“The Flaming Heart” by Richard Crashaw first appeared in 1652 in the posthumous collection Carmen Deo Nostro: Te Decet Hymnus Sacred Poems, Collected, Corrected, Avgvmented, Most Humbly Presented to My Lady the Countesse of Denbigh.
Introduction: “The Flaming Heