Hirshfield's Poem 'Three Times My Life Has Opened'
Three Times My Life Has Opened The poem is written in a free verse style meaning, there is no rhyme scheme or meter to the poem. It is almost like you are reading different verses. One of the elements of this poem is visual imagery, and the reader experiences this when they read lines eight and nine. Hirshfield describes the sight outside her window as “But outside my window all day a maple tree has stepped from her leaves like a woman in love with winter, dropping the colored silks” (Hirshfield 657). Of course a tree cannot actually step from her leaves but Hirshfield paints this visual image of the tree dropping its leaves in preparation for winter. The last lines of the poem continue to build on the mystery and are a cryptic, sad description of a door. The author talks about a door existing, opening, and closing. The reader is left to wonder is this an actual door or is the word door symbolic and life like. This example of figurative language encourages the reader to think about the symbolism of the light peeking out under the door. “But here a slip of light stays, like a scrap of unreadable paper on the floor, or
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I did appreciate that it was shorter and condensed and found that as I read the lines over it became a little easier for me to interpret it. I did like the visual imagery that Hirshfield used and thought that helped keep me interested and wanting to continue to read. I am still building on my life experiences and I can’t really relate to such deep examination of my own personal experiences. I did identify with the idea of a door opening, and closing and feel that there is always opportunity for more positive things to come someone’s way. It might be like the saying when one door closes another door opens, or maybe the door is never truly closed. I believe that life is a journey not a race and there is always the possibility for
I did appreciate that it was shorter and condensed and found that as I read the lines over it became a little easier for me to interpret it. I did like the visual imagery that Hirshfield used and thought that helped keep me interested and wanting to continue to read. I am still building on my life experiences and I can’t really relate to such deep examination of my own personal experiences. I did identify with the idea of a door opening, and closing and feel that there is always opportunity for more positive things to come someone’s way. It might be like the saying when one door closes another door opens, or maybe the door is never truly closed. I believe that life is a journey not a race and there is always the possibility for