Which is it: To or Too? From beginning to end life seems to be a
series of losses. We learn to deal with them, and how we deal
with them in a small part defines who we are. As we get older
and as we experience more, the losses become more regular and
have greater impact. In her poem "One Art" Elizabeth Bishop
demonstrates these losses and how they affect our lives. The
poem begins almost trivially as the speaker suggests that there
are some things that have "the intent to be lost" (2,3). People
lose things everyday. It might be something so trivial as a set
of keys or maybe a lost hour. Yet losing these things can drive
even the sanest person mad. According to the speaker, losing
these trivial things "isn't hard to master" (6). Eventually the
loss of such things becomes as insignificant as the objects that
have been lost. The loss or misplacement of these items occurs
so often that living through it becomes second nature. Once
again the speaker reminds the reader that the loss "isn't a
disaster" (3). In the t