One Art Poem Analysis

In the poem, One Art, by Elizabeth Bishop, the speaker, presumably a women, talks about how to common lose is in our lives, how lose can and should be accepted easily, and what types of things are easily lost. As the poem progresses, the speaker talks about losing personal items and how its not the end of the world. Although, at the end of the poem, the women opens up and explains that she cannot handle lose, especially the one that she is going through of someone very special to her. The speaker explains that this type of lose might be a disaster. The speaker starts off as a rational, yet insensitive and concealed person who sees loss as not such a big deal, but does so by not caring about the loss at all. Although, as the poem continues, …show more content…
The speaker is also being rational because, yes, it is most likely that small items are bought and bound to be lost, but shows a complete lack of care and rationality when saying that these items are purchased for the sole purpose of getting lost. As oppose to that they really have no other purpose(s). We can also see these thoughtless thoughts when the speaker explains how we need to, “accept the fluster of lost door keys.” (4-5) The word choice of “fluster” shows that the speaker realizes the annoyance and distress one must go through when having lost a pretty crucial item like house or car keys. Yet, the speaker decides to discard that and thinks that because she’s bound to happen, it must not be a disaster and you shouldn’t be flustered. Humans are forgetful and annoyed because of it at times, it’s apart of our nature, so to not go through that fluster may sound rational and nice, it is nearly impossible for most people. Also, the lack of emotion and passion exerted in this instance shows that she’s either concealing her emotions, or emotionless. Although, seeing that the speaker realizes that the action of losing something is …show more content…
The speaker expresses her remorse for saying she could handle lose by saying, “I shan’t have lied.” This shows that the speaker is aware of her emotional troubles and tried to lie that every lose is not a terrible thing so that she can cover up the fact that she can’t deal with the biggest lose, death. The speaker shows her emotional weakness, but also shows that she has changed from thoughtless to a sensitive and emotional person. As the speaker begins to expose her true feelings about loss, she begins to open up and show her emotional vulnerability: “though it may look like (write it!) like disaster.” The speaker is talking about mastering loss, but we can see the emotional toll it has on her when see uses repetition with a self-note in between the repetition to embody distress and hesitation. Distress and hesitation are human reactions to a range of emotions, but at the core of all those emotions is vulnerability, which is the trigger for the hesitation and distress that she feels. The vulnerability after explaining her ultimate loss show that the speaker uses an “emotional shield” to hide her emotions, and that’s why she seems thoughtless and concealed at the beginning because she did not want to exhibit her vulnerability and hide it behind blank