One Art

E516042

"One Art" is a renowned villanelle by Elizabeth Bishop that meditates on loss and the art of mastering it through controlled, understated lyricism.

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Label Occurrences
One Art canonical 1

Statements (49)

Predicate Object
instanceOf poem
villanelle
author Elizabeth Bishop NERFINISHED
collection Geography III NERFINISHED
countryOfOrigin United States of America
surface form: United States
creator Elizabeth Bishop NERFINISHED
firstLine The art of losing isn’t hard to master;
form villanelle
genre lyric poetry
hasLine I love) I shan’t have lied.
Lose something every day.
Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
—Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
influenced contemporary treatments of loss in lyric poetry
language English
literaryDevice enjambment
irony
parenthetical aside
refrain
literaryMovement confessional-influenced poetry (broadly associated)
literaryPeriod 20th-century American poetry
meter iambic pentameter (predominantly)
notableFor controlled, conversational diction
gradual emotional escalation
masterful use of villanelle form
meditation on personal and universal loss
numberOfLines 19
numberOfStanzas 6
publicationYear 1976
publishedIn Geography III
publisherOfCollection Farrar, Straus and Giroux NERFINISHED
refrainLine The art of losing isn’t hard to master.
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.
rhymeScheme ABA ABA ABA ABA ABA ABAA
stanzaStructure 5 tercets and 1 quatrain
subject everyday losses
geographical displacement
romantic loss
subjectOf extensive literary criticism
theme acceptance of loss
control and emotional restraint
grief
loss
memory
self-deception
tone elegiac
ironic
understated

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Elizabeth Bishop notableWork One Art