“One Art”

“One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop, has been on my mind recently as President Trump continues to refuse to accept his loss of the election. It is described as “a tongue-in-cheek little instruction book on loss,” by Reiter and Weisberger in The Healing Fountain. In her masterful villanelle, Bishop repeatedly claims that “the art of losing isn’t hard to master.” She advises us to practice losing daily, starting with small losses — like house keys — and progressing to larger ones — like a home. This way, when the profound losses come, we can accept them — even if they feel like a disaster.

One Art

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 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

Bishop’s poem suggests that all losses are equal, and, with practice, we can accept the loss of a loved one in the same way we might accept the loss of a precious watch. As much as we wish it were so, we know this is not true. We are attached to things and people we love. The command at the end — to write that losing a loved one is not a disaster — is a form of denial, which we know is an essential step in the grieving process. We also know that writing about loss — no matter what stage we’re in — can help us come to terms with it, as Bishop’s poem skillfully demonstrates.

Do you agree that losing is an art that can be mastered? Are there losses that you need to master? Try writing about them from whatever step of the coping process you’re in.

Sources: 

“One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop form The Complete Poems 1926-1979, 1983. Copyrighted material used for educational purposes.

Reiter, S. & Weisberger, L. (2003). Coping With Grief and Loss. In G.C. Chavis & L.L. Weisberger (Eds.), The Healing Fountain: Poetry Therapy for Life’s Journey (p. 116).

Photo by Dado Ruvic in “Coming to Terms With Loss in Elizabeth Bishop’s ‘One Art'” by Joseph Frankel, The Atlantic, 2017.