I know
Not these my hands
And yet I think there was
A woman like me once had hands
Like these.
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The poem to me is about the narrator looking at her hands, and she remembering maybe an older female relative with hands like her own.
- Aly
P.S. I am calling the narrator a she, and the speaker could easily be a he. lol -
To me this is the kind of poem I have to read over and over to understand it fully, to see its depth. It seems to me to be about change, the way we don't see it coming because we're in the middle of it.
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A very strong cinquain, each word holding a different meaning. I had to read this poem a couple of times to get a good grasp of the meaning but I think finally have it. I'll try to break it down in groups of lines:
Line 1:
I know
Here we have established a speaker. A first person speaker. Still, we need to read on to line 2.
Not these my hands
Here we are getting a little more. The tone from line 1 to line 2 has changed greatly. What we thought was knowledge turns out to be the opposite. The speaker doesn't recognize her hands. Moving on to line 3:
And yet I think there was
Line 3 takes us back in time. First two lines were in the present, line 3 is in the past.
A woman like me once had hands
Again, this reiterates the past. We're still there and now we know that the speaker is reflecting on herself. She ends it with line 5.
Like these.
This cinquain goes back in time. The speaker probably has gotten older and is remembering in the past when she used to be young and saw hands (perhaps a grandmother's) like the ones she has now. She is sad. She is upset by the change yet recognizes it. Maybe not at first but later. A very deep cinquain with many layers to it.
~CT -
Every word is of prime importance in this cinquain. Well, I must confess that this is like a puzzle that took some unravelling to do. I had to read this cinquain over and over again to draw the essence and meaning out of it.
In this cinquain, Adelaide Crapsey is in a prime way relating and/or comparing her hands{which belong to the "present moment"} with the hands of another woman{which belongs to the "past moment"}. This "other woman" is perhaps her very own Mother. However, that is not certain because nowhere in the cinquain is it clearly indicated or revealed. It remains a mystery and resonates forever in the reader's mind, much like how haiku do.
Moving onto my analysis of each line:
L1 : I know
This line strongly affirms what is to come or follow in the following lines. It strongly confirms a realisation the poetess has made. For example, if I say, "I know what haiku means and I can write them very well", it reveals my "total awareness" on the topic of haiku. In this cinquain, the poetess has "reported" something about her hands, much like a haijin {haiku poet} does about something in nature usually.
I do strongly feel that when Adelaide wrote this cinquain, her hands had the same appearance as her Mother's. Perhaps, that is why she was so amazed by the similarity of both pairs of hands and that led her to title this cinquain, "Amaze", I believe.
L2 : Not these my hands
This line draws the reader's attention to what the poetess mentioned knowing of in L1. However, the word "Not" in L2 suggests that the poetess is in some major way shocked or surprised or disappointed with her hands...as though they have undergone a big change suddenly and look very different from what she is used to seeing them. Perhaps, she can no longer use them to do things that she earlier could?
L3 : And yet I think there was
This line makes the reader believe that the poetess is trying very hard to remember something. Perhaps, when looking at her hands she is reminded of something or someone who is no longer alive or in contact with her {the word "was" leads me to believe that it has been long since she has seen or talked to this person or thing she is reminded of}.
L4 : A woman like me once had hands
This line shows a solid bond existed between the poetess and the other woman. No two people in the world have the same fingerprints, but generally{And this is applicable in my case}, a Mother's and her Daughter's hands and their feet tend to grow to the same size and do share a common resemblance.
If you re-read L3 and only the first four words of L4, it further strengthens my belief that Adelaide Crapsey is referring to her Mother in L4. The word "once" in L4 indicates that Adelaide is not in touch currently with the other woman.
L5 : Like these
The intensity of the cinquain is at its peak now. The imagery is vivid and brings the focus back from the other woman to the hands of the poetess.
The entire cinquain revolves around Adelaide Crapsey's hands that are being compared with those of a woman she once knew. Perhaps she is reminiscing about her past. Maybe her hands now look exactly like they did many years ago. This is a very unique cinquain as well as most deep and interesting in its interpretation because of its open-endedness.
