Considering the title the poem might be about art; it may be about one specific type of art.

The layout shows the composition consists of five stanzas of three lines each,that is a tercets while the last stanza is made of four lines,that is a quatrain.

The rhyme scheme is ABA,and ABAA in the last stanza,whose first line is more an example of consonance than rhyme,but it more or less reproduces the same sound as in the previous A lines.

The poet reminds the recipient "you" that losing things and people is part of life; we become masters at "the art of losing" and learn that life tends to go on as before,although any loss may initially be experienced as disaster.

The speaker is talking about how easy it is to lose things and loved ones,due to distraction,loss of memory,lack of time,the end of love,or death.

Finally the register fairly informal,as shown by contracted forms and the direct adress to the listener through imperative ad the pronoun "you". There are some common words such as "places","names" and "houses" and most of the voucaboulary belongs to everyday language.