Commentary on 'One Art'

... Commentary on 'One Art' 'One Art' by Elizabeth Bishop is a poem of desperation and loss. She deals with the themes of reassurance of self, relationships and denial of emotions. The poem describes loss, not as a process, but as an art form that 'isn't hard to master'. She tries to convince herself that losing something is 'no disaster' and is an everyday domestic occurrence. Such as 'lost door keys' or wasting time. However, she finds that the loss of a loving relationship is very hard to deal with and she is in denial of her feelings. The structure of this poem is a Villanelle. There are 5 stanzas of three lines each followed by a stanza of four lines. The master couplet is the first and last lines of the first stanza. These two lines are repeated several times throughout the poem to emphasise the themes of losing and self-mastery of

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