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Quote by Jane Hirshfield

“Go back to The October Palace, which came out in 1994, and there are poems with windows, doors, the rooms of the gorgeous and vanishing palace that is this ordinary world and ordinary life. Jungian archetype would say the house is a figure for the experienced, experiencing self.”

Quote by Jane Hirshfield

Author

Jane Hirshfield

Jane Hirshfield is an American poet known for her concise and profound poetry. Born on February 24, 1953, she has gained widespread recognition in the literary world since the 1980s. more

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“Houses are fundamental metaphors for self, world, permeability, transition, interiority, exteriority, multiplicity, and the power to move from one state of being to another.”

World Self States Moving House Fundamentals Metaphor Transition Multiplicity

Author:Jane Hirshfield

“A certain amount of housekeeping also goes on in my poems. I wash doorknobs, do dishes, mop floors, patch carpets, cook.”

Certain Goes On Amount Cooks Dishes Carpet Patches Housekeeping

Author:Jane Hirshfield

“A poem can use anything to talk about anything.”

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“Poems are always interested in what Ivan Illich called 'shadow work,' not least because that is no small part of their own way of working.”

Way Shadow Small Parts Shadow Work

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“Though I am never exactly "blocked" I do have difficult periods. I am led by a fascination with material - the challenge of presenting it in an original and engaging way. I have no problem imagining stories, characters, distinctive settings & themes - but the difficulty is choosing a voice & a language in which to present it.”

“Characters begin as voices, then gain presence by being viewed in others' eyes. Characters define one another in dramatic contexts. It is often very exciting, when characters meet - out of their encounters, unanticipated stories can spring.”

Character Stories Eye Voice Spring Gains Exciting Dramatic Encounters

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“One recurring dream, many others have also: you go into a familiar house, discover a door or hallway, and find the house continues into hidden rooms. Sometimes a whole second house is there, a larger and unknown extension of the familiar dwelling.”

Sometimes Whole Dream House Rooms Doors Familiar Extensions Dwelling Hallways Recurring Recurring Dreams

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“Before I undertake a lengthy project, I have usually given much thought to it over a period of years. My files are filled with likely subjects - which perhaps, one day, I will develop.”

Years Given Subjects Periods One Day Projects Filled Files Lengthy

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“I will never become a horse trainer, a biologist, a person competent with a hammer. My loves were my loves.”

Persons Horse Hammers Competent Trainers Biologist

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“At another level, though, poems can craft an eraser - we can't revise the past, but poems allow us some malleability, an increased freedom of response, comprehension, feeling. Choice, what choices are possible for any given person, is another theme that's run through my work from the start.”

Persons Feelings Running Past Choices Given Levels Response Crafts Theme Comprehension Erasers

Author:Jane Hirshfield