Charishma -
It would be so easy for me to copy some else's words, but I won't. Frankly, I don't understand this cinquain at all. I have read it multiple times. I don't get what Ms. Crapsey was trying to get at. Perhaps it is the heat here that has fried my brains.
Sally -
I decided I would not read any one else's comments before posting this ~ so if I am way off the mark please forgive me... but i wanted it to be how i saw it after reading it a few times. Initially i found it disjointed, lacking a natural flow , and the lack of punctuation did not help emphasise or stress any particular aspect of the poem. Then i read it again ~ slowly, with a sigh, then quickly, almost angrily and felt the latter worked better ~ or did it? It is an enigmatic poem ~ using short words to gather pace and momentum quite cleverly.
I sense a woman who is at a time in her life when she feels resolved to something monumental... and reflecting perhaps on her mother's hands and how similar they were, a longing for something/someone lost to her. The hands are always a powerful image and to say she does not know them
I know
Not these my hands
makes me feel she is either dismissive and angry at what the hands have become 'old, frail' or sad that she cannot do what she once could.
And yet I think there was
A woman like me once had hands
Like these.
I wanted to put the 'once' before 'like' to make it more personal to her ~ the placement of it makes me wonder more if it is about her mother or other female relative: 'a woman like me' ~ The use of the word 'think' reminds me of recollecting the past...
A clever cinquain that I struggled to get to grips with ~ but enjoyed for it's simple power to make me think... what is she saying and why is she so angry?
elaine
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Well first of all, I believe the hands can be such a distinctive and beautiful part in a person, so this write already captures my attention and what I also like very much from this write is the simplicity yet the cleverness of the word usage, most of them are monosylables, and the words how they fall as if a monologue is taking place, you can almost hear her voice and how she describes the awkward sensation when you look at yourself, you are feeling like a stranger inside your own skin, as if for a moment, very ethereal like, one does not recognize what you are seeing, one does not give credit to 'being' such?..'existing' as such?...yet the hands still show her some traces that she believes existed in another woman, maybe from her past. A great amount of talent and craft are shown in this cinquain, and I think that the fact she is using more words but with only one syllable, enable her poem to be very well constructed, without sounding redundant, but still allowing her to use a description that completely paints an image of all the atmosphere, her feeling of awkwardness, stranged or nostalgia.
Leslie
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I have a different take on the poem "Amaze" than many of the preceding comments. To me, the cinquain is a reflection of the situation that Adelaide Crapsey found herself in as she was writing this and others of her most famous works -- which it is no accident were published post-humously. Namely, Crapsey wrote this at a time when she was nearing her death due to tuberculosis. It must be remembered she had been diagnosed a few years before her death.
Read in that context, the cinquain to me is a sad epitaph. These are the words of a woman looking backwards, and facing the grim reality of the inevitable. "I know / not these my hands" is a reflection (to me at least) that here, at the crux and staring into the abyss, there is a loss of true understanding of the individual. "And yet I think there was /
A woman like me once had hands / Like these." is the sad inner contemplation of what the damage of recent events has occasioned. To me this is a poem of impending doom, made more profound because the psychological scar created by the health issues of the present have damned the poet to a terrible loss of the beauty of the past.
I know there are other interpretations. One must remember that the cinquain as developed by Crapsey was in part an homage to haiku -- not only with the syllable count, but also with its profound contemplation of the abstract. Therefore, the loss of identity reflected in the lines has many possibilities, though as noted above to me they are clearly rooted in elements of death.
One mechanism that Crapsey used particularly marvelously in the piece is the monosyllable words. Note that exactly one word in the entire cinquain is TWO syllables -- "woman" -- which almost certainly is no accident. That highlights the universality of the sentiments, even if the immediate inspiration for the words was personal. This is a poem about grief -- and grief is to be shared.
Anyway, that is my view, at least, of the poem.
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The entire poem when thought of a confession the poet humbly makes of her abilities with the hands as limited , but she could do what she did is got by inspiration of the hands of a person she is very dear to!Great people do not take credit of their doing good deeds ,but show their respect to some welwishers!This is a very sagasious thought provoking cinquain ,could only be written by an expert in writing cynquain.
