Poem One Art (Elizabeth Bishop) Summary Imp Qs Ref Explanation

Poem One Art (Elizabeth Bishop) Summary Imp Qs Ref Explanation

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Poem:

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 everyday. 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 went.
To travel. None of these will bring disaster

I lost my mother's watch. And look; my last, or
Next-to-last, of three loved 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) like disaster.

Elizabeth Bishop:

American poetess. She was born in 1911 and died in 1979.

Elizabeth Bishop's father died when she was an infant and her mother was taken to a mental institution. Painfully aware of death and defeat, she grew up in Nova Scotia and Boston and began to write poems as a schoolgirl before going to Vassar College, New York. 'To a Tree' with its reference to 'tiny tragedies and grotesque grieves', is an extremely assured performance for a girl of sixteen. The mature 'Song' expresses Bishop's feelings of isolation as she measures the distance between herself and others: 'The friends have left, the sea is bare/that was strewn with floating fresh green weeds'. For Bishop life is a gift that always seem joust out of reach. Yes/but.

Idea of Poem:

The tone and the attitude of the poet is mocking, non-serious and frivolous but the underlying message is serious, sane and sensible. The true art of losing should help us to inculcate a spirit of acceptance and resignation. The loss of door keys or loss of an empire should be taken in one's stride with a smiling face and a stout heart. In this way a defeat or disaster loses its bitterness and gives us hope and strength to look head. The most trifling incident and the greatest disaster should be faced without tears. The art of the losing, in fact, means to live life, hoping for the best, and to be ready to face and accept the worst.

One Art (Elizabeth Bishop)

This neat, sweet but ironic poem teaches us a very good art. It seems to be the art of losing things but actually it is not that. It is, in fact, the art of acceptance and resignation. One must face the loss of insignificant as well as significant things with a smiling face. The poem teaches us how to live life in an agreeable manner by hoping for the best and being ready to face and accept the worst if it comes to that.

Summary

Plain and straightforward but ironic poem “ One Art” is related with philosophy as well as religion. The poetess “Elizabeth Bishop “ teaches us the great value of resignation and contentment. She is of the view that the true art of losing helps us in developing a spirit of acceptance and resignation. The art of losing , in fact, means to live life, hoping for the best, and to be ready to face and accept the worst.

The poetess says that it is not difficult to have a mastery over the art of losing something because many things have their existence only to be lost and their loss has no serious consequences. She advises to face difficulties and fluster of losing minor things like door keys and to bear our sufferings with patience. She asks to lose something daily to be perfect in this art.

We can learn this great art by practice. Practice of forgetting the names of people and places may help one to learn this art without any harm. She gives her own example that she has lost her mother's watch, three houses, some property and even her homeland but it is not a disaster.

She says that she can even lose someone very dear to her and can prove that this art is very easy to master.

In-fact, the poetess advocates that to live in this world successfully, one must have patience and courage to bear losses. The people who are always eager to make great achievements should also be ready to make sacrifices. Nothing can be achieved easily. The actual reality demands that one has to suffer loss before gaining something. So, a person who is determined to achieve great success should not give up struggle to avoid losses.

The poem can be discussed as a satire. Everyone must lose something. Some one loses time and friends other loses property and kingdom. We also lose such things but we have no enough courage to confess it. There is also irony in this poem that to resign to fate is very difficult art but one has to learn it to lead a contented life. It combines the elements of satire, humour and irony. The tragedy of death which is inevitable is not referred. the subject is discussed in a mocking and non serious way but the poetess is successful in conveying the message.

Proper stanza form with an additional line, repetition of master and disaster, concrete images of common life and mocking yet didactic style have made this poem a master piece of its own kind.

Important Questions

Question No 1. What lesson do you draw from the poem "One Art" by Elizabeth Bishop? Is it worth learning at all?

Ans. The poem "One Art" by Elizabeth Bishop is a deeply philosophic poem although it has been written in a light style. The poetess has a deep message to give us. She teaches us a lesson and this lesson is really worth learning. This is the lesson of bearing our harms and losses with patience and resignation. We can learn this great art by practice. If we lose a small thing today, we should not feel disturbed. We should try to take all the losses for granted. We should realize that finding and losing are two aspects of the same one reality. We should learn to endure what we cannot cure. Only then our life would be happily lived.

