Symbolism: Symbolism is a poetry method in which abstract concepts, traits, or associations are represented by marks, signs, or phrases. Symbolic words have a different meaning from their actual, literal meaning. For example, The lost "mother's watch" stands for the challenging relationship Bishop hRead more
- Symbolism: Symbolism is a poetry method in which abstract concepts, traits, or associations are represented by marks, signs, or phrases. Symbolic words have a different meaning from their actual, literal meaning. For example, The lost “mother’s watch” stands for the challenging relationship Bishop had with her mother, who she lost when she was a young child due to her mother’s institutionalization and subsequent passing.
- Irony: The main irony of “One Art” is that the speaker is trying to teach readers in a very didactic and informative manner that loss is similar to an “art” and that it can be “mastered” through practice. But as the poem goes on, it becomes clear that she is attempting to justify the situation to herself to comfort herself that loss is not, in reality, a “disaster.”
- Imagery: The use of figurative or descriptive language to conjure an image in the readers’ thoughts is known as imagery. The imagery in stanza three includes “cities,” “realms,” “rivers,” and “continents.”
The rhyme scheme used in "One Art" is ABA, which causes the first and third lines to rhyme to recur differently in each stanza. Bishop doesn't utilize fixed rhymes; instead, she makes use of several half-rhymes and slant rhymes. For instance, in the fourth tercet, the words "or" and "master" rhyme iRead more
The rhyme scheme used in “One Art” is ABA, which causes the first and third lines to rhyme to recur differently in each stanza. Bishop doesn’t utilize fixed rhymes; instead, she makes use of several half-rhymes and slant rhymes. For instance, in the fourth tercet, the words “or” and “master” rhyme inadequately. Additionally, the words “last, or” and “master” rhyme in a mosaic pattern.
One Art Summary
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