One Art by Elizabeth Bishop

                Elizabeth Bishop’s villanelle poem, One Art talks about the process of learning and coming to terms with loss. The Speaker seems to be comfortably composed, and experienced in the art of losing throughout most of the poem. However in the final stanza she displays her true vulnerability and ability to act human when it comes to displaying her true emotions over the loss of presumably, a loved one.

                Lines 1-15 of the poem or the first four stanzas are simply a means of self-deception. The Speaker tries to reinforce the simple fact that “the art of losing isn’t hard to master” nor is it a “disaster”.  The Speaker’s confident attitude in these ideas is demonstrated through her tackling the little issues of loss, in order to show their lack of importance and emotion to her. For example, “lost door keys, the hour badly spent.” As the poem progresses the Speaker encourages us to practice losing inconsequential things like, “places, and names, and where it was you meant to travel.” By practicing to lose the minor things early on, the Speaker feels that we will be more ready for weighty losses in the future, and won’t see it as such a calamity. In stanzas four and five, the Speaker begins mentioning belonging that are seemingly more considerable and personal to her, such as her “mother’s watch”, “three loved houses”, “two cities”, “some realms”, and “two rivers, a continent”. Losing this and not feeling grief seems to show that the Speaker has built up a type of thick skin, and is immune to great pain might bring to the average individual. Her headstrong, unfeeling attitude is reflective of this.

                However the final stanza offers a much different glimpse into the Speaker’s true feelings and attitude. The poet writes, “Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture I love) I shan't have lied.  It's evident the art of losing's not too hard to master.” It is obvious that the Speaker is not above having natural emotions when it comes to loss. She is not a “Master” at repressing feelings of sorrow, when it comes to her beloved. While she may try to convince herself that losing minor things have to significant impact or value on her life, she cannot apply the same attitude towards another human being. By urging her readers to “(Write it!) like disaster” demonstrates her finally coming to terms, and reinforcing her feelings. Though her previous claims at “losing isn’t hard to master” may have shown her attitude to be hypocritical, the final stanza reaffirms her humaneness and thus invokes the reader’s sympathy.