Jane Hirshfield, The Body, and American Art

This assignment has multiple parts. Please make sure to do the parts in the order listed here, to gain maximum benefit from the assignment :-). 

Part One

Take a look at the diagram of the skeleton below (you will have to click on the link that will take you there). Note what is interesting to you. These notes are only for you, so say anything that comes to mind. Free associate! Think about what you see and what you literally notice, as well as any connotations you might have. Please make a few notes about the skeleton before you go on and do Part Two! 

 Diagram of the Human Skeleton:

Part Two

I. Read the following poem, "My Skeleton," aloud note all the words and phrases that jump out at you.  What do you like? What are you confused by? Lookup any words you don't understand and read it through one more time without reading aloud.

My Skeleton

My skeleton,
you who once ached
with your own growing larger

are now,
each year
imperceptibly smaller,
lighter,
absorbed by your own
concentration.

When I danced,
you danced.
When you broke,
I.

And so it was lying down,
walking,
climbing the tiring stairs.
Your jaws. My bread.

Someday you,
what is left of you,
will be flensed of this marriage.

Angular wristbone's arthritis,
cracked harp of ribcage,
blunt of heel,
opened bowl of the skull,
twin platters of pelvis—
each of you will leave me behind,
at last serene.

What did I know of your days,
your nights,
I who held you all my life
inside my hands
and thought they were empty?

You who held me all my life
inside your hands
as a new mother holds
her own unblanketed child,
not thinking at all.

 

 

II. After that, read it a third time, aloud, paying attention to the structure of the poem on the page. Do you notice anything else? Take a few notes before you move on.
 

Jane Hirshfield Links to an external site.

Jane Hirshfield

Jane Hirshfield is the author of eight collections of poetry, includingThe Beauty: Poems (Alfred A. Knopf, 2015), which was long-listed for the National Book Award. She served as a Chancellor Links to an external site. of the Academy of American Poets from 2012 to 2017.

Date Published: 2013
 

Part Three

I. Watch the video below of Jane Hirshfield reading her poem and talking about what inspired her to write it. What else do you notice? What further meaning do you make of the poem? What else interests you about the poem?
 
Jane Hirshfield Reads Her Poem “My Skeleton”

About this Poem: 

"Where the self begins and ends, what it is and isn’t, is a question that’s long been with me. There’s no objective measuring stick for metaphysical ponderings, but I’ve come to prefer thoughts that calibrate toward both realism and tenderness—toward life’s bite but also its dearness. I’ve also come to like poems with facts in them. Bone does, quite factually, reabsorb into the body as the growing pains of childhood turn into the diminishing bone mass that marks its other end. Self returns to non-self. But in between, neither quite one or the other, the skeleton is there, almost always ignored and invisible, every step and breath of the way."
—Jane Hirshfield

II.  Look at the image of the human skeleton again. Do you notice anything differently about the way you look at the skeleton after experiencing the poem? If so, what is different? 

Part Four

I. Take a look at the Smithsonian Institute's American Art Museum and find a painting that reminds you of something that you thought about or noted in this assignment so far. You might want to start by using their wonderful search box here Links to an external site. and entering terms that correspond to what you are thinking about. If you want to do a search on some of our primary themes, two terms that work well are "old age" and "skeleton." 

II. Write down a few sentences about how you relate your thoughts, ideas, or feelings about the painting to the poem, "My Skeleton," or to what you wrote about the poem, "My Skeleton."