The Heart of a Woman
By Georgia Douglas Johnson
The heart of a woman goes forth with the dawn,
As a lone bird, soft winging, so restlessly on,
Afar o’er life’s turrets and vales does it roam
In the wake of those echoes the heart calls home.The heart of a woman falls back with the night,
And enters some alien cage in its plight,
And tries to forget it has dreamed of the stars
While it breaks, breaks, breaks on the sheltering bars.
Summary of The Heart of a Woman
- Popularity of “The Heart of a Woman”: Written by an African American icon and Harlem Renaissance’s feminine voice, Georgia Douglas Johnson, this beautiful poem “The Heart of a Woman” presents how a woman wanders in the world and comes back to her cocoon of refuge at night. The disillusionment is obvious in the poem, which has made it a popular piece across the globe. The poem, however, first appeared in 1916 though Dickinson started writing back in 1905 when her first poem appeared in the popular journal of that time, The Voice of the Negro.
- “The Heart of a Woman” As a Representative of African American Femininity: Georgia Douglas Johnson beautifully presents a woman’s heart, saying that when it is dawn, it flies away like a bird and hovers on turrets and valleys, experiencing true freedom. It shows how a woman becomes independent when she has the vast world before him and her home behind. However, when it ends up in the evening, she comes back and enters her cage, where she tries to forget what she has experienced during the day. The dreams shatter after they strike with the bars in which she feels caged. This is the disillusionment of the femininity that Douglas Johnson presented in the last stanza. It happens when she dreams of achieving something during the day and feels helpless during the night when the stark reality of home stares in her face.
- Major Themes in “The Heart of a Woman”: Dreams and reality, African American women’s courage, and oblique racial discrimination are the major thematic strands of this poem “The Heart of a Woman.” The poet has beautifully presented the theme of dreams and reality in both stanzas, specifically when it becomes clear that she belongs to Harlem Renaissance. She dreams of freedom, independence, and hard work during the day but feels helpless at night when the reality of the home comes before her eyes. Therefore, she dreams of flying to the stars but comes down to the earth. This, however, shows the courage of an African American woman that she could ream to move ahead, but her legacy of being an African American hampers her progress.
Analysis of Literary Devices Used in The Heart of a Woman
Georgia Douglas Johnson has used various literary devices to beautify her poem. Some of the major literary devices she has used are as follows.
- Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /a/ in “The heart of a woman goes forth with the dawn” and the sound of /o/ in “In the wake of those echoes the heart calls home.”
- Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line in quick succession, such as the sound of /t/ in “tries to” and /b/ in “breaks, breaks, breaks.”
- Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /t/ and /s/ in “As a lone bird, soft winging, so restlessly on” and the sound of /s/ in “While it breaks, breaks, breaks on the sheltering bar.”
- Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. Georgia Douglas Johnson used imagery in this poem such as “While it breaks, breaks, breaks on the sheltering bar”, “The heart of a woman falls back with the night” and “Afar o’er life’s turrets and vales does it roam.”
- Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between objects that are different in nature. The poet used the metaphor of a bird for the woman to show her desire for freedom and the reality of her home.
- 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 such as birds, wings, and hearts to show the situation of an African American woman.
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in The Heart of a Woman
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 formal and poetic diction.
- End Rhyme: End rhyme is used to make the stanza melodious. Georgia Douglas Johnson has used end rhyme in this poem, such as dawn/roam and night/plight.
- Quatrain: A quatrain is a four-lined stanza borrowed from Persian poetry. Here each stanza is quatrain.
- Rhyme Scheme: The poem follows an ABAB rhyme scheme, and this pattern continues until the end.
- Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. There are two stanzas in this poem, with each comprising four verses.
- Tone: It means the voice of the text. The poem shows a religious and moralistic tone.
Quotes to be Used
The following lines are useful to quote when talking about women’s rights.
The heart of a woman falls back with the night,
And enters some alien cage in its plight,
And tries to forget it has dreamed of the stars
While it breaks, breaks, breaks on the sheltering bars.