ipl-logo

Head, Heart: A Common Conundrum

710 Words3 Pages

Head, Heart: A Common Conundrum A feeling, an experience, and a trauma every human being ever living has gone through. In her poem "Head. Heart," Lydia Davis employs personification and imagery to express the struggle between rational thought and emotional intuition. The speaker in the poem describes the conflict between the head and the heart as separate entities in the body, each with its own unique qualities and characteristics. The head is portrayed as logical and analytical, while the heart is portrayed as impulsive and emotional. This struggle between the head and the heart is a universal experience that the poet explores in depth through the use of vivid imagery and powerful personification. The use of personification and imagery …show more content…

The speaker describes the head as "a leader who rules with a firm hand" (Davis 10) and the heart as "a rebel who refuses to be contained" (Davis 11). This metaphor serves to emphasize the struggle between the head and heart and the idea that the two are often in opposition. The use of metaphor adds depth to the poem and allows the speaker to express complex ideas in a succinct and effective manner. Additionally, the metaphor helps to bring the abstract concepts of control and opposition to life, making the poem more accessible and relatable to the reader. Through this device, the poet is able to convey a powerful message about the human experience and the ongoing struggle between rational thought and emotional …show more content…

Heart" effectively employs personification, imagery, metaphor, and repetition to explore the struggle between rational thought and emotional intuition. Through vivid imagery and powerful metaphors, the poet conveys the idea that this struggle is a common experience and that reconciling the two can be difficult. The repetition of the phrase "head. heart" emphasizes the central conflict in the poem and draws the reader's attention to it, making the message of the poem even more impactful. These literary devices make the poem a powerful exploration of the human experience and the ongoing struggle between the head and heart. Additionally, through the use of personification, imagery, metaphor, and repetition, the poet is able to bring abstract concepts to life, making the poem more accessible and relatable to the reader. The powerful message of the poem, combined with the vivid imagery and skillful use of literary devices, makes "Head. Heart" by Lydia Davis a memorable and thought-provoking work of

Show More
Related

Jack Merridew Lord Of The Flies Essay

855 Words | 4 Pages

The Case of Jack Merridew The murders of Piggy and Simon have not gone unnoticed, and the kids from the island are all under question for their untimely deaths. The main suspect for their murders is Jack Merridew, one of the older boys on the island. The story originates in a book called The Lord of the Flies written by William Golding, about young boys who are stranded on the island. Jack is one of the older, more savage of the bunch, but he seems to be ill in the brain.

Read More

Extended Metaphors In Joyas Voladoras

1112 Words | 5 Pages

Joshua Cielo Hill AP Lang and Comp, P1 22 January 2018 Joyas Voladoras Essay While hearts have many observable qualities, they also have many properties that cannot be measured or weighed by conventional means. In Brian Doyle’s “Joyas Voladoras”, he explores his sentiments toward those unseeable properties. Through his work, Doyle is telling his audience to not close off their hearts to the things in life that make it worth it, even if it brings pain and sorrow. Doyle crafts his discussion and expands it to convey this message about the properties of the heart that cannot be weighed or measured through his use of distinct changes in tone using specific diction, his changes in point of view, and use of multiple extended metaphors.

Read More

Head Vs Heart In Romeo And Juliet

1699 Words | 7 Pages

Head Versus Heart In Nick Cassavetes movie, "The Notebook," Allie and Noah exemplify the theme of head versus heart when two people fall in love but are tragically ripped apart by their families. Years later Allie is engaged with another man but falls in love with Noah again. Ultimately, they disobey what their head deems correct, and wind up choosing what their hearts desire. Similarly, Shakespeare uses the same theme of head versus heart in his book, “Romeo and Juliet,” exemplifying how the heart overruled the head.

Read More

Metaphors In Joyas Voladoras

1379 Words | 6 Pages

In Doyle 's passage “Joyas Voladoras”, he uses metaphors through hearts to explain about life and love. This poetic passage is one that is deep even though it may be a little over two pages. Through the hummingbird, Doyle explains about such a precious fast-paced life that is very threatening and compares those lives to the life of a turtle who lives a very slow long life. Through the blue whale, Doyle explains about love with the largest heart in any mammal. Talking about hearts in general, Doyle explains to live every moment in our life.

