Heart to Heart

Published in 2004, Rita Dove’s “Heart to Heart” is a poem seeking to define the heart. Oscillating between the physical and the metaphorical, the literal and the abstract, the poem explores common conceptions about the heart using cliché and seeks to establish the truth about what it means to feel, love, and intimately connect with someone.

Written in Dove’s mid-career, “Heart to Heart” uses a short, abrupt lines to explore the complicated concept of the heart. A conflicted speaker presents multiple tonal shifts and uses literary devices such as repetition and figurative diction, finally concluding to offer their heart—and self—to another.

Poet Biography

Rita Dove was born and raised in Akron, Ohio, in 1952. Because her father was a chemist, education was highly valued in the Dove household, and Dove was encouraged to read widely. An excellent student, Dove received many honors in secondary school, including being named a Presidential Scholar and one of the top 100 graduates in the country. Dove received her undergraduate degree from Miami University in Ohio. Following graduation, she attained a Fulbright at the University of Tübingen in West Germany, then returned to the United States and earned her Master of Fine Arts at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.