Both Elizabeth Bishop’s poem “One Art” and Wendy Cope’s poem “Rondeau Redouble” are similar because they are both written in a precise poetic form. Both forms require an exact number of lines, stanzas and pattern for the rhymes. Bishop’s poem is written using the poetic form villanelle and Cope’s poem is written using the double rondeau poetic form. Both poems also share the same theme, loss of something. Bishop begins with the loss of small incidental items and moves into serious loss before she is done. Cope talks about the loss and choices of men in her life. Both poems have an almost musical flow to them because of the precise form they follow.
Elizabeth Bishop used the poetic form villanelle for her poem “One Art”. The speaker shares a very simple poem that gradually moves us from a small meaningless loss up to a serious loss. The whole time the speaker is attempting to convince us that everything will be fine. In truth we can master loosing things but we will never stop feeling the loss. Throughout the poem Bishop attempts to down play the loss but thanks to the poetic form it takes on an emotional story.
In a villanelle poem there are six stanzas. The first five stanzas have three lines each and the sixth has four lines. The rhyme pattern is A1 b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 A2. As Bishop follows the design of the double rondeau poetic form the speaker repeats “The art of losing isn’t hard to master” (1) as if trying to convince us. The speaker then repeats “their loss is no disaster” (3) which appears strange comparing it to the loss of keys, and names but; feels stronger with the loss of a watch belonging to her mother. In the end the speaker is forced to “(Write it) like disaster” (19) when talking about losing a loved one.
Wendy Cope used the poetic form double rondeau for her poem “Rondeau Redouble”. The speaker takes us through a busy life of attempting to find a good man. The speaker tells
