As the reader reads the words Head, Heart it sets a sad, emotional feeling. The reader could also feel the feeling of confusion. Before even reading the poem, you already can feel how the poem will make you feel after you finish reading it. The title relates to the poem, because head and heart are actually repeated several times within It. A way the reader feels confusion Is by lines five through eight: Heart feels better then. But the words of head do not remain long in the ears of the heart. Heart Is so new to this. I want them back, says heart. (5-8) It makes the reader feel how confused the heart is.
The heart feels better and shows acceptance to the fact they loss someone one moment and then the next moment the heart feels sad and wants them to come back. The heart cannot make up how It really feels. The poet wrote this in the private voice. The person that lost someone is the speaker, speaking to within themselves. The head and the heart are also speakers/characters. The head and the heart go back and forth with an inside conversation on how to feel cause the human who has lost someone near and dear to them Is making them feel these emotions.
The person that lost someone Is telling the reader what the The specific situation in the poem is a story about a human being suffering from the loss of someone they loved. They are grieving, wanting them back. Their head tells them basically get over it because everybody dies. The reader knows this from, “Head tells heart how it is, again: Noun will lose the ones you love. They will all go. ‘But even the Earth will go someday” (3-4). Head tries to make the heart feel better but it is only temporarily because the real pain of the significant loss and heart ache comes back to the Heart quickly.
The conversation between the two affect the human and their emotions towards the situation. The word choice the poet chose makes you feel bad for this person dealing with loss. It also makes you feel bad for the heart. The language used is both concrete and abstract. It is concrete because Lydia uses the word “weeps” in line one, making you feel and almost hear what the heart is doing. The poet also uses the word “help” here times in the poem, making the reader want to reach out and help that person feel better and stop their heartache or headache.
Davis uses abstract language as well. She does this by making you feel sad, empathy, and confusion. The reader feels sadness and empathy from the poem which says, “l want them back, says heart” (8). The poem uses a couple of examples of figurative language throughout it. “Head, Heart” by Lydia Davis has lots of personification. The three examples used are “Heart Weeps” (1), “but the words of the head do not remain long in the ears of the heart”(6), l want them back, says heart”(8).
There is personification because a heart cannot literally weep or say things. A heart does not have ears either. The poet gave this human qualities to this nonliving thing to help the reader feel deeper to what the heart is “feeling”. Miss Davis also uses, alliteration, more specifically consonance in this poem. On almost every single line in both stanzas of this poem the letter “H” is used. The three words repeated are heart, head, and help. The best example of it is the last line of the poem “Help, Head. Help Heart” (10).
That is four words all beginning with the letter “H”. The imagery in this poem paints a scene of a grieving human crying over the loss of someone close to them. They are going back and forth through multiple emotions. Their heart is hurting and they are emotional. Their heart doesn’t feel complete with that person gone. Their head is telling them that it is okay because everyone is going to die eventually. The head is trying to tell them to stop crying, don’t stop your life because you lost someone because no one is going to live forever.
Like said before, it creates an emotional feeling. In conclusion, “Head, Heart” by Lydia Davis helps the reader understand that because life isn’t always promised tomorrow, you cannot dwell on the people you lose in life. Your head will tell you one thing and your heart will feel another. Your head will try to make you push your feelings aside instead of dealing with them while your heart will deal with them wishing they did not have to deal with them. I believe that’s head. ” It was important for the poet to give this message to the reader.
