Can one ever practice losing enough to master it? Is it possible to become a master at losing such as an artist can become a master painter, writer, or sculptor? The speaker in the poem “One Art� presents this question and provides an answer.
The poem is an illustration of a common human affliction–grief and regret caused by the loss of another human. Through the use of value progression and the interweaving of denotative and connotative meaning, the speaker shows that no matter how much a person tries to prepare for the loss of one he or she loves, grief and regret are inevitable.
By comparing the phrase “the art of losing isn’t hard to master� with the frequently used word “disaster,� the meaning begins to take shape. This phrase is used four times in this nineteen-line poem (lines 1, 6, 12, 18).
