Give Me Your Hand
By Gabriela Mistral
Give me your hand and give me your love,
give me your hand and dance with me.
A single flower, and nothing more,
a single flower is all we’ll be.
Keeping time in the dance together,
singing the tune together with me,
grass in the wind, and nothing more,
grass in the wind is all we’ll be.
I’m called Hope and you’re called Rose:
but losing our names we’ll both go free,
a dance on the hills, and nothing more,
a dance on the hills is all we’ll be.
Summary of Give Me Your Hand
- Popularity of “Give Me Your Hand”: Gabriela Mistral’s poem “Give Me Your Hand” is concise yet deeply resonant. It first appeared in her early Spanish collection and later reached English readers through translations. The poem has become a favorite for its heartfelt plea for connection and shared experience.
- “Give Me Your Hand” as a Representation of Love and Life: At its core, the poem expresses a longing for intimacy and unity. The speaker invites, “Give me your hand and dance with me,” illustrating a desire for closeness and shared joy. The repeated refrain—“a single flower…grass in the wind…a dance on the hills”—suggests a willingness to surrender to the moment and become one with the beloved in a simple, natural existence.
- Major Themes in “Give Me Your Hand”: The poem explores love, companionship, and the beauty of shared experience. Mistral portrays a gentle yearning for connection rather than a grand, dramatic love. The imagery of flowers, wind, and dance evokes freedom, spontaneity, and the fleeting nature of life. The speaker seeks not permanence but a fleeting moment of unity, a blissful merging of two souls.
Analysis of Literary Devices Used in Give Me Your Hand
Gabriela Mistral masterfully employs a range of literary devices to create a poem that is both lyrical and emotionally powerful.
- Anaphora: The repeated phrase “give me your hand” at the beginning of successive lines emphasizes the speaker’s desire for connection and establishes a rhythmic pattern.
- Assonance: The repetition of vowel sounds, such as the “ee” sound in “give me your hand and dance with me,” contributes to the poem’s musical quality and reinforces its lyrical nature.
- Alliteration: The repetition of consonant sounds, for example the “t” sound in “tune together,” adds another layer of musicality and subtly highlights harmony.
- Consonance: Repeated consonant sounds, such as the “m” and “n” in “give me your hand and dance with me,” create smoothness and flow in the lines.
- Imagery: Mistral’s vivid images—a single flower, grass in the wind, a dance on the hills—evoke natural beauty and freedom. These images symbolize the speaker’s desire for a simple, unburdened existence shared with the beloved.
- Irony: The lines about becoming “grass in the wind” contain a subtle irony. While suggesting humility and surrender, they also imply a loss of individuality, creating a nuanced tension.
- Metaphor: The poem functions as an extended metaphor for love and connection, with the flower, grass, and dance representing beauty, freedom, and joyous movement.
- Symbolism: The dance symbolizes joy and harmony, the flower and grass represent natural simplicity and fragility, and the act of giving hands symbolizes trust, connection, and mutual support.
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in Give Me Your Hand
Beyond literary devices, the poem showcases several poetic techniques that contribute to its overall effect.
- Diction: Mistral uses simple yet lyrical diction, avoiding overly complex vocabulary and maintaining direct emotional honesty.
- Rhyme and Structure: The poem does not follow a strict rhyme scheme; the lines end with different sounds, creating a free‑verse feel. The structure consists of two quatrains—each stanza has four lines—providing balance and stability.
- Quatrain: Each stanza is a quatrain, a poetic form that gives the poem a sense of order.
- Tone: The tone is loving, gentle, and hopeful. The speaker’s voice is inviting and sincere, conveying a genuine desire for connection.
Quotes to be Used
The following lines offer powerful expressions of love and shared experience:
I’m called Hope and you’re called Rose:
but losing our names we’ll both go free,
a dance on the hills, and nothing more,
a dance on the hills is all we’ll be.
This excerpt beautifully encapsulates the poem’s central idea: a willingness to surrender to love and find freedom in shared experience. The image of dancing on the hills evokes joy, liberation, and the fleeting beauty of life.