In Comparing Dylan Thomas And Elizabeth Bishop’S Meditation

2055 Words9 Pages
In comparing Dylan Thomas and Elizabeth Bishop’s meditation on the relevance of the poet, it is pertinent to use a sequential analysis of the two poems hereby discussed. Bishop’s “One Art” may be the result of a careful development of Thomas’ “Do not Go to Gentle Into That Good Night,” in which she explores her capacity to critique a poet’s speaker with a subtlety that scholars and students may find almost impossible to decipher. In this rather experimental essay, layers of her expertism are expounded through the deceptive figure of the mother whose mention is covertly present. For example, line 10 is a particular place in “One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop in which we are exposed to the most important figure in the piece. Though it seems…show more content…
They both mourn the loss of a paternal figure. “One Art” divides into two equal parts. In the first three stanzas, the speaker addresses her audience, and in the last three she speaks of her by using the pronoun “I”. It navigates from the general to the personal making the verses progress to a level in which the reader learns about the speaker’s biography: at least a few important events in her life, that is, her mother’s watch to her significant other. This mirror symmetry reflects the separation between you and I; the former serves a fellow or student, the latter as master or expert. Hence, the poet’s expertise is in the modeling, not so in the preaching. These examples, demonstrate that she is ethically fit to teach you, the reader, about the art of losing. In other word, the proof is in the puddling; the only way of learning is by trying, “Then practice losing farther and losing faster” (7). This is the way the poet shows us her talent. She vehemently expounds on every significant misfortune. As Lloyd Schwartz indicates: “at the approximate half-way point in the poem, the expert presents us with her credential, the list of losses. Each succeeding item increase in magnitude” (Schwartz 150). Henceforth, the second half of the poem, is more about the poet’s authority to speak up for the reader and to lecture on the art of losing. Being a poet is a profession that requires practice and mastery, which undoubtedly,
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