One Art by Elizabeth Bishop

 One Art

By Elizabeth Bishop



  • Critical appreciation of the poem
  • Moral of the poem
  • What do you think the poetess means by the art of losing and how serious is she about this idea?
  • How important is the poem's form to your reading of the poem?
  • What effect does the refrain have upon your understanding of the poem's tone?

By every yardstick, this is quite a beautiful impressively enthusing poem and give rise to healthy trends in the world of human beings. Due to its thematic stuf, it bears close resemblance with Lines , a famous poem by Emily Bronte, in which she exhorts man to go on moving ahead without falling a prey to despair on account of facing failures in the arena of life. Here one thing must be mentioned that although the two poems are akin in thought and rendering, the fact remains that the one by Elizabeth Bishop carries greater appeal and fascination from the technical and artistic viewpoints.

The greatest and the most salient feature of the poem in hand is that it has been written in quite a casual and conversational style. We mean to say that the poetess has adopted quite a simple and non serious style in order to stress her own viewpoint which is serious and tinged with philosophic profundity. The result of all this is that the inherent appeal of the poem has not only multiplied but also become more pronounced.

The poem under discussion begins with "The Art of losing isn't hard to master", and to be true, this is the central idea which the poetess goes on stressing throughout by quoting different instances and anecdotes. The reason for recurrent stress on the same point is that she earnestly desires to impress on the reader's mind what she considers to be the greatest reality of life. The greatest reality, which she has found out, is that losses and failures and tragic occurrences are absolutely inseparable from earthly existence and the best thing is to face and accept them with cheerful spirit and smiling faces. She , in fact , wants to drive home the basic point that life is worth living and should never be spoiled by any thought of gloom on account of the unpleasant experiences of life. She is of the unshakable view that, once losses are cheerfully accepted, they lose their sting and bitterness. She urges that man should develop the habit of mastering his losses and failures because, if he does so, he will never be saddened and unnerved even by the greatest upheavals of life.

The thing, which tends a  peculiar beauty to this poem, is the introduction of the personal element becaus, by giving her personal experiences, she has given to her poem the credibility which is really very impressive. So, man should develop the habit of mastering his losses and failures.


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