Essay On Head Heart By Lydia Davis
‘Head, Heart’ poem by Lydia Davis impersonates a mind, and a heart, concedes them to chat with one another. The heart is compassionate, and the mind’s task is to soothe the heart by telling the truth. The feeling that the poet creates is phenomenal because it sets a poignant and touching atmosphere like the Head’s words, ‘You will lose the ones you love. They will all go. even the earth will go, someday’ suggest that there is an end to everything. ‘But the words of head do not remain long in the ears of the heart.’ describing that no matter how many times one tells itself ‘this is a life,’ powerful tremors of grief and isolation cannot be restrained.
The poem was written in a distinctive voice, because the person that suffers is the speaker, chatting to within itself. I like how the poem made the Head and Heart seem like vivid beings instead of just body parts. They were organic, which made the poem more essential. Lydia Davis represents the existence of ‘Head’ and ‘Heart’ in such a way that it provides the readers to correlate with the characters in a manner that renders the reader and provides a transcendent touch of empathy; inducing them to reflect on their own lives as they recall comparable, secluded intercommunications between Head and Heart with using the word ‘heart weeps’ and ‘help heart.’
The poet describes a moment of great sorrow, in which Head plays the role of a consoler to Heart to support him in its time of desperation. Davis made a powerful metaphor of Head and Heart, making you feel sad and inclined towards the poem because it draws a scene of a grieving Heart over the loss of something very close to him. The loss is so significant that he went through the rollercoaster of emotions even after ‘Head’ is trying his best to make him feel better in every possible manner, but the ‘Heart’ could not stop grieving as he ‘wants them back’ with knowing that it is impossible. The poet helps the readers to understand the underlining message of this poem, and i.e., ‘life is not promised tomorrow.’
The embodiment in the poem makes you feel punched because, in reality, Heart did not say or hear anything, but the poet gave life to it, describing it as a human being. Davis wants readers to feel and connect with the emotions and empathy, with a touch of whimper like ‘Head is all Heart has.’ Help, Head. Help Heart.’
Work Cited
- Davis, Lydia. ‘Head, Heart’ Mays, Kelly J. The Norton Introduction to Literature. Twelfth edition. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2016. (pg. 478) Print.
