Chaos in Form

"One Art" is the means by which Elizabeth Bishop attempts to cast an illusion of authority over that which is ultimately beyond control: loss. The speaker tries to reassure herself and the reader that loss is something that can be mastered. By embracing loss, by creating a layer of comfort over an underlying self-pity, she hopes to master the inexorable losses which she has suffered.

The poem is written in the form of a villanelle, a very strict form of poetry using both repetition and rhyme to emphasize the chosen topic. In using this rigid form Bishop attempts creates the illusion of mastery, and would succeed but for the deviation from the standard form. The villanelle is so obsessive about form that even the slightest deviation from the predetermined rhyme and repetition calls attention to the idea that disaster cannot be controlled. In this way Bishop demonstrates that no matter the constraints one places on loss, there is always the chance that it will appear in the distance. In addition, the attempt and failure at mastery in the poem shows that mastering ones emotions during a crisis of loss is very difficult.

With regard to the choice of words, the order, and repetition of those words, everything is geared towards comforting and reassuring the speaker. In the first line, "The art of losing isn't hard to master. . . ." the use of the word "art" connotes a skill that has been mastered, as anyone who has developed a special skill refers to that skill as an "art" or "art form." It is a powerful way to begin a poem about loss. The alternation of the words "master" and "disaster" serve as interesting opposites, one connoting order and the other chaos. Yet it seems that disaster dominates control throughout the poem. This is partly because disaster always appears at the end of a stanza, reinforcing the idea that after all is mastered, still only disaster is left. In addition, the words themselves harbor strong meanings and associations. "Master" possesses the ideas of God, religion, government, slavery, control, order, stability, and leaves one feeling both the master and mastered in one fell swoop. Disaster, on the other hand, leaves one only helpless, unable to resist the tides of war, nature, and chance. Against such odds there is no hope for control, and in addition to these semi-tangible concepts, the chaotic realm of the unknown plagues our thoughts, cajoling with our worst fears and reaping the seeds of our terror.

The buildup of losses the reader speaks of, starting from things "filled with the intent to be lost" to things lost every day to things lost in huge natural disasters, serves to demonstrate the slow and painful process by which the speaker experiences these losses. She speaks of losing family things with personal value: her mother's watch, and loved houses, losses that inflict a very personal pain. Then she speaks about the loss of cities and continents and rivers, painful losses whose experience is akin to the losses felt when Katrina ravaged New Orleans or when they dropped the bomb on Hiroshima. To help mask these losses, the speaker recites the mantra denying disaster, showing that the repetition helps to console the reader when her emotions begin to run out of control, falling back on the rigid villanelle for comfort almost as one turns to God in search of sanctuary from the chaos that dominates life.

The phrase "Write it!" shows a brief yet complete loss of control emotions by the speaker, an abrupt interjection demonstrating the chaos behind the screen of composure. This interruption, thus, helps the reader grasp the idea that while repetition may make an impression, the underlying lack of order eventually shows a great deal of repressed emotion. Considering that this most recent loss is a person, not something small, not something natural, but a loved person, it is not unexpected. This last part personalizes the loss, awakening the reader to the harsh reality previously shrouded by a curtain of order.

Bishop uses the villanelle as a means to underscore the undulating chaos of disaster roaring beneath the surface of our lives, and emphasizes the realities and half-truths that we create so that we can cope with unrelenting and intransigent god that is loss. (728)