Emily Dickinson's Love Poems: National Poetry Month Poems of the Day

In Emily Dickinson’s “Far from love the Heavenly Father,” the speaker examines the paradoxical view that through trials and tribulations are the chosen brought to heaven. It is not an evil-doer who brings about trials, but the very Father in Heaven who does so. Although the images suggest the action in the poem takes place in the physical realm, a more pragmatic, worldly application can be found: those who seek comfort, rarely find it; those who take upon themselves challenges, eventually do find comfort. Unlike Frost’s “The Road Not Taken,” which suggests individuals choose their path, Dickinson implies that the path is thrust upon the individual, an assertion supported by her Calvinistic beliefs.

The speaker in Emily Dickinson’s “Proud of my broken heart since thou didst break it” is pathetic. I’m not sure if the object of her desire has a restraining order, but he should. She’s proud to have been dumped? Sounds like someone has a self esteem issue, which she rationalizes as humility. If Dickinson lived in a trailer park, she’d be prime for an abusive relationship. No wonder she was a reclusive freak.

Dickinson captures the inner turmoil associated with love and rejection in “Heart, we will forget him.” She vows to her heart, personified as a dear friend, that they will forget “him.” While in the act of forcing herself to forget, the speaker focuses on the person whom she is trying to forget and his good qualities. She realizes she and her heart are fighting a losing battle as the speaker urges her heart to forget quick, for she is helpless to forget otherwise.

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