Summary

The poem begins with the assertion that, “The art of losing isn’t hard to master” (1). This seemingly simple claim refers to the common experience of loss as an art form, which immediately elevates it from the everyday. Nevertheless, in the first stanza the speaker assures the reader that since, “so many things seem filled with the intent / to be lost” (2-3), losing things is commonplace and therefore, “no disaster” (3).

As the poem progresses, so does the gravity of those things being lost, but still the speaker exhorts the reader to get used to and learn to accept loss by practicing: “Lose something every day. Accept the fluster / of lost door keys” (4-5). At the end of the stanza the speaker repeats the refrain, again declaring that “The art of losing isn’t hard to master” (6).

The speaker continues to encourage the reader to...