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Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained | |||
John Hollander's "Crise de Coeur" is a poignant and evocative exploration of emotional turmoil, captured through the metaphor of a heart in distress. The poem, shaped like a heart lying on its side, effectively uses visual form to mirror its thematic content, emphasizing the vulnerability and fragility of the human heart. The poem begins with a plea for help: "Help me / O help me," immediately conveying a sense of urgency and desperation. This sets the tone for a narrative of a heart once strong and vibrant, now in a state of crisis. The heart describes itself as having hung "red and yet erect in the world of wide white reticent backgrounds," symbolizing a time when it was prominent, visible, and full of life against a backdrop of calm and stability. The heart reminisces about its past strength and purpose: "Correctly placed as if pointing out a direction downwards towards which all must fall." This suggests that the heart once served as a guiding force, reliable and steadfast, beating "out the cut time which we always hope we have to count on." This reliability is contrasted with its current state of distress, highlighting the heart's fall from its previous position of strength. The poem uses vivid imagery to depict the heart's fall: "Some fell impulse seized me as if for a moment the surface I clung to had gone blank." This moment of seizure and the subsequent loss of stability signify a sudden and profound emotional or physical shock. The heart's fall is likened to "dry leaves blown across marble corridors," suggesting both the fragility and the inevitability of its descent. As the heart lies fallen, it reflects on its current state: "I lie bleeding on my sheet a sick valentine who short of breath can barely sigh BE MINE before I fail." This image of a bleeding, failing heart as a "sick valentine" encapsulates the intersection of love and suffering, emphasizing the heart's vulnerability and the imminence of its collapse. The poem continues with the heart recognizing its changed condition: "Yet recognizable for what I am and unable to leap I rest uneasy." This line speaks to the heart's enduring identity despite its compromised state. The heart's unease and the "failure of nerve" that has made "a noon too bright to bear" convey a deep sense of discomfort and existential angst. In the closing lines, the heart acknowledges its incomplete state: "something half-unbroken / Like a heart." This final reflection on being "half-unbroken" suggests that while the heart is damaged, it is not entirely destroyed. There remains a glimmer of resilience, a testament to the heart's enduring capacity for feeling despite its wounds. "Crise de Coeur" masterfully intertwines form and content to depict a heart in crisis. Through its shaped structure and evocative language, the poem captures the intense emotional experience of vulnerability, loss, and the struggle to remain whole. Hollander's use of metaphor and imagery provides a deeply moving exploration of the human condition, resonating with anyone who has experienced the pain and persistence of a wounded heart.
| Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SENT ON A SHEET OF PAPER WITH A HEART SHAPE CUT OUT OF THE MIDDLE OF IT by JOHN HOLLANDER THE DESIRE OF NATIONS by EDWIN MARKHAM TUNICA PALLIO PROPRIOR by MARIANNE MOORE MEMORY by WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR AS LOVELY AS THEY by EVA MARBELL BONDI PACCHIAROTTO AND HOW HE WORKED IN DISTEMPER by ROBERT BROWNING THE WANDERER: 1. IN ITALY: MORNING AND MEETING by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON |
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