Emotional pain is one of the unique aspects peculiar to human beings. As social creatures with a strong devotion to people who surround them, people cannot avoid feeling sad or frustrated because of various losses. These might include the death of close people, failures, or the inability to attain success. That is why metaphorically, an individual’s life can be represented as a chain of losses he/she experiences. At the same time, it becomes vital to learn how to cope with these losses, continue living, and be happy. The topicality of this topic is justified by the fact that there are multiple works and poems devoted to it. For instance, the poem “One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop and B by Sarah Kay speak about a similar idea and discuss the theme of loss and its role in people’s lives.
Elizabeth Bishop’s poem can be viewed as a text revolving around the idea of loss and its acceptance. The author introduces an autobiographical view of a speaker’s life and things that are lost because of various factors. She starts the poem with the words, “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,” which became the main idea of the whole work (Bishop 1-3). Bishop wants to say that the life of any person is impossible without sadness caused by losses, and they are an integral part of existence. That is why it is critically important to learn how to cope with them, live, and be happy.
The poem B by Sarah Kay is organized in a different way. The author introduces an image of a mother who teaches a child the fundamentals of life, such as love, pain, and loss. The line “She’s gonna learn that this life will hit you, hard, in the face” introduces the central theme of the whole work and the intention of the author (Kay 6). Dedicating the poem to a daughter, she explains that life is complex and there are multiple challenges a person has to overcome; however, in all situations, it is critically important to resist these challenges and teach how to cope with them. Only under these conditions, a person can be happy and live not suffering from the past and emotional pain linked to previous losses.
Comparing the two poems, it is possible to state that they offer a similar idea but represent it differently. Both “One Art” and “B” emphasize the teaching how to accept loss is critical for every person as it helps to remain happy. However, the Bishop uses irony and metaphors to show her vision. “One Art” states that everything is transient and every person will lose something one day, which means that life will teach him/her the art of losing. She suggests, “Lose something every day. Accept the fluster / of lost door keys, the hour badly spent. / The art of losing isn’t hard to master” and then continues, “Then practice losing farther, losing faster” (Bishop 4-6, 7).
In an ironic and even sarcastic way, the author shows the method of how to acquire the skills needed to deal with losses. However, using examples involving trifles, the author, at the same time, shows that a person will also suffer from more significant losses, and their number will grow.
Sarah Kay avoids using irony in her poem. Instead, she uses an extended metaphor of life as constant learning and teaching. Similar to Bishop, the author is sure that life being a human means experiencing pain because of various troubles and losses, but there is always a method to cope with them and move. For instance, Kay states, “Okay, there’s a few heartbreaks chocolate can’t fix. But that’s what the / rain boots are for, because rain will wash away everything if you let it.” (Kay 21-22). There is another metaphor introduced in the poem to show that there are various problems, big and small ones, that can affect people in different ways. However, they all can be resolved by using several methods, “chocolate” or “rain boots” (Kay 21). The choice depends on a person and how he/she views this loss.
Another essential tool used by Bishop is repetition and imagery. As the poem progresses, the losses mentioned by the author become more significant, but she continues saying that “None of these will bring disaster.” (Bishop 9). The author also makes readers feel her losses by using creating images of her objects, but then she switches to abstract notions, and their importance increase as losing “places, and names” is more difficult for a person (Bishop 8). That is why she has to repeat again and again that losing something is not a disaster, as it is the only way to remain happy and avoid feeling too much pain.
Additionally, this repletion can be viewed as an act of learning as the only way to master something is to repeat it multiple times. That is why Bishop uses this metaphor to show that life is a continuous studying how to survive and adapt to new conditions. Finally, the last lines contain the interruptions in the casual tone (the joking voice, a gesture I love) showing the importance of these words, and the central idea “the art of losing’s not too hard to master / though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.” (Bishop 16-19). It means that even she had some severe lessons, this loss will be a disaster for her. However, she also assumes that she will have to recover from it.
The poem by Kay ends similarly as the author offers the idea of diversity life offers to people. She states, “Remember that good things come in threes and so do bad things,” and continues, “don’t you ever apologize for the way your eyes refuse to stop shining” (Kay 42, 44). These lines mean that a person has to learn who to keep smiling and shine even if there are multiple challenges or bad things surrounding him/her. It is a basic life lesson, and every person has to learn how to resist and overcome all obstacles to meet new things that bring happiness.
Altogether, both poems “One Art” and “B” offer the idea that life is full of losses, and it is vital to learn how to accept them. Contrary to Bishop’s intimal statement, a serious loss is a disaster; however, the main idea is to be able to keep living and move forward as life continuously teaches you how to master the art of losing and remain happy, regardless of all problems and pain a person might experience. It is the central life lesson, and its understanding helps an individual to avoid suffering from the ghosts of the past.
Works Cited
Bishop, Elizabeth. “One Art.” Poetry Foundation. Web.
Kay, Sarah. “B (If I Should Have a Daughter.” Ohsarahkay. Web.