Heart to Heart

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2004

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Form and Meter

“Heart to Heart” consists of two stanzas of free verse with no set meter or rhyme scheme. The lines are clipped and short, a structure suited to the content and tone of the poem: separation, coldness, and the speaker’s inability to access or understand their feelings. The lines range between one and five syllables and sometimes consist of a lone word. For example, Lines 7-9 are all one-word lines: “pain, / yearning, / regret” (Lines 7-9). These words come after the line, “so it can’t feel” (Line 6). Placing each of these words on its own line individually emphasizes each word, drawing the reader’s attention to their significance as well as their starkness.

Additionally, Dove uses internal and end slant rhymes to emphasize other poetic elements. For example, in the second stanza, “mute” (Line 17) slant-rhymes with “tattoo” (Line 20). In Line 23, “key” (Line 23) slant-rhymes with “sleeve” (Line 25). Finally, “too” (Line 32) also slant-rhymes with “mute” (Line 17) from earlier. These slant rhymes create a sense of cohesion throughout the stanza. More so, these rhymes do not occur until Line 17, where there is a shift in tone and the speaker uses the personal “I” (“I feel it inside” [Line 18]) and attempts to translate their heart’s language.

While not a formal poem, “Heart to Heart” does not lack form. Strategic enjambment and single-word lines create an emphasis that directs the reader’s attention. For example, the enjambed lines “or tell you from / the bottom of it / how I feel” (Lines 26-28) create momentum that emphasizes the phrase “how I feel” (Line 28) when the punctuation finally appears. This line is the core of “Heart to Heart”—the speaker’s attempt to speak their heart’s desire and to connect with their true feelings.

Negation and Repetition

Negation and repetition are two major literary devices in “Heart to Heart,” combined to establish the speaker’s disconnection from their feelings. The negation presents from the poem’s outset with the assertions, “It’s neither red / nor sweet” (Lines 1-2) and “It doesn’t melt / or turn over, / break or harden” (Lines 3-5). Using both negation (“It’s neither” [Line 1], “It doesn’t” [Lines 3, 10]) and repetition (the repetition of that negation), Dove creates a sort of list poem itemizing what the heart is not. Negation and repetition establish the speaker’s frustration at trying to define the heart and to understand their own. These literary devices clarify that the speaker can only define the heart by what it isn’t, rather than by what it is—a quandary underscoring a sense of absence and, by extension, the very want and desire that are beyond the speaker’s expression.

In Line 22, the speaker returns to negation and repetition by stating “but I can’t open it: / there’s no key. / I can’t wear it / on my sleeve” (Lines 22-25). The poem here takes on a tone of urgency as the speaker repeats again and again what the heart is not to them, and what it (or they themselves) cannot do. There is both the need and inability to define the heart.

Because of these two literary devices, the poem is very circular. The poem circles around what the heart is, but it never finds resolution. The negation and repetition thus mimic the poem’s content: The speaker, too, never reaches a resolution, as they close the poem in resignation, having given up: “Here’s, / it’s all yours, now— / but you’ll have / to take me, / too” (Lines 28-32). These final lines are bittersweet. The speaker gives their heart to the “you,” but the heart is indecipherable.

Diction

Dove’s diction (or word choice) plays into the poem’s melancholy tone. When the speaker finally describes what the heart is (beginning with Line 17), the words create a mood of cold lifelessness. The heart is described with harsh, almost mechanical terms: “clutch” (Line 14), “mute” (Line 17) and “dull” (Line 20). Other words, such as calling the heart simply a “muscle” (Line 15) and “lopsided” (Line 16) establish a tone of indifference and resignation: The heart is a mere organ. However, the speaker knows this is not true. In Line 17, the speaker states, “Still, / I feel it inside / its cage sounding” (Lines 17-19). Even though the speaker uses this negative diction to describe the heart, they still know that it beats within them, that it sounds “a dull tattoo: / I want, I want—” (Lines 20-21). However, even its sound is “dull” (Line 20) to the speaker.

Defined as “the vocabulary, phrasing, and grammatical usage deemed appropriate to verse as well as the deviations allowable for effect within it” (“Poetic Diction.” Poetry Foundation.), poetic diction is key to a poem’s tone. “Heart to Heart” achieves its tone through repeated negatives (“It’s neither” [Line 1], “It doesn’t” [Lines 2, 10], “it can’t” [Line 6]); this use of negative phrasing and the use of negative, cold words to describe the heart represent the speaker’s mindset toward their own heart. They cannot understand it, as is evident when the speaker states, “but I can’t open it: / there’s no key” (Lines 22-23). Diction sets up the final lines, which are tonally melancholic and resigned as the speaker finally hands their heart over (“Here, / it’s all yours, now—” [Lines 28-29]), admitting, “I can’t wear it / on my sleeve, / or tell you from / the bottom of it / how I feel” (Lines 24-28). The speaker, disconnected from their heart, is at a loss; this calls into question whether they truly can share their heart, whether or not they offer it to “you.”