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
Serendipity!
I came across this beautiful villanelle in an equally beautiful movie called 'In Her Shoes'.
'In Her Shoes' is a movie about two sisters with nothings in common other than their shoes size.
In the movie, Maggie (Cameron Diaz) the flighty of the sisters, reads 'One Art' to a blind old patient (a one-time English professor who realises the girl is suffering from dyslexia and intents to help her overcome by making her read).
I found the poem really lovely and true then, but never thought, I would start to live in each line…
By the opening lines the poetry may appear something about giving up/gloomy/bemoaning. (and few readers still prefer to argue).
On the contrary it is rather a very encouraging poetry which will give one a reason to be practical and to carry on.
Read it again!
“the art of losing” is not about throwing things away but about coping with things that have gone away.
Bishops started with
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.
She is right! how hard one try and how careful one is, certain things are bound to be lost, someday.
In her second, third and forth tercets she went on explaining small small losses like loss of door key / badly spent time / places / names / loved houses and a very pertinent one (mother's watch) sure you would have done it ! in your childhood.
She repeatedly asserts herself "art of losing is no hard to master" and tells to prepare for and accept losses.
Losses come in various forms, from badly spent time to losing your hometown.
Of all, the most beautiful is the last quatrain,
---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.
The use of the word like “Even”, “i shan’t have lied”, “evident”, “writes it!" et. al. tells that this is the major loss that she has been preparing to overcome.
---Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) ,
- must be a very close one
I shan't have lied. It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
- maybe she would have had lost all hopes before
(Write it!)
- now she is firm that she would live through, but she misses (???) and still carries the pain.
The poem is beautiful and true 'you may live through'
but no ! "The art of losing is hard to master"
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