In the first stanza, the speaker tries to convince the reader that certain things want to be lost, and when they do get lost, it’s nothing to cry about because it was bound to happen. Second stanza, if something is lost because of fate, then why not lose something on daily basis? The speaker is suggesting that things, keys or even time are the same thing.
They are capable of being lost.For the third stanza, the reader now is being told to consciously lose something, to practice the art. What they are told to lose is abstract – names, places, or a personal map. But in the end we can handle the losses.In the fourth stanza, the emphasis is on time. The speaker loses his mother’s watch.
This symbolises he lost his family time. The words “And look!” telling the reader that the three houses of his is lost and gone.In the fifth stanza, the speaker’s loss is not only the cities where they used to live but the whole continent.
This seems absurd. From a pair of keys to the whole continent. The disaster still hasn’t happened yet.The poet builds up to the dramatic climax in the poem that even losing a loved one, as hard as it may appear, can be overcome and dealt with through appropriate coping strategies.
