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The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster,
Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.
Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.
I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three beloved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.
I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.
-- Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) a disaster.
Elizabeth Bishop
Read poems about / on: lost, travel, loss, mother, city, river
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9.6
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(122 votes) |
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Click here to write your comments about this poem (One Art by Elizabeth Bishop)
Alice Heggie (4/27/2008 4:38:00 PM)
Amy Hayden... do not quote from films when critiquing a poem. Specifically in this case from 'In Her Shoes'.
It's not doing you any favours. |
Amy Hayden (4/21/2008 12:33:00 AM)
I most deffinately have to agree with Rashad, the poem is about loosing love, but not the love of a lover. At first she talks about loosing real things like keys and a watch, but then she talks about loosing things such as a continent, she's getting grandiose, Bishop is trying to make it seam like it doesnt matter, her tone is detached, she wants to sound detached becuse she knows deep down how bad it's going to feel to loose. but it isnt a lover that she's loosing it's a friend, friendship. I absolutely love this poem! ! ! ! ! |
Read all 10 comments >>
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Elizabeth Bishop
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