Critical Response on the poem “Head, Heart.”

Critical Response on the poem “Head, Heart.”

Literary criticism is critical in understanding works of literature from various perspectives. Readers tend to develop varied approaches, especially when reading and analyzing creative arts. This is linked to the idea of independence in the understanding of concepts exhibited by people based on the level of understanding. Reader response is one of the best approaches adopted by critical literary thinkers when reading and analyzing literature. Readerresponse isbased on individual reader understanding of the text. The way the reader grasps the main ideas represented in a work of literature shapes his or her understanding of the text, something which is critical in making a proper analysis of the literary devices used. Reader’s reactions to literary work primarily depend on some factors such as the level of experience and exposure, among other factors. Authors should expect readers to react to literary works in many different significant ways or modes. Therefore, it is vital to understand the approach of reader response and the reactions involved as a way of getting closer to various meaningful ways that readers might adopt in reading literature.

The form and structure of writing used in a particular work of literature affect the way the readers view the entire content of the work in terms of the subject matter intended by the writer. A poem can be too short or too long. This impacts directly on how the readers respond to the original meaning of the poem. In the poem “Head, Heart,” written by Lydia Davis, it is evident that the author decides to apply brevity as the specific tool of attracting attention to the poem. It is a matter of the fact that readers will tend to read this poem with a lot of keenness, unlike for long poetry, where readers may end up bored by too many words. The response from the readers will directly be affected by how the readers understand the subject matter of the poem. Lydia Davis decides to use ten lines to represent the whole message intended for the entire idea behind the fiction. According to the way the word head and heart are used in the poem, it is clear that the words have been used to carry a heavy message. For example, in line 1: Heart weeps. This are just two words, but they give the reader the whole idea of the poem. The second line directly connects with the first line. This critical for the reader to draw inferences for the meaning of the first line that is well connected with the second line..

The way diction connects with the literary devices in poetry unveils the primary concern of the author in the whole text. Conflict is at the center of many works of fiction. The poem “Head, heart” by Lydia is not exceptional. It brings out in detail the idea of conflict in literature or poetry. Conflict is essential for the reader to establish the motifs of the text and what factors serve as the driving force behind the emergence of the conflict or emotional contradictions. With the knowledge of climax and resolution attained through conflicts, readers get a clear understanding of the poem, which I critical in analyzing poetry diversely (Davis, Lydia, pp. 732). The reason why Lydia Davis decides to use head and heart is for one reason that these are two body organs closely linked by the soul. They work hand in hand to bring internal peace for oneself to lead to meaningful resolutions.

According to the poem by Lydia, the head and heart are in constant conflict over emotional influence triggered by some factors such as loss of loved ones. To add to the connectivity of the two organs, Lydia reveals a silent symbolic communication between the two body organs. Thisindicates how they rely sincerely on one another and the possible outcomes which may result from a conflict cultivated through disagreements. For example, in line two and three of the poem “Head, heart”: Head tries to help the heart/Head tells heart how it is again.

Literary devices bring the reader closer to the meaning of the text or poetry. The stylistic divides can be derived just from the words used by the author. Reader response approach of criticism call for close reading of any work of fiction, putting in the mind the devices used are there to help the reader draw literary connections through proper analysis to understand the text deeply. Stylistic devices differ from one work of fiction to another based on the topic and the intentions of the author or persona in poetry. In the poetry “Head, heart,” the author Lydia Davis utilizes well the symbolic value displayed by the two words head and heart. Metonymy is evident in the way these two words relate. Based on the reader-response approach, the readers may draw the conclusion that the word head is a metonym used to represent the abstract concept of reason. On the other hand, the readers will tend to link the word heart with the concept of emotion, which is a major influential factor in explaining and understanding human nature in terms of feeling triggered by an element within the environment.

Besides, personification is used in the poem “Head, heart” to represent an abstract idea of weeping that is associated with the heart. Personification expands the meaning of the poem beyond the choice of words that the author use. Personification in the poem makes it easy for the reader to understand what hails the heart and how this is linked to other primary factors that trigger the emotions. Stanza 1: Heart weeps the heavy task attached to the center in moments of grief. The reader-response approach of making trenchant literary criticism demands that the reader should try to be much ken in analyzing how words are used and how they are connected. This serves as a platform for generating out the right response that is most needed for proper interpretation of the meaning of a poem or literary text.

The persona in a poem plays a significant role in bringing out the right tone that is much suitable to particular subject mattersintended by the poets. The tone in poetry forms the foundations of reading critically for understanding. Italso helps in giving the readers the right emotion that is most needed in responding correctly to the subject matter without any external emotional biases. For example, in the poem “Head, heart,” the tone is sad based on the emotional conflict brought about by weeping of the heart. The head responds, but the conflict continues based on the fact that the heart temporarily adopts the response.

In conclusion, literary devices, diction, and the tone generated by the persona play a primary role in the reader-response approach. They bring the meaning of a poem closer to the reader by shielding the reader from any external biases such as stress and emotions, which may lead to misunderstanding, thus causing misinterpretation of meaning. Critical analysis and understanding are at the core of giving the right response after reading a literary text or poem.

Work Cited

Davis, Lydia. “Head, heart” Penguin UK, 2011.pp. 732-733