On a Cornelian Heart Which Was Broken
On a Cornelian Heart Which Was Broken - meaning Summary
Wounded Emblem of Identity
The speaker addresses a broken cornelian heart as both object and symbol. What seems a futile loss is revalued: the fragments become precious because they reflect the feelings of the man who wore it. The poem treats physical damage as a mirror of inner suffering, suggesting that brokenness can deepen attachment and meaning when an object embodies its owner’s emotional state.
Read Complete AnalysesIll-fated Heart! And can it be, That thou should’st thus be rent in vain? Have years of care for thine and thee Alike been all employ’d in vain? Yet precious seems each shatter’d part And every fragment dearer grown Since he who wears thee feels thou art A fitter emblem of his own.
March 16, 1812
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