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The poem One Art by Elizabeth Bishop is a very complex, detached and indeed, a very sorrowful poem on the fading away of ones self. She does this through various devices and the underlying metaphorical theme of the art of losing, which is more accurately interpreted as the art of getting old, of ones mind beginning to slip away into forgetfulness. The poem ends up following a steady progression of losing objects, then things you were supposed to do, losing your family, losing your place in the world, and finally losing who you are.

In the first stanza [so many things seem filled with the intent / to be lost that their lost is no disaster.] 2-3. In this wide world there are many times when we will forget something, when we will lose a bit of information from our minds. And because it is so common, it is not viewed as anything catastrophic, its deemed normal, its not a disaster.

This is further reinforced by the next stanza. [Lose something every day. Accept the fluster / of lost door keys, the hour badly spent. / The art of losing isn't hard to master.] 4-6. Bishop goes on to explain that this is something that happens every day. You just accept it idvn passing that you lost your keys and that you've wasted some time. It's not difficult to master as it came and went so easily.

This takes a deeper turn though in the next stanza as one progresses in age. [Then practice losing farther, losing faster:] 7. This line clearly indicates that as you get older your mind and memory slips away more rapidly. It sarcastically employs the word "practice" when the whole process of becoming forgetful occurs naturally. [places, and names, and where it was you meant / to travel. None of these will bring disaster.] As is common with growing old, you'll forget where it is you are, the people you're with, and as well as what some of your unfulfilled dreams were. But you don't freak out about the fact that your mind is slipping; you don't treat it like a disaster. You merely accept it as part of the art of losing; as a part of the art of getting old.

The mind continues to slip, but its gone from losing information and memories in ones mind to losing connections with the people in the world. The fourth stanza is another stage of getting old in life. [I lost my mother's watch.] 10. The passing of family heirlooms to the next generation. [And look! my last, or / next-to-last, of three loved houses went.] 10-11. This is a tricky line to decipher. The last house, or at least the next-to-last he supposes, of three lovely houses disappears from grasp. I've taken this to mean that the character in the poem has been moved to a home for the elderly; the last home. The three loved houses described most likely indicate the house of when they were a child, when they were an adult, and the house of their now adult kids. This last house is now lost from their grasp as they are removed from their family.

The fifth stanza continues to describe how in getting old, you continue to lose your place in this world. [I lost two cities, lovely once. And, vaster, / some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent. / I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster] 13-15. the character has now lost their place in these societies. It extends beyond their family. The city, the town, the community they were once a part of has now slipped away from them. indeed they feel entirely removed from the continent itself. And they miss being a part of those communities, but no one makes a fuss about being ripped from these places. It's not a disaster.

We move into the last stanza where because of their age, the character begins to lose their own personal characteristics and abilities. [ - Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture / I love)

Get To The Point....

"Get to the point, get to the point!" What a terribly close-minded phrase; insinuating that there is only one point to be made that can support an idea. Hah! It's like assuming there can only be one reason for our existence. Such nonsense. To assume that something as complex as any argument, person, way of life or just anything in general to be supported on the basis of one thing is foolishness. We can elaborate more on this later...