Explication: Elizabeth Bishop's poem “One Art” was published years after her death in 1994. There are six three-line stanzas in this poem. The first stanza provides the entire poem with a rhyme scheme consisting of two rhymes, which are rhyme A and rhyme B. The poem begins boldly with rhyme A, “the art of losing isn't hard to master”, stating that some materialistic things are just made to be lost so losing them would not be such a big deal. Bishop then continues with rhyme B, “so many things seem filled with the intent” (1-2). Throughout the poem, some lines will either rhyme with “master” and some will rhyme with “intent” following a specific rhyme scheme. The second stanza states, that people, “lose something every day”, whether it is …show more content…
Bishop uses imagery in stanza six when she wrote, “even losing you(the joking voice, a gesture I love)” to help us picture an image of the beloved person who she lost (16). She later uses a paradox in stanza one to describe a contradictory, but true statement about the art of losing. Symbolism was presented through the “two cities” and “a continent” that the speaker lost (13-14). The cities and the continent are symbolic of the memories she experienced there, or the relationships she once had. Bishop's poem is written in a villanelle form, consisting of nineteen lines, which are being divided into six stanzas. The first five stanzas of a villanelle form, have three lines, and the last stanza has four lines. This poem has sort of a conversational flow.
Interpretation:
Elizabeth Bishop's poem has a casual tone to it. It seems that Bishop's message is to focus on one of the many truths of the world, the fact that nothing is eternal. Bishop executes her message through the use of symbolism, imagery and her conversational flow. Even though the speaker has lost so many materialistic, and sentimental things in her life, she has learned to accept the pain and move on with her life.