The poetess gives her own example to teach us that difficult lesson of life. She lost her door-keys. She lost her friends. She lost her time. She lost her possessions one by one. She lost ever her houses. She did not bother about all her losses! Now she is so much resigned that if she is going to lose her beloved, even then she would not bother at all. That is the height of contentment and resignation which the poetess preaches us to have. 

Questions No 2. Bring out the literary merits of the poem "One Art" by Elizabeth Bishop. Or Critical Appreciation of the Poem.

Ans. The poem "One Art" by Elizabeth Bishop is a thought provoking poem in which the poetess tries to teach us the lesson of contentment and resignation in a very polite, kind but ironic way. The sense of the poem is quite plain and straightforward but it has been presented in a satiric manner. The intention of the poetess is positive though it seems to be negative. She seems to teach us carelessness whereas she is teaching us the great value of resignation and contentment.

She says that the art of losing things is not difficult to learn. We can easily learn it because it is a part of the routine of life. We lose something almost every other day. If we stop bothering for the lost things, then we start learning the valuable lesson of contentment. We should, therefore, try to be peaceful if we lose keys of our doors, an hour, a house, a city, a river, a territory or kingdom or even a continent. If we learn the art of losing things (or, so to speak, the lesson of resignation and contentment) then we will not bother for even losing our most beloved things or persons.

The subject of the poem is related with human life and it is a valuable subject. It is related with philosophy as well as religion. Everything given to us by God is not our own but belongs to Him. So if He, at one time, takes his things back from us, we should not cry because it would be thanklessness to God. We should be resigned at our fate/luck and be contented at all the losses that we seemingly get during our life-time.

[The same thing has been preached (to us in Islam. Allah tells us to say whenever we get a loss of something or somebody:

Inna Lillahi Wa Inna Elihi Rajioon

which means that all of us are for Allah and to Him we shall return. It is the same lesson of contentment and resignation to our fate!]

But an important thing about the poem is that such a valuable and highly serious theme has been treated in a non-serious or ironic manner so that we should learn the lesson thinking it to be a very light and normal thing. The imagery has been taken from the common, daily routine of life. Door-keys, hour, house, city, kingdom, river, continent - are all practical and concrete images that bind us to our daily life. The theme has been presented in a didactic and has been written in epigrammatic style very popular with the Greek and Roman classical poets.

The poem has been composed in stanza form. The meter is iambic pentameter with a slight alteration, a syllable being added or left at the end of a few lines. Every stanza contains three lines except of the last one that has an additional line. The rhyme scheme of the stanzas is a b a with a b a a in the last stanza. The rhyme does not change with stanza. It is universal, i.e., line nos: 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 18 and 19 are all rhymed a and the rest of all the lines are rhymed b. This art of rhyming is rather tedious but the poet has used it successfully. A few rhymes like "master" and "disaster" have been repeated but these do not create any monotony in the poem. Rather this repetition fills the poem with a sort of stress. Most of the lines are end-stopped but here and there we find enjambment as in lines 2-3 and 11-12.

The poem leaves a powerful influence on the readers/

Questions No 3. Do you agree with the poetess that the art of losing isn't hard to master? How can we master this art?

Ans. Actually the statement "The art of losing isn't hard to master" is a paradoxical one. On the outset it seems to be very correct and we believe in the poetess that particular art is really not hard to learn. But when we start practicing the art, then we come to know that it is perhaps the most difficult art to be learnt by man. Still, the zeal of the poetess to preach us this difficult art by treating the subject light-heartedly is really praiseworthy. She speaks to us in a sweet light vein in an attempt to teach us that difficult art. But so far as her details about mastering this art are concerned, these are altogether correct. She asks us to practice losing things. We can master the art by practice. First of all we should not bother if we lose little insignificant things like the keys of our doors or a lost and wasted hour or two. Then we should try our hand at more important things, such as places and names. Later on, we should still be peaceful at losing as costly and memorable things as our mother's watch.

Slowly and steadily we will grow perfect in this art like the poetess who never bothered to lose her last or second last house. She didn't bother even to remember whether it was her last or 2nd house that she lost! Then she lost two cities, a territory equal to kingdom, two rivers and a whole continent - i.e., she lost almost everything. Still she bore the loss patiently as she had mastered that art well. Later she became so habitual of contentment that she did not bother even the loss of her beloved. According to her, it is all a matter of habit and practice. We can master the art of losing by cultivating in us the habit of acceptance and resignation to our fate.

