Heart’s Needle (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: W. D. Snodgrass
- First Published: 1959
- Type of Work: Poetic sequence
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric sequence
- Subjects: Children, Family or family life, Parents and children, Fathers, Divorce, Korean War, Museums, Respiration
The Poem
“Heart’s Needle” explores a father’s struggle to remain a father to his daughter who, though separated from him by her parents’ divorce, maintains regular visits over a two-and-a-half year period. The child is almost three years old at the beginning.
The title comes from an old Irish tale, “The Frenzy of Suibne,” about the death of an only daughter, who is “the needle of the heart.” In the poem, W. D. Snodgrass suggests that the daughter’s presence as well as her absence is a needle in the heart, since both intensify his sense of loss. In a...
[The entire page is 1956 words long]
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