Essays on One Art

Throughout our lives, day in and day out, we seem to lose something. The idea of losing material things or loved ones is an idea that we try to avoid thinking of. How we recover from these losses is what defines who we are. In her poem One Art Elizabeth Bishop uses writing strategies such as comparisons, rhyme schemes, and repetition to attempt to convince readers and herself that the art of loss is not hard to master, although it…

The author, Elizabeth Bishop, wrote a poem titled “ One Art” which took place 1927, in Boston. In the story, the main character, Elizabeth Bishop, talks about and describes the feeling of losing things. In this poem Bishop talked about what she has lost and how losing those things made her feel. The author tried to catch the reader’s attention by using such a rhyme (ABAB) to keep the reader interested throughout the poem, repetition. Bishop even uses exclamation points…

“One Art” is an interesting poem by Elizabeth Bishop. From the poem, one can see to paradoxes of a breaking heart. The poet wants to tell herself anything to make the situation better but nothing will. She invites pretty, innocent little lies to tell herself so she will pretend to smile again. Bishop starts the poem by introducing a motif which she will repeat several times. “The art of losing is not hard to master.” The poet tells herself everyone…

Bishop uses imagery throughout her poem using a 6-line stanza. The first 5 stanzas exist in 3 line forms and are rhymed aba, while the last stanza is four lines and is rhymed abab. Bishop uses rhyme schemes to portray the meaning behind her words. The use of rhythmic pattern is done through using words such as “master”, “disaster” or “fluster”. The repetition of the words is used as a stylistic choice throughout the poem to emphasize to the reader…

Does practice really make perfect? Upon reading ‘One Art’ by Elizabeth Bishop and ‘Forgetfulness’ by Billy Collins this theory is challenged. Elizabeth Bishop, born February 8th, 1911, shortly thereafter losing her father to the casket and her mother to a mental institution by the age of five, despite this tragedy, Bishop matured into a respected pillar in the art of literature, publishing many poems prior to ‘One Art’ in 1976, nine years following the untimely suicide of her lover Lota…