DDCPoetry

Original poem reprinted online here:   "One Art" by Elizabeth Bishop Originally read: October 21, 2013 More information about the Poet: Elizabeth Bishop I probably wrote 2-3 essay about this poem in my college career; furthermore, I read this poem out loud as one of my favorite poems.  This poem, no matter how many times I read it, still brings a big impact at the end.  Yes, there are tons of criticism out there already on this poem, but this poem came up, and, well, I'm not skipping my chances for this. The poem is a villanelle which has the refrain lines in the first and third lines of the first stanza, "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."  The poem starts out playful but the subject has so much gravitas. "Loss" isn't a big joking matter -- the subject is subjective though or rather how does someone feel when they lose something. "Lose somethin...

Original poem reprinted online here: "No Art" by Ben Lerner Originally read: December 25, 2012 When I think of "towers" my mind automatically goes to 9/11.  It might be a habit.  Or perhaps that the image is so iconic that it might take a generation to shift the connotation.  There you go -- mind block out of the way. So, oddly enough, I think the title is effective if you don't know or infer the allusion to "One Art."   It's difficult for me because "One Art" is one of my favorite poems of all time.  "I shan't have lied. It's evident  / the art of losing's not too hard to master / though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster."  I almost was able to quote this from memory...someday. Anyway, the struggle to get over loss happens in the poem "No Art" as well, but not clearly. If you read a poem through images, then this poem isn't for you or maybe it is.  The strong image is "tower" and th...