One Art

... One Art In Elizabeth Bishop's "One Art", the poet's struggle with the persistency and consistency of her message that loss can yield to mastery echoes throughout the poem. This is evident as the poet attempts to demonstrate to the reader that she, herself, has done so, by means of her writing through an indecisive tone, specific things of loss, and disguised poetic control. Throughout the poem, one may notice the poet's struggle in expressing herself-it is almost as if she is trying to say two things at once, even implying the opposite with precise manipulation of vernacular. The tone of the poem evades the truth of the argument that the form of the poem (which will be discussed later on in the essay) establishes. Each stanza is bathed in irony-"The art of losing isn't hard to master", the refrain line of this poem is a very important one in depicting its

want to read more? →