One Art

1. In the first stanza, “the art of losing” refers to the ordinary act of misplacing things. In the second stanza, what does the speaker recommend doing to become successful at “the art of losing”?

A) lose things that are not easy to lose

B) lose things that are not tangible or concrete

C) lose things without getting flustered by their loss

D) lose things without spending hours looking for them

2. The three losses grouped together in Lines 8 and 9 (“places, and names, and where it was you meant / to travel”) most likely relate to what general loss?

A) abandoning the wish to travel away from home

B) the loss of mobility associated with aging

C) the fading of concern about news from foreign countries

D) the letting go of past connections, dreams, or desires

3. What can be inferred about the speaker based on Lines 13 and 14 (“I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster, / some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.”)?

A) The speaker has moved to another continent.

B) The speaker has a tendency to exaggerate.

C) The speaker has delusions of having been a monarch.

D) The speaker has been in a war over disputed territory.

4. What is the speaker trying to persuade readers to believe by boastfully pointing out personal losses in Lines 10 and 11 (“And look! My last, or / next-to-last, of three loved houses went.