Exercises pag.23 – 27

 

Exercise 1

The poem might be about an art, it may be an art very important for the poetess or the only one she likes or she considers as an art.

 

Exercise 2

a. There are six stanzas of three lines each, except the last one that has four lines.

b. Yes, I can. In the poem there are some words and expression that are used multiple times.

For example the verse “ the art of losing isn't hard to master” is repeated in stanzas 1, 2 4 and 6 also the word “disaster” is used in different lines of the poem.

 

Exercise 3

No, I don't find the poem difficult because the words used in it are very easy to understand and also the construction of the stanzas isn't to intricate and most of the time it follows the regular construction of the phrase.

 

Exercise 4

During the reading of the poem I feel a sense of loneliness and as if I lost something I have never known to have, like there is a deep hole into my soul that will be filled with what I've lost.

 

Exercise 5

After listening to Prof. M.Mark, I confirm partially my perceptions and I add some more now that I have learnt some important aspects of the poetess’s life, as her parents' loss, that explain the sense of loneliness and homeless.

 

Exercise 6

a. The rhyme scheme is ABA for all the stanzas unless in the last stanza where it is ABAA.

b. This kind of stanzas are called tercet (from the first stanza to the fifth stanza) and quatrain for the last one.

c. The tone used from the poet to read her own verses would be resigned because it tells about something that is already happened and she has learnt to bear it.

d. The speaking voice is addressing to the has lost.

e. Yes, the poet is trying to warn the reader/listener about the moments when you have to leave and lose someone or something you love and you suffer for this loss.

f. The speaker is talking about how easy is to lose something or someone you are fond of and you have to learn the art of losing, that helps you to bear this difficulties without feeling the pain.

 

Exercise 7

No, the answers are different. In the first one I thought the poem would have talked about an art, but in the second answer, given after reading the poem, I've talked about how easy is to lose someone or something you love, and this is the art the poetess is talking about.

 

Exercise 8

a. Now try and lose bigger things, do it more often: cities, names and the places you were supposed to go. Nothing happens if you forget about them. STANZA 5

b. Imagine you lose something daily, for example your keys. STANZA 2

c. It is easy to lose things, especially because many of them seem to ask for it, and it is not a big issue anyway. STANZA 1

d. But losing someone I love is not unimportant. It is true, losing is an easy process, but at times its consequences are tragic. STANZA 6

e. A family object disappeared, and soon after even one of the houses where I used to live. STANZA 4

f. I used to live in a couple of places in a country I really liked, I had some dear corners where I used to find place. I don't have them anymore, but it is such a big deal. STANZA 3

 

Exercise 9

1. stanzas

2. lines

3. rhyme scheme

4. “you”

5. loss

6. one

7. disaster

 

Exercise 10

a. The language used is informal, as shown by the contracted forms, and there aren't unusual words but only everyday language.

b. Yes, I can visualise some of the scenes depicted by the author as losing the watch or the keys but other scenes, like losing places or names, are difficult to be visualised.

c. 1. metaphor: the art of losing is a metaphor to talk about the easiness it takes to lose something

you love.

2. enjambement: in the poem there are a few enjambment, in lines 2-3, 4-5, 8-9, 10-11, 14-15

and 16-17.

3. assonance: in the first line with “The art of losing isn't hard to master”, in line 8 with
“places, and names, and where it was you meant/”.

4. alliteration and consonance: in line 2 and 3: “ so many things seem filled with the intent/ to

be lost that their loss is no disaster”.

 

Exercise 11

a. Repetitions: the art of losing isn't hard to master, lost, losing, disaster.

b. Past tenses: lost the door keys, it was you meant to travel, I lost my mother's watch, of three loved houses went, I lost two cities, I owned, it wasn't a disaster, I shan't have lied.

c. Statements: the art of losing isn't hard to master; their loss is no disaster; lose something every day; practice losing farther, losing faster; none of them will bring disaster.

 

Exercise 12

a. Words referring to feelings and emotions: fluster, intent, lovely, loss, loved, I miss, joking.

b. Nouns describing or defining her losses: things, something, door keys, hour, places, names, where it was you meant to travel, her mother's watch, three loved houses, two cities, some realms, two rivers, a continent, voice, a gesture.

 

Exercise 13

a. What is the prevailing tense? Present.

b. Are there any passive forms? Yes, there are: to be lost, filled, was meant, spent.

c. Are there any imperatives? Yes, there are: lose something everyday, accept the fluster, then practice, and look!, Write it!.

d. What is the main sentence type? Affirmative.

 

Exercise 14

• Marked punctuation as exclamation marks, brackets and others;

• use of numbers: one art, three houses, two rivers,...

 

 

Exercise 15

In this poem, the poetess is talking about the loss, that always hits people.

 

The literary composition is organized in six stanzas of five lines each, unless the last one that is formed by four lines. The rime scheme used is ABA from the first to the fifth line and ABAA in the sixth.

In the text there are a few figures of speech as alliteration, consonance, assonance and enjambment.

There is also a metaphor, very important in the poem: the Art, used also in the title, that represents the art of losing.

The language used is informal, as shown by some contracts words belonging to the everyday register, the direct address to the reader and the use of some imperative forms.

 

The poem tells about the easiness with which we can lose someone or something we love.

Learning the art of losing allows people to stop suffering when they lost something, it helps them to live without giving importance to what they will not find anymore, to say goodbye to what they lose.

 

The poetess, in this poem, refers to the loss of her parents, that marked all her life.

In some lines there are some references to other things she had lost during her life: the houses, her mother's watch or someone she loved.

But she mastered the art of losing and now she doesn't suffer anymore or, maybe, she hides from the others her feelings, her emotions.

 

Exercise 16

Elizabeth Bishop was born in Worcester on the 1911.

 

After a few months from her birth, her father died for a kidney disease and her mother was recovered in a nursing house for depression and mental instability.

She died on the 1934 without seeing her daughter after the first recovery.

 

During her childhood she lived with her grandparents and then with some of her father's relatives.

The distance of her grandparents makes her suffering of asthma attacks.

Then she was sent to live with her mother's sister.

 

After finished the university, she started to travel around the world and this journeys will influence her poetry. On 1951 she went to visit Brazil and there she knows an architect, Lota de Macedo Soares, that became her wife.

They relocated in Brazil and they had been living there until her wife's death, for suicide.

 

Her poetry was influenced by some of her contemporaries, in particularly by some of her friends of the university.

Contrary to some poets, she avoids to talk about her private life.

 

Exercise 17

The poet is very upset about her losses because she lost something that was very important for her and now she tries to convince herself that what she has lost wasn't important to her, and going farther and faster she will learn how to lose things without suffering and feeling a sense of emptiness.

 

Exercise 18

These losses are relevant because they signed the poet's life, they represents the affections the poet lost during her life.