One of the most intimate feelings is loss. As someone who does not express her intimate moments publicly, Elizabeth Bishop’s poem “One Art” begins to change her dynamic with her poetry and herself. This is one of the few published poems which delve into an intimate topic and, I think, is part of the new era of Bishop poems where she becomes more open.
A poem with about 17 drafts, Bishop spent a lot of time refining the poem and, in many cases, broadening it. Despite the intimacy of the subject, Bishop’s drafts caused her poem to stray farther away from her. Millier notes that throughout the drafts of the poem the pain was distanced, depersonalized, and altogether “moved … away from the tawdry self-pity and confession that Bishop disliked in …show more content…
Harrison’s novel comments on the importance of the “you” in the poem. She states that since the “you” appears at the end it “offer[s] resolution … [but] arises contextless to fill the poem’s void” (67). She further comments on the way the “you” is set in the poem, stating that it is “so that love would look back to its specific source and outward toward the generalized loss … having it both ways she could finally make the strong statement ‘I love,’ which in itself defied the lie, by quieting her insistence on opposition;” basically, she says that since Bishop has separated the sentence inside her parentheses by a line break it allows her to finally say “I love” (Harrison, 197). As important as this revelation is there appears to be conflicting accounts of who Bishop has lost. In a similar essay to his biography of Bishop, Millier seems to believe this poem is the result of a book-length elegy that was meant for Lota (Lombardi, 234). Poetics of Intimacy also appears to agree with this conclusion stating that the poem is often thought to “articulate her loss of Macedo Soares” (195). However, in his biography of Bishop Millier considers this poem to be about Alice Methfessel which he notes, because of one draft’s specification of blue eyes (514). Regardless, Millier admits this poem is an “elegy for [Bishop’s] whole life” and that “The ‘joking voice,’ the gesture Elizabeth loved …show more content…
Her description of a “joking voice, a gesture” could apply to any of her relationships (PPL, 167). Using “- Even” to begin the poem seems to enhance the significance of the “you,” since the definition of the word can be to “emphasize the identity or character of something” (Merriam-Webster). Plus, the end of the poem demands that she, or someone, “(Write it!)” (PPL, 167). Despite its apparent importance, the “you” remains a mystery, but why? Mainly, I believe it is because Bishop craves concealment. As noted earlier, she gets rid of the signifier blue eyes. Perhaps, this is also meant to allow the reader to relate more easily. However, that seems like a copout. There is a possibility that this absence of a figure in her poem is meant to convey the absence of the person. Bishop does not dwell on the subject, because that person is already lost. Their features and presence are gone. Furthermore, her lack of description proves that loss is an art to master. Perhaps, her brief description stems from mastering that loss and trying to move on. Maybe the absence, though it looks like a “disaster” is nothing more than Bishop’s attempt to master it (PPL,
A poem with about 17 drafts, Bishop spent a lot of time refining the poem and, in many cases, broadening it. Despite the intimacy of the subject, Bishop’s drafts caused her poem to stray farther away from her. Millier notes that throughout the drafts of the poem the pain was distanced, depersonalized, and altogether “moved … away from the tawdry self-pity and confession that Bishop disliked in …show more content…
Harrison’s novel comments on the importance of the “you” in the poem. She states that since the “you” appears at the end it “offer[s] resolution … [but] arises contextless to fill the poem’s void” (67). She further comments on the way the “you” is set in the poem, stating that it is “so that love would look back to its specific source and outward toward the generalized loss … having it both ways she could finally make the strong statement ‘I love,’ which in itself defied the lie, by quieting her insistence on opposition;” basically, she says that since Bishop has separated the sentence inside her parentheses by a line break it allows her to finally say “I love” (Harrison, 197). As important as this revelation is there appears to be conflicting accounts of who Bishop has lost. In a similar essay to his biography of Bishop, Millier seems to believe this poem is the result of a book-length elegy that was meant for Lota (Lombardi, 234). Poetics of Intimacy also appears to agree with this conclusion stating that the poem is often thought to “articulate her loss of Macedo Soares” (195). However, in his biography of Bishop Millier considers this poem to be about Alice Methfessel which he notes, because of one draft’s specification of blue eyes (514). Regardless, Millier admits this poem is an “elegy for [Bishop’s] whole life” and that “The ‘joking voice,’ the gesture Elizabeth loved …show more content…
Her description of a “joking voice, a gesture” could apply to any of her relationships (PPL, 167). Using “- Even” to begin the poem seems to enhance the significance of the “you,” since the definition of the word can be to “emphasize the identity or character of something” (Merriam-Webster). Plus, the end of the poem demands that she, or someone, “(Write it!)” (PPL, 167). Despite its apparent importance, the “you” remains a mystery, but why? Mainly, I believe it is because Bishop craves concealment. As noted earlier, she gets rid of the signifier blue eyes. Perhaps, this is also meant to allow the reader to relate more easily. However, that seems like a copout. There is a possibility that this absence of a figure in her poem is meant to convey the absence of the person. Bishop does not dwell on the subject, because that person is already lost. Their features and presence are gone. Furthermore, her lack of description proves that loss is an art to master. Perhaps, her brief description stems from mastering that loss and trying to move on. Maybe the absence, though it looks like a “disaster” is nothing more than Bishop’s attempt to master it (PPL,