Question No 4. Bring out the elements of satire, humour and irony in the poem. How are they combined to achieve the impact by the poet?

Ans. According to Swift, "satire is a sort of glass wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own, which is the chief reason for that kind of reception it meets in the world, and that so very few are offended with it."

According to Johnson, "irony is a mode of speech in which the meaning is contrary to the words." Humour is "associated with laughter and being used in contradistinction to wit" - says Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory by J. A. Cuddon.

Now that we have a clear idea as to what satire, humor and irony are, we can bring these out from the poem.

When we take the poem as a satire, we see other people (like the poetess) losing one thing after the other. We feel that we are very careful persons as we do not lose so many things. There are people losing even their time, their friends, their kingdoms and even their "beloveds". We also lose such things but we are not bold enough to confess that. This is what the satirical color of the poem means.

When we read about the poetess that she has lost so many things, we cannot help smiling because of the presence of humours elements in the poem. We can only laugh at a fellow who loses one thing after the other, who loses a house and even does not bother to remember whether that was her last or second-last house.

Then comes the irony. The poetess repeats a line again and again:

"The art of losing isn't hard to master." (lines 1. 6 & 12)

She repeats it again with a little variation in line 18:

"The art of losing's not too hard to master."

But actually she means to say that the art of losing things and remaining contented and resigned to fate is really very difficult to learn. It is not easy to lose one's friends (even one's beloved) and one's territories (even one's kingdom) and feel not disturbed. If we understand the element of irony and find it out that poetess is speaking in an ironic way, we are able to get hold of the real motto or moral lesson of the poem which is: Learn being patient in the face of all harms and losses. It is a difficult art but you must learn it!

Reference:

These lines have been taken from the poem “One Art” written by Elizabeth Bishop.

Context:

In this poem the poetess wants to teach us that the art of losing things is necessary to lead a pleasant life. We should not bother, whether things are lost or snatched from us. The loss of door-keys or some other possession should be accepted as a part of life. No loss should disturb us, we should take our defeats and losses lightly.

Explanation:

Stanza 1

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. 

In these lines the poetess wants to teach us an uncommon lesson about losing things. She says that the art of losing things is not difficult to learn. Many things are included or intend to be lost. The loss of these things which we lose everyday, will bring no disaster. Actually, the poetess wants to teach us the art of acceptance and resignation.

Stanza 2

Lose something everyday. Accept the fluster
Of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

In these lines the poetess tells us that we should try to lose something everyday and accept the confusion created by this loss. For example, if we lose door keys, naturally, an hour is spent in trouble. After that we will get used to the loss, or we shall find some solution to the problem. Even then if we try to learn the art of losing things, it is not difficult to master.

Stanza 3

Then practice losing farther, losing faster;
Places and names and where it was you went.
To travel. None of these will bring disaster

The poetess says, we should try to lose things farther and faster. This practice will habituate you to losing things and you will not feel any trouble. Once you get used to losing things, then forget the names of people with whom you lived and forget the place where you did go and spent some time. Forgetting names and places will not put you in trouble if you have mastered the art of losing.

Stanza 4

I lost my mother's watch. And look; my last, or
Next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master 

In the given lines the poetess cites some personal examples. She says that once she lost the watch given to her by her mother. This watch was very dear to her but its losing did not create any disturbance to her. After that she lost three very dear houses by migrating from one place to another. She lost these houses one after the other. But this did not disturb her. So the art of losing things is not difficult to learn.

Stanza 5

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.

In these lines, also the poetess quotes some other examples. She says that she lost two dearest cities and more than that she left two very dear rivers and also some property and estate that she owned. In addition, she lost even a whole continent, when she migrated from North America to South America. She says that she remembers all these things but their loss is not a disaster. She means to say that some times even kings have to leave their dominions but this does not bring any devastation.

Stanza 6

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) like disaster.

In these lines the poetess concludes her lesson. She says even if we lose our very dear friends, relatives, their most joking voice, their most loved gestures, these do not bring any destruction. She says, perhaps she has not told a lie in this regard. Obviously, the art of losing things is not difficult to learn, although it looks so. But one thing is clear that losing things does not bring any disaster. The poetess wants to teach us that for leading peaceful life, it is necessary to accept the hard realities of life and accept even the worst impact of our losses. It is necessary to take our defeats and failures lightly.