Post by emilysi116 on May 31, 2013 20:25:15 GMT -5
Jane Hirshfield started out as many writers do: with a dream of becoming a poet. From a young age, Hirshfield had recognized this ambition, and the first book she ever purchased was a book of haikus. Growing up to a secretary mother and manufacturer father in New York City in 1953, she continued to write throughout her adolescence. Her passion continued at Princeton University, where she was a part of the first graduating class to include women, and created an original major of creative writing and literature in translation.
Despite studying poetry and writing at the University, and even after publishing her first poem after left Princeton, she decided to stop writing and pursue another devotion of hers, the practice of Zen. Soon after graduating, she spent time at the San Francisco Zen Center, trying to immerse herself in the practice of Zen-Buddhism. The practice is highly focused on ethical awareness and self-awareness, both of which she wanted to further explore. She wished to further her exposure of herself and her world through meditation, saying “I felt I’d never make much of a poet if I didn’t know more about what it means to a human.”
After eight years at the Zen Center, she returned to the poetry world, the influence of her time there highly apparent in her work. There is a clear focus on self-awareness and awareness of the world around, as well as consciousness and perception. She often speaks about the issues of human existence, including desire and loss, and the relationship with oneself and also the broader one with one’s community.
Through her technique of short forms and simple imagery, her poetry at first seems light, yet is always riddled with the themes which she wants to portray.
Said Judith Kitchen of the Georgia Review, “It’s about how to negotiate the difficulties of living while, at the same time, paying homage to what has to offer. The poems are penetrating; they reveal a quick intelligence and an even quicker intuition”
Now she has published several collections of poetry, including her earlier works of Of Gravity and Angels (1988), and The October Palace(1994).More recently, Hirshfield has published Come, Thief (2011) and After(2006), which was considered for the T.S. Eliot Prize, and Given Sugar, Given Salt, (2001), which was a finalist for the national book critic award.
We are lucky to have with such an inspirational and talented woman with us today, so please join me in welcoming poet Jane Hirshfield.
Despite studying poetry and writing at the University, and even after publishing her first poem after left Princeton, she decided to stop writing and pursue another devotion of hers, the practice of Zen. Soon after graduating, she spent time at the San Francisco Zen Center, trying to immerse herself in the practice of Zen-Buddhism. The practice is highly focused on ethical awareness and self-awareness, both of which she wanted to further explore. She wished to further her exposure of herself and her world through meditation, saying “I felt I’d never make much of a poet if I didn’t know more about what it means to a human.”
After eight years at the Zen Center, she returned to the poetry world, the influence of her time there highly apparent in her work. There is a clear focus on self-awareness and awareness of the world around, as well as consciousness and perception. She often speaks about the issues of human existence, including desire and loss, and the relationship with oneself and also the broader one with one’s community.
Through her technique of short forms and simple imagery, her poetry at first seems light, yet is always riddled with the themes which she wants to portray.
Said Judith Kitchen of the Georgia Review, “It’s about how to negotiate the difficulties of living while, at the same time, paying homage to what has to offer. The poems are penetrating; they reveal a quick intelligence and an even quicker intuition”
Now she has published several collections of poetry, including her earlier works of Of Gravity and Angels (1988), and The October Palace(1994).More recently, Hirshfield has published Come, Thief (2011) and After(2006), which was considered for the T.S. Eliot Prize, and Given Sugar, Given Salt, (2001), which was a finalist for the national book critic award.
We are lucky to have with such an inspirational and talented woman with us today, so please join me in welcoming poet Jane Hirshfield.