Read More

The Scarlet Ibis Symbolism

630 Words | 3 Pages

The human mind is sometimes stronger than the human body itself. In James Hurst’s short story, “The Scarlet Ibis,” a boy named Doodle was pushed to his limits to overcome his struggles. Due to Doodle’s restraints and disabilities, trying new things and building strength to keep up with everyone else was his favorite thing, his mind was full of determination and vigor; this demonstrated irony of how fragile things are sometimes the strongest and the symbolism of the scarlet ibis’ compatibility to Doodle weaknesses. Strength of the mind is more powerful than strength of the body; therefore, Doodle’s strength is being compared to the scarlet ibis by showing his physical impairments and powerful mind to the significance of symbolism. The scarlet

Read More

Response To Heart By Rita Dove

475 Words | 2 Pages

The first example is, "It doesn't have a top to spin on. "(line 11). When we hear the word heart or see one, we often think of an image with two humps on the top that connect at the bottom. It's embedded in our heads that this is what a heart looks like and we don't ever make an effort to change the way this is described.

Read More

Hyperbole And Diction In Rita Dove's 'Heart By Heart'

735 Words | 3 Pages

From my heart to yours Did you know that your heart beats 73 times per minute, 4,320 per hour, 103,680 per day, 37,869,120 per year and approximately 3,500,000,000 per lifetime? It’s a lot, but do you think the heart Is just a shapeless muscle that doesn’t make any sound and only pumps blood in and out to all our body (except the corneas)? In this free verse poem Rita Dove talks about the heart literally, usually when people write about the heart they talk about the feelings they have in it, love, but for Rita it’s just one more muscle. In “Heart by Heart”, Rita Dove uses diction, hyperbole and metaphor to show that the heart is just a shapeless muscle that at the end feels love and if someone wants your heart then they´ll have to accept who you are.

Read More

Symbolism In Joyas Voladoras

746 Words | 3 Pages

Brian Doyle, the author of “Joyas Voladoras,” passionately writes about hearts due to his own experiences with his son, who was born with only three chambers in his heart. In his short story, “Joyas Voladoras,” Doyle further discusses hearts and the symbolic meaning they possess. Through examples with hummingbirds, whales, and people, he is able to convey that feeling vulnerable is a part of life. He discusses vulnerability through multiple situations: how it exists while taking risks, how it exists while seeking companionship, and how it is exists due to harsh realities of the current world. In “Joyas Voladoras,” Doyle suggests that the heart is constantly in a state of vulnerability.

Read More

The Theme Of Perception And Reality In Avi's Nothing But The Truth

1050 Words | 5 Pages

“The Tell-Tale Heart” also has a similar

Read More

Analysis Of Empathy By Stephen Dunnn

974 Words | 4 Pages

Poetry is an effective means used to convey a variety of emotions, from grief, to love, to empathy. This form of text relies heavily on imagery and comparison to inflict the reader with the associated feelings. As such, is displayed within Stephen Dunn 's, aptly named poem, Empathy. Quite ironically, Dunn implores strong diction to string along his cohesive plot of a man seeing the world in an emphatic light. The text starts off by establishing the military background of the main protagonist, as he awaits a call from his lover in a hotel room.

Read More

Comparison Of Ta-Nehisi Coates The Joy Of Motherhood

1160 Words | 5 Pages

Overall, in the poem FreeQuency uses emotional word choices that can directly relate to two prominent issues that involve

Read More

The Poet X Figurative Language

1330 Words | 6 Pages

Furthermore the use of figurative language grabbed the reader's attention while demonstrating the importance of the power of words. The poem was short with three verses yet it was one of the impactful poems of the book. The words used were dark but significant which ended up making the readers relate back to their own life and makes them dive into similar feelings they have had. Power was shown through deep, sharp and cutting verses about loneliness. This specific theme was important to the book because without it people wouldn't be able to truly relate back to the

Read More

Hard Rock Returns To Prison Analysis

808 Words | 4 Pages

The surgical operation he had gone in his forehead makes him lose his status as a hero in the emotional reaction of despair as other prisoners watch. In analyzing this poem, the main point of focus is that the poet achieves a contemplative mood by listing surface events that are emotional in nature. Looking at the structure of the poem first, the poem has 42 lines or sentences. Most of the sentences are complicated with the poem employing the use of verb-nouns in a normal way. The poet also includes some enjambment, some end-stopped lines and a title that precisely explains what is going on in the poem.

Read More

Irony In The Masque Of Red Death

648 Words | 3 Pages

A recurring theme in his stories is that the main character acts irrationally or uncharacteristically because he is driven by fear. Symbolism in the “Tell-Tale Heart” represents a certain extent of fear. In

Read More

When We Talk About Love By Raymond Carver Analysis

1396 Words | 6 Pages

Although the heart is used with its concrete meaning as symbols in the short story, they are interpreted by more abstract meanings. For instance, the story begins with the use of the heart as a symbol by the character, Mel McGinnis who is a cardiologist - a heart doctor; thus, it gives him the right to speak first. He talks more than other characters in the short story yet; he cannot come up with a clear definition of love.

Read More

More about Head, Heart: A Common Conundrum

Related Topics

Open Document