〈One Art〉◎Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979)

One Art
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.

Lose something every day.
Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant to travel.
None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.

---Even losing you (the joking voice, a gestureI love)
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.


一種藝術

失落的藝術要精通並不難；
好多的人事物似乎本來就打定主意
要失落，失去它們因此不算災難。

天天都在失去某樣東西。即使狼狽也得隨遇而安
丟掉的大門鑰匙，胡亂度過的那個小時。
失落的藝術要精通並不難。

更遙遠的失落，更快速的失落要經常演練：
熟悉的地方，人名，以及你朝思暮想
要前去旅遊的名勝。失去這些不會帶來災難。

我弄丟了母親的手錶。還有！先前那棟，
甚至更早先的那棟，總共三棟心愛的房子。
失落的藝術要精通並不難。

我失去了兩座城市，可愛的城市。更遼闊的，
我曾擁有的某些地域，兩條河流，一整片洲陸。
天天思念，不過，這不曾帶來災難。

──就連失去你（那老愛說笑的聲音，那一道手勢
是我深深喜愛的）原諒我不願說謊。顯然
失落的藝術要精通依舊不難
即使看起來好像（寫出來吧！）好像一場災難。
（這是哈洛‧卜倫認為是碧許最好的一首詩）


“One Art” Elizabeth Bishops “One Art,” is an emotional poem that displays’ losing is not just an art, but a mastered skill. This is shown from a series of losing minor items, leading up to treasured loss; becoming personal and therefore something she can not master. Although, it may seem that “One Art” transmits the basic idea that losing something is a disaster, the speaker makes it a point to emphasize words to prove many losses are not disasters. The protest of disaster is repeated throughout the whole poem. Bishop uses different literary devices to express her thoughts. The speaker uses verse form and language to show her attitude about losing objects. The verse form is a villanelle, which is a nineteen line poem consisting of five tercets followed by a quatrain. In the second stanza, the poem is told in second person. “Losing something everyday,” seems to tell us to practice the art of losing things.--from internet