The June 18 New York Times Books section includes a moving essay about one of Elizabeth Bishop's best-known poems, "One Art," written toward the end of her life in the midst of a prolonged separation from her partner, Alice Methfessel. (Her grief over losing both her parents while quite young, and the suicide of her first lover, Lota de Macedo Soares, presumably fueled the poem's air of quiet desolation, as well.)
In "19 Lines that Turn Anguish into Art," critics Dwight Garner and Parul Sehgal analyze the poem's imagery and structure, which is almost, but not quite, a villanelle--the only time she ever employed that form. They also note that Bishop, who was not by nature a confessional writer, reworked the poem quite substantially over several years. Even if you already know "One Art," I daresay you will find Garner and Sehgal's reflections on it here well worth your time.
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