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I know
Not these my hands
And yet I think there was
A woman like me once had hands
Like these.
her mothers hands she knew and perchance... she reinacting the very things her mother once did without realizing it? Just a theory as there is both a hint that she knows someone whith her hands
and yet doesn't know her hands.
I don't know if I really like this cinquain, but since she invented it, It must be correct... right?
~genie~
Edited on Jul 20, 7:43 p.m. because 'typos'. -
I think this is about a great schism which has occurred. She doesn't know her hands anymore; she has done something (with them) which she can't reconcile. "I know," taken on its own as a single thought (which, ambiguous as this is, it can be) tells us that on some level she accepts something. Then "Not these my hands" instantly rejects it. Taken as a whole, "I know not these my hands" is a statement of wonder. Perhaps she has done something great with them, or just as easily, something terrible. She does and does not recognize them.
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I agree with you, Martach. I had to read through this piece a few times to figure out what she was saying. She doesn't know her hands anymore; yet, they still hold value as someone else (most likely her mother) had these same hands after living the same number of years). I think my confusion in reading this piece is the lack of punctuation throughout. I want to put in commas and semicolons to make this more readable, but I'm not the author, so all I can do is read.
This poem reminds me of the movie beaches when the woman is searching through pictures trying to find pictures of her mother's hands. -
Wow...so much said in so few words. I picture a woman sitting looking at her hands, work worn. Her hands were not the hands she remembered...soft and sleek, well manicured. She now looks and sees hands that have grown old - reminding her of her mother's hands....'a woman like me once had hands like these'.
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I know not these my hands,
And yet, I wot, in other lands,
These hands of mine that I now limn
Belonged to a woman who could rhyme. -
I am not sure about the two first lines either here. I mean, we learned in class that a cinquain must have a certain flow, but here it seems like the first two lines are separated from each other...
maybe it is also because English isn't my maternal language and that I wasn't able to read between the lines of this cinquain to find some kind of hidden message...
I'm not sure about the double use of 'hands' neither (since we've seen in class it's better to avoid double use of words because it's a short form, and we should give a picture, as complete as possible with different words) but then again, there's probably no other word for hands that could be used in here...
now, the complete image I got from this picture is that Adelaide brought across something about her hands that must have been special, or unique that this other woman once had the same hands... here, I think about her mother, but maybe we shouldn't take it too litteraly and look beyond the meaning of the words. with this I think that maybe she is referring to another lady who had the ability to write poems, (this could be her mother too in fact) and who made a new form of herself...
If I don't keep in mind the things I mentioned before, I like this cinquain
just because it's so open, and the reader can interpret it in so many ways
Leander -
I know - shows the writer's realization of something.
Not these my hands - gives insight as to what the something is and even expresses perhaps a bit of shock or disgust or even awe on the writer's part, depending on the situation.
And yet I think there was - tells me that her fascination with this "something", in this case, her hands, has given her cause to ponder further, which shows a certain depth to her thinking process.
A woman like me once had hands - this shows that she is looking at the likeness or common bond she has with another.
Like these. - She is performing a comparison between herself or her situation and that of another.
I too get the impression that she could be making reference to a comparison between the woman she thought she was and the woman she is now. Perhaps she is struggling with the fact that she has become like her mother. There are many comparison's one could make really. I am assuming only one situation, but the same would hold true if she were simply choosing to follow in the footsteps of another and had finally achieved that goal.
♥ Kimberly
Edited on Jul 16, 4:40 because ''. -
Every line has a meaning. But the first two lines don' quite get their full meaning, they are a bit confusing, it makes me wonder, if she was thinking of her mother when she wrote this [as Dr Jekyll said]. Then again the last 3 lines where given with absolute power, and meaning. I can see where this cinqauin was going, and it was enoyable.
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I found the first two lines of this poem uncomfortable to read. After a few reads I started to like this, I wonder if it Was her mother who she was thinking of when she wrote this?
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