Lauren Murdock

Mrs. Mann

AP Literature and Composition- Block 2

28 November 2017

One Art

From losing your keys to losing a friend or family member, loss is a universal

struggle faced by each and everyone almost every day, and people deal with their loses in

varying ways; sadness, anger, annoyance, indifference, denial, all of the above, but

ultimately, all are just coping mechanisms to deal with the hurt and will always follow in

losss greedy footsteps. In her 20th century villanelle, One Art, Elizabeth Bishop traces

one individuals struggle to overcome denial and accept the devastation that inevitably

accompanies loss.

Throughout the first five tercets of the poem, the speaker holds strongly to the

claim that loss, a natural part of life, is not a disaster, but rather the ability to deal with

loss is a learned skill. The first refrain, The art of losing isnt hard to master,

(1) illustrates the speakers unemotional perception of loss, a perspective that remains

unchanged and through repetition, strongly emphasized in the first five stanzas. His/her

views on loss are further tested as each tercet describes a different loss of increasing

importance. The first stanza simply addresses the loss of items with little to no value, or

items, filled with the intent/ to be lost(2-3). For example, when you lose your keys,

consequences beyond lost time or frustration are minor. In this case, loss is truly not a

disaster. However, as the poem progresses, the meaningfulness of each loss grows. The

fourth tercets address the loss of a home saying, my last, or next to last of three loved

houses went,(11) and yet still, The art of losing isnt hard to master (12).
 Unlike the first refrain, the second changes and evolves over the course of the first

5 tercets, a reflection of the speakers growing unsurety in their own initial claims.

Following the loss of invaluable items, the refrain reads, their loss is no disaster, (3)

however, with the loss of her beloved home and city in the fifth and final tercet, he/she

concedes, I miss them, but it wasnt a disaster (15). This clear deviation from the strict

villanelle form is a purposeful comment from the speaker on their own growing doubt in

their bold claims that, The art of losing its hard to master and, loss is no disaster. The

villanelle is a poetic form most utilized for its repetition of ideas and the emphasis that

this repetition brings to the work. In Bishop's case, the addition of this evolving second

refrain as well as the repetition of the first does not give the impression that the speaker is

emphasizing the validity of their argument, but rather, it suggests that they are attempting

to convince themselves of the truth in their initial views of denial, a view that for comfort

or protection they seem desperate to cling to.

In the final quatrain, a shift in attitude and a giving in to the denial of the first five

stanzas reveals the speaker's true feelings on loss. Beginning in these final lines, Bishop

chooses to incorporate parenthesized phrases that are glimpses into the speaker's true

feelings and inner thoughts that are pushing for the truth. The two refrains that appear

throughout the first tercets reappear as the two final lines of the poem, but neither are

identical to their initial claims. The art of losing isn't hard to master becomes, the art

of losings not too hard to master, a clear decrease in definiteness. While this seems like

a small concession on the part of the speaker, it eases readers into the conclusions of the

final refrain. The final line reads, though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster(19).

The Write it! is the final push needed for the speaker to admit that loss, in many cases,
can in fact be a disaster. The evolution of refrains as well as the image of reluctance

painted by the parentheses gives readers the impression that while denial proved powerful

in the speaker's initial perception of loss, the truth remains that while loss comes in many

shapes and forms and some may be worse than others, terrible loss is and should be

considered a disaster.

We can attempt to shield ourselves from loss. We can deny the devastation of

loss. We can cling to the view that dealing with loss in the most indifferent way possible

is a skill. We can even master this skill, but the fact remains, loss can not be healed in

denial and only way find peace in the devastation that loss brings is to face it head on.