One Art By Elizabeth Bishop Essay

Poetry is the key to many different emotions. A poem can cause many different feelings and memories, both good and bad, to bubble to the surface of our minds. Readers use poems to find a simple piece of artwork they can relate to, however are usually unprepared if it hits too close to home. Elizabeth Bishop, poet and winner of the Pulitzer Prize, had a difficult early life when growing up in Worcester, Massachusetts. Her father passed away when she was at a young age, and her mother admitted to a mental hospital soon after. After college, she spent many years traveling around the world. Bishop’s work is precise and witty, and also touches on the subject of loss on many different occasions. Bishop’s poem, “One Art” is included in the anthology, Poetry Speaks Who I Am. In this poem, Bishop talks about the little things you use everyday, such as your car keys. However, as the poem goes on, Bishop captures the larger sides of loss in many people’s lives. By sharing my own personal connection to this poem, and by examining the poetic devices, forms, and themes that were used in writing this piece, readers will also hopefully develop a deeper understanding of it. “One Art” begins with the narrator stating the fact that the art of losing something is not difficult to master. They talk about how losing …show more content…
Repetition is key with this poem, as the narrator repeats the same two lines many times throughout the poem. “The art of losing is not hard to master” and “None of these will bring disaster” are the phrases brought up multiple brought up multiple times. These two phrases are most likely repeated on multiple occasions because they tie back to the art of losing, and how the narrator is in denial of the fact that they are losing things is that horrible. There is a rhyme scheme, however it is inconsistent and usually is rhymed with the same two lines that are regularly repeated throughout the