Literary Analysis Of One Art, By Elizabeth Bishop

“One art” by Elizabeth Bishop is a form of a villanelle, a repetitive poem that consists of nineteen lines that usual consists of two repeating rhymes and two refrains. In the poem the speaker is ranting in a letter to a loved one about how losing is easy and compares it as a skillful art. It is not apparent that the conversation is going on but at the end of the poem it is obvious that there is some sort of communication happening. The speaker of the poem repeats:” the art of losing isn’t hard to master” () and” disaster” () in the poem, to explain how losing can be tough but also something that can easily happen . Throughout the poem, the speaker shares things he loses, from everyday items to the spending of time badly. However, the deeper we get into the poem, the speaker shares things he has lost that have sentimental value to him, such as family memorabilia, precious memories, places, and dreams, as well as the loss of someone special, but in the end the things that have been lost do not hold the speaker back from his life …show more content…
. . disaster” (). Losing things can be troublesome or become a burden, but the speaker throughout “One Art” assures the readers that no matter the significance of what is lost you can overcome and come out on top. The title “One Art” implies that there is one art everyone has the ability in, and that art is the ability to lose. Throughout the poem the speaker claims “the art of losing isn’t hard to master” multiple times (four to be exact). Normally one would think of art as a skill, talent, or natural ability someone has of hard work in practice to show off his or her creative ability, and to be a master of that skill is a bold claim about an ability or talent one has, but the speaker claims that the art of losing is a skill that is easily obtainable and simple to grasp. The speaker slowly guides the readers on how he is the master at losing. The first step is start out