Ma 1

Eric Ma Mrs. Bufkin AP English Literature and Composition 6 19 April 2013 One Art In the world today, people lose many things. They range from things as small as loose change or car keys to something as large as a house or a loved one. In the poem One Art, Elizabeth Bishop uses verse from and language to compare and contrast the loss of material goods to the loss/absence of a loved one in ones life. The poem One Art is broken into five tercets and one quatrain. Similar to the structure of the poem, the five tercets, lines 1 16, all possess the same subjects. They deal with the loss of material goods such as door keys . . . places . . . names . . . mothers watch . . . three loved houses . . . and two cities. The speaker loses many items and moves from city to city leaving behind her home. The speaker experiences loss early on of material goods. She agrees that such experiences have brought her down but that they cannot control her mood as these lost things can be easily replaced by something bigger or better. In addition, although the five tercets speak of similar ideas, items lost, the items lost and left behind gradually get larger in value and importance. For example, in the second tercet, the speaker relays her past of losing keys. Then in the third tercet she relates to fogeting places, and names; furthermore, the speaker lses her mothers watch . . . [and] three houses; finally, in the last tercet, the speaker tells how she has moved away from two cities and leaving behind familiar scenery and memories. The things lost in each tercet grow more important and valuable sentimentally and monetary wise, from keys to places filled with memories. But overall, the speaker is not troubled deeply by any

Ma 2

of her losses so far. She feels some sadness but expresses she is alright and that these experiences are not disasters that will control her fate. On the other hand, the quatrain is completely different from the tercets. Its different verse composition indicates a shift in tone and idea. The quatrain is composed of lines 16 19 and speaks of the loss of a loved one, which she indicates by stating you. Just like the difference between a quatrain and a tercet, Elizabeth Bishop uses different verse forms to express her feelings and emotions over the loss of material goods in comparison with the loss of someone she truly cares for. Elizabeth Bishops use of language in One Art not only sets the tone of the poem but the voice and thoughts of the speaker. Throughout the first five tercets, Elizabeth reiterates master . . . [and] disaster. In the first fifteen lines Elizabeth states the art of losing is not hard to manage and that loss is no disaster. The speaker believes that although losing hings is not hard to accomplish and that it may be hard to cope with, it is not the end of the world to lose material goods as they can be replaced. However, in the last four lines, Elizabeth uses sarcasm the joing voice, a gesture I Love, to mask her losss over losing you. The speaker makes use of sarcasm in an attempt to use humor and denial to overcome her loss of a loved one. However, as the speaker continues to express that even losing a loved one is not a disaster and will not affect her, she struggles to force herself to write that it is not a disaster. In conclusion, Elizabeth Bishop relates that loss of a material good may not be the end of the world, bu losing a loved one us as well be. The poem One Art reveals that the loss of material goods is not a disaster as they are things that can be replaced while losing a loved one truly disturbs our souls as there will never be someone like them in out lives ever again. They are irreplaceable.