I Am Trying to Break Your Heart Analysis - Literary devices and Poetic devices

I Am Trying to Break Your Heart

By Kevin Young

i am hoping
to hang your head

on my wall
in shame—

the slightest taxidermy
thrills me. Fish

forever leaping
on the living-room wall—

paperweights made
from skulls

of small animals.
I want to wear

your smile on my sleeve
& break

your heart like a horse
or its leg. Weeks of being

bucked off, then
all at once, you’re mine—

Put me down.

I want to call you thine

to tattoo mercy
along my knuckles. I assassin

down the avenue
I hope

to have you forgotten
by noon. To know you

by your knees
palsied by prayer.

Loneliness is a science—

consider the taxidermist’s
tender hands

trying to keep from losing
skin, the bobcat grin

of the living.

Summary of I Am Trying to Break Your Heart

Popularity of “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart”: The poem having crispy and short verses first appeared in the collection Dear Darkness published by Alfred A. Knopf. The collection appeared in 2008 and put Kevin Young at the top in writing crispy poetry in African American traditions. He also made a name for his beautiful comments on writing nonformal poetry. This poem beautifully explores how the speaker employs his poetry to convey to his beloved that he could break her heart through his artistic skills. The beauty of the poem lies in the artistic skills of Young to use taxidermy to make his beloved realize how he could turn her smile into “the bobcat grin.”
“I Am Trying to Break Your Heart” As a Representative of Non-Serious Love Attitude: Young presents a first-person speaker, a taxidermist, who wants to warn or alert his beloved that he is going to break her heart. This happens through his taxidermist skill as he is feeling lonely which he calls a science in which he uses his scientific skills to create the smile of his beloved. He starts the poem with his assertion that he could hang her head on the wall. But it is her smile that he wants to wear “on his sleeve” to cause her heartbreak through this strange and odd presentation.
However, he uses the simile like the breaking the leg of a horse which seems quite odd as he wants to tell her that after stuffing her dummy, he would own her but later he would forget about it like all other taxidermists, for it is his skill that he is absorbed in the most. In fact, it is the skill through which he wants to preserve the skin of her hands. That is why he is giving his smile to look like the grin of a bobcat.
Major Themes in “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart”: Professionalism, love, and life addicted to art are three major themes of the poem “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart.” The professionalism of the poet lies in the very first verses where he expresses his intention that he wants to hang the head of his beloved on his own wall as his art of taxidermy thrills him. To quench the thirst of his soul and feel this thrill, he intends to show her his skill and his life addicted to art. However, simultaneously, he also loves her and wants to preserve her smile through his art. Giving odd comparisons that he could mar her smile like the breaking of the leg of a horse, and it would break her heart. In this way, after her head is ready, he would claim that she is now his and that it is his loneliness in which he has created her smile akin to the grin of a bobcat.

Analysis of Literary Devices Used in I Am Trying to Break Your Heart

Kevin Young’s art used various literary devices simultaneously to insert his ideas into verses is apparent in this poem. Some of the major literary devices are analyzed below.

Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /a/ in “paperweights made” and the sound of /i/ in “the slightest taxidermy.”
Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line in quick succession, such as the sound of /t/ in “trying to.”
Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /n/ in “skin, the bobcat grin” and the sound of /s/ in “Loneliness is a science.”
Enjambment: It is defined as a thought in verse that does not come to an end at a line break; rather, it rolls over to the next line. For example;

consider the taxidermist’s
tender hands

trying to keep from losing
skin, the bobcat grin

of the living.

Irony: Irony is a figure of speech in which words are used in such a way that their intended meaning is different from the actual meaning of the words. The irony in this poem lies in the very title as well as in the poem that the speaker loves his beloved and yet he wants to break her heart.
Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. Kevin Young has used imagery in this poem such as “paperweights made/from skulls”, “buck off, then / all at once, you’re mine — ” and “forever leaping / on the living-room wall.”
Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between objects that are different in nature. The shows the metaphors such as “Loneliness is a science” and “the bobcat grin.”
Simile: It means the direct comparison in which one thing is known through comparison with another thing, such as “your smile on my sleeve / &break / your heart like a horse.”
Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from the literal meanings. The poem shows symbols of taxidermy, skull, paperweights, horse, and knuckles to show how he wants to break the heart of his beloved.

Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in I Am Trying to Break Your Heart

Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is an analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.

Diction: It means the type of language. The poem shows simple, formal, and crispy diction.
Free Verse: It means to write poetry without any rhyme scheme or metrical pattern. The poem is written in free verse.
Tone: It means the voice of the text and the poet. The poem shows an ironic, formal, and loving tone at different places.

Quotes to be Used

The following lines are useful to quote the skill of a taxidermist.