Replay: Jane Hirshfield shares Five Things She's Learned about Poems as Fields of Discovery
Check out the first five minutes of her recent class.
“To discover something new about the world and in ourselves is why writers write, and why readers read… Writing becomes art – words working with but also beyond declaration, decoration, documentation, instruction – when it makes and holds some discovery. Art leaves the world larger, even if by only by a single molecule’s added spin.”
– Jane Hirshfield, Five Things I’ve Learned about Poems as Fields of Discovery
On April 27th, award-winning poet, essayist, and translator Jane Hirshfield joined us in order to share the five things she’s learned about the ways that poems’ original seeing can be invited, recognized, and worked with to open new depth, openness, and possibility – in words and in lives.
Jane, hailed by The New York Times Magazine as “writing some of the most important poems in the world today,” is the award-winning author of ten poetry collections, including The Asking: New & Selected Poems, two influential essay books on poetry, and four volumes translating ancient world poets. A leading voice on the interconnection of poetry, climate, and inner life, her work embraces complexity and loss with clarity and depth. She has received numerous honors, including fellowships from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller foundations, the 2024 Zhongkun International Poet Award, and election to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Her poems appear widely, including in The New Yorker and The Best American Poetry, and her TED-Ed lesson on metaphor has reached over 1.5 million viewers. Jane has taught at major institutions and her work has been translated into eighteen languages.
In her two-hour class, Five Things I’ve Learned about Poems as Fields of Discovery, Jane explores discovery as a central force in poetry—how it arises, how to invite it, and how it transforms both writing and life. Through five key areas—from the silence before a poem begins to the revelations of revision— she shares insight, tools, and inspiration for deeper, freer poetic expression.
We’re pleased to offer this class in partnership with Conscious Writers Collective, the online writing platform and global writing community designed around the belief that rigorous writing instruction, a dedicated community of writers, and opportunities to learn from visiting experts should not be exclusive to an MFA. Find out more, and join CWC Poetry or CWC Fiction.
View the full archive of Jane’s class online at myfivethings.com.
Thanks for being part of Five Things I’ve Learned on Substack. Visit myfivethings.com to view personal video invitations from more than 120 more writers, thinkers, and artists we admire – and to get special discounted pricing with our Five Things I’ve Learned Multi Pass.