Separated from the Poet?

Formalists would argue that a reader should not attempt to make connections between the poem and the poet, an author and the literature. Why? Because poetry should merely be read as a poem, as a work of art that has no value within the author's personal life. According to the formalist, the reader should only ask the question, "How does this structure of words, or combination of words, make a meaning?" The value of the work lies only in the written words.

I strongly disagree with this viewpoint. Literature takes on a whole new meaning when considering the background of the artist. Even the words a poet chooses to employ in a given work retain some of the poet's personality. Although she didn't write during the modern period, let's take a look at one of my favorite poets, Elizabeth Bishop, and her poem entitled "One Art."

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.

---Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

With the knowledge that Bishop traveled extensively throughout her lifetime, it seems as if the poet is directing advice right to the reader. Yes, everyone has lost keys and other various random objects, but not everyone has changed homes so often that you think it's no big deal to up and lose three houses. Bishop lost those. She traveled to Brazil and Canada, and several places in-between. She lost the rivers near her homes and the cities and continents she had lived in. The last stanza, however, is the one stanza that truly stands out from the rest, in regards to personal emotion. Bishop's lover committed suicide after Bishop left the relationship--life is a terrible thing to misplace. The "---" before she begins this stanza indicates a hesitation to admit such a personal loss. We see this hesitation again at the last line: "(Write it!)"

"One Art" is only one of many poems that would lose a great deal of meaning if we could not connect it with the poet's background. I think it's impossible to write, let alone read, without including one's own history, or past actions (or current, for that matter), or thought processes (which are often influenced by our environments and culture). Therefore, I don't think I'll ever be able to read a poem in a formalist manner.