to be there, setting themselves up for failure. Pastan believes that notions of failure turns into failure itself and only the individual would be able to change their pencils from dull to sharp. With these students who enter a course which they do not enjoy, they most likely do the bare minimum for that class. Meanwhile, right before a test they reach for the textbook they have not opened all semester in order to “study.” This is what Pastan was referring to. The book is only as useful as you make it. Only using it once would be failure. Using it multiple times throughout the semester, there is a much greater chance of succeeding. Of course these are literal interpretations and could be used to explain general life as well. Taking a positive outlook on life would help anyone to succeed and endeavor for their