Introduction & Overview of Three Times My Life Has Opened by Jane Hirshfield

Three Times My Life Has Opened Introduction

Jane Hirshfield opted to place "Three Times My Life Has Opened" as the last poem in her 1997 collection called The Lives of the Heart, and it makes for an appropriate and intriguing closing thought. This poem is rich in metaphor and mystery, and one line probably epitomizes the latter better than any other: "You will recognize what I am saying or you will not." This is the essence of a poem that is presented with an elegant tone, a simple style, and a caring voice that seems to assure the reader that one does not necessarily need to grasp every meaning within it to be moved by it. Instead, the overall gist of this work is most easily comprehended by getting a feel for its content without worrying about deciphering a certain message.

The word "Zen" is not mentioned in "Three Times My Life Has Opened," nor is...
(read more)