Elizabeth Bishop's Experience Of Losses
With the gift of life, come hard times. Despite the commonality of hardships, we each react to them with different perspectives, leading to a variety of unique experiences. In “One Art”, Elizabeth Bishop shares her own experience of losses to support her idea that the art of losing will grant us the transcendence we desire. Hidden in her refrain, lie her emotions she is repressing to convince herself that the art of losing is imminent. Similarly, in “To a Poor Old Woman”, William Carlos Williams shares his observation of an impoverished woman who is rich in appreciation of life’s simple pleasures by embracing what it offers. Although he also utilizes repetition, his powerful appreciation is dependent on enjambments — the continuation of a sentence across a line break. “One Art” and “To a Poor Old Woman” utilize different literary techniques that beautifully encapsulate the experiences while maintaining a balance of vulnerability and appreciation by using repetition and enjambment.
“One Art” soulfully reflects on the losses the speaker experienced. Bishop’s poem is a villanelle, highlighting her confused state of mind through its repetitive structure. The more she repeats the same words, the harder it is for her to acknowledge the pain of losing a loved one. Bishop uses this form as a way of intensifying the agony of undergoing a loss. Similarly, in William Carlos William’s poem “To a Poor Old Woman”, he repeats the independent clause “They taste good to her”, varying the line breaks, while keeping the same words constant. However, the power of his poem does not lie in its repetition. It is exerted by frequent enjambments giving each iteration a different meaning. The enjambment accentuates the pleasure and delight the poor old woman feels while relishing her plum, inviting us to see the world in a new way. William’s poem helps us see that fulfillment can be found in life’s simple pleasures. Although both the poems are about hardships, they show different perspectives. Nonetheless, both of the literary pieces work to captivate the reader in different manners.
In “One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop, the poem’s refrain “The art of losing isn’t hard to master” (lines 1,6,12) is repeated throughout the text to validate her thought process and reassure herself with time and practice, losing becomes easier. The repetition of this line illustrates that we must get accustomed to losing things, simply because they have the potential to be lost.
We are, however, made to believe this is false as the poem progresses, and that she is wary of whether the “art of losing is hard to master”. Bishop begins by explaining the loss of minor objects such as keys, before moving on to losing “places, and names, and where it was you meant/ to travel.” (lines 8-9), and then to “two cities, lovely ones.”. Despite overcoming those losses, it is clear that the author does not believe the art of losing can be mastered. Bishop implicitly highlights her self-denial by placing the subjects of each stanza in increasing order of importance, ending with “you.” The refrain has a slight but significant difference by saying “the art of losing isn’t too hard to master.” (18). The addition of the word “too” works to second-guess the original assertion that loss “isn’t hard to master.” She realizes that everything she had lost before is now insignificant compared to the loss of a loved one. Bishop unmasks her true emotions that are hidden behind her repeated refrain, that losing love is far more difficult to master.
In “To a Poor Old Woman”, Williams uses the repeated phrase, “They taste good to her”, exerting a different meaning to each iteration through his frequent enjambment. Williams begins the stanza with his observation of the old woman relishing the plum, stating that “They taste good to her”. The following iteration contains the first enjambed verse, “They taste good / to her”. This lays emphasis on “her”, implying the plum tastes good to the woman in poverty, but not to us. Lastly, the enjambment in the third iteration, “They taste / good to her”, shortens the lines which cause the reader to emphasize the last line. The enjambment places emphasis that the plum tastes “good to her”, allowing us to understand what “good” represents for her. The enjambment of the independent clause “They taste good to her” is the poet’s experience of witnessing the simple pleasure the poor woman finds in eating the plums. For some, especially those well off, eating plums may seem ordinary. Thus, the emphasis of the verse becomes essential.
As it is evident, “One Art” and “To a Poor Old Woman” beautifully articulate their experiences and perspectives of hardship. The exaggeration of the verses of the poem allows for the authors to utilize enjambment and the repetition of its refrain to create new meanings of the same sentence. Bishop used her repetitive refrain to rein in her emotions to control her internal chaos and manipulate it into an art. Whereas, Williams’s use of enjambment allows him to show his observation of how valuable a ripe plum can be to an old woman. The techniques employed by Bishop and Williams allow them to convey a profound message about learning to live while you struggle, such that anyone who sees you can separate the struggle from your life.
