Losers are artists

One Art by Elizabeth Bishop

          The repetition of the art of losing isn't hard to master is used intentionally by Bishop to reinforce the importance of the line. The reader gains a deeper sense of understanding because of such repetition. Unfortunately, modern traditions and society forces us as people to hide our feelings and emotions. In this poem, Bishop displays such a mask and basically makes it clear that she is collapsing because of the pressure from the mask. I believe that this poem appears to be a relatively complicated story of a women who is desperately trying to convince herself that loosing various things such as places and things (keys for example), are not such a huge deal. Bishop states that so many things seem filled with the intent to be lost that their loss is no disaster. However, I couldn't help but notice that the things that she keeps losing seem to increase in value throughout the poem as it progresses. She begins by losing car keys and by the end of the poem seems to have lost an entire continent. This poem is both meaningful and is able to simply relate to today. Losing or loss is something that people are faced with daily. Whether its door keys' or the hour badly spent is all loss. She focuses on the fact that things are often lost and it isn’t hard to master. In the end, she says she has lost a continent and although it is a tremendous loss, it isn't a disaster. She soon depicts that the loss of a loved one is a lot harder to cope with than the loss of various objects or even a continent. Loss is something that can be mastered but this type of loss is one that has to be dealt with.