Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

In Jane Hirshfield's "Hand," the poem explores the intricate complexities and inherent contradictions surrounding the notion of a 'hand.' While it is a physical entity made up of bones, flesh, and skin, Hirshfield argues that a hand is more than the sum of its anatomical parts. In doing so, she engages the reader in a philosophical exploration of form and function, identity and purpose, reducing the hand to its physical elements only to transcend those boundaries.

The first section of the poem works to deconstruct the hand, dismissing the simplistic notion that it can be reduced to "four fingers and a thumb," or its "palm and knuckles." The speaker delves deeper, mentioning "ligaments," the "fat's yellow pillow," "tendons," and "meander of veins," as if navigating through the hand's physical geography. Yet, Hirshfield asserts that even these more nuanced aspects don't capture the essence of a hand.

Hirshfield then moves beyond anatomy to consider the hand as a tool of action and creativity-"what it has written, not on the page, not on the ecstatic body." The hand as an implement for writing and touch introduces its capability to be both functional and sensual, but even these roles do not define what a hand is. The imagery here of "the ecstatic body" and "the page" also offers a juxtaposition between physical and cerebral pursuits, hinting at the hand's versatile roles.

The poem further delves into the concept of the hand as a vessel for holding and shaping, "not sponge of rising yeast-bread, not rotor pin's smoothness, not ink." Here, Hirshfield addresses the hand's role in various forms of creation-culinary, mechanical, and artistic. Even so, these utilities still do not encapsulate what a 'hand' truly represents.

The penultimate stanza broadens the scope, moving from the human hand to "the maple's green hands," suggesting a form of universal 'hand-ness,' a basic function of holding or receiving across different forms of life. The lines "What empties itself falls into the place that is open" introduce a paradox-that in its emptiness, a hand gains its true function and identity.

Finally, Hirshfield crystallizes this paradox in the last lines: "A hand turned upward holds only a single, transparent question. / Unanswerable, humming like bees, it rises, swarms, departs." The hand, when open, holds questions rather than answers; it embodies possibilities and uncertainties. Its true nature is "unanswerable," dynamic, ever-changing-much like the questions it holds.

Through vivid imagery, metaphor, and philosophical musings, "Hand" urges us to contemplate the layered complexities of even the most ordinary things. In focusing on what a hand is not, Hirshfield leads us closer to understanding its essence-not as a static, defined object but as a locus of endless questions and possibilities. The poem becomes a metaphysical exploration, challenging us to look beyond the obvious and tangible to understand the deeper, elusive nature of being.

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