Analysis

The poem "One Art" should be considered and treated, to some degree, differently than many of Bishop's other poems. Written later in life and in the naturally more emotional, song-like form of a villanelle, the speaker in "One Art", though restrained, is more open and visible.

The tone of the poem is conversational; we are being spoken to. We are being taught a lesson from the benefit of the experience of the speaker. Her lesson is on mastering the art of losing--about which she is an expert. The poem is about the inevitability of loss in our lives. She, the speaker, stands in front of us and instructs: "The art of losing isn't hard to master;/so man things seems filled with the intent/to be lost that their loss is no disaster." She takes us through the steps to master the process then begins to share personal examples until she arrives at the emotional peak and pain of the poem: "--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." At the end of "One Art" the person is there and hurting. She is not hidden in remoteness or mystery--unlike many of Bishop's poems.