Losing can be a disaster

In order for one to understand “One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop her opening lines, “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” (lines 1-3) provide the foundation for the whole poem. Due to the fact that there are so many things that are intended to be lost it shouldn’t seem so disastrous when they are truly lost, but somehow it still is a disaster
The irony of this statement is shown by the combination of both the opening as well as the closing lines of the poem. In the opening lines it seems to say that when something follows in its natural path, its intent, it’s no longer qualified as a disaster and shouldn’t be viewed as a disaster. However, in the poems closing lines which state, “Even losing you…Its evident the art of losing’s not too hard to master though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster” (lines 16-19), are defiantly contradicting with the opening lines. I believe this is because the narrator is trying to convince themselves that the truth of the paradox is not a disaster to loose someone if that person intended to be lost.
The progression of increased value of “things” lost continues to contribute to the poem’s paradoxical meaning by beginning with items of little value such as “time, places, and names, and even lost door keys,” eventually increasing to things of a greater value such as “mothers watch, houses, cities, rivers, and even an entire continent.” Eventually ending with a loss of what was most valued which in the end happened to be a person. (lines 5,8,10,11,13,14,16). This shows that the narrator is trying to desensitize themselves to loss. For example, they consider all of the other losses in their life that were not “disasters” it would make the loss of this person not a disaster but paradoxically it still is disastrous.
The meaning of the poem also becomes much clearer through the narrators mantra evident with the rhyming as well as the repetition of the words disaster and master in stanzas 1, 3, 5, and 6, where the narrator ends with the word disaster. “The art of losing isn’t hard to master.” In stanzas 1, 2, 4, and 6, the narrator creates the kind of mantra that a person would most likely use to convince themselves of something they truly don’t believe. It’s almost as if he narrator is believing that if they tell themselves that it’s not hard to master loosing either something or someone enough times then when they lose something or someone than for them it won’t be a disaster no matter what value is either on the item or person.
There is various ways to perceive an opening statement that starts with “so many things seem filled with the intent to be lost that their loss is no disaster”, these various ways go beyond the general definition of the meaning. At first glance someone could perceive this as factual but depending on the context of the statement it could mean that someone is following the nature of their beliefs but does not imply that there is a possibly of something disastrous happening.
In conclusion, the narrator has made several attempts regrettably accepting the loss of less significant things. He or she has even practiced loosing things to try to accept the fact of loss without any regrets. “Lose something every day. Accept the fluster” (line 4). The narrator never fully resolves the conflict of accepting and regretting because they have been placed in a situation where he or she has to force himself or herself to “write it” (line 19), but in the end this is what makes the poem be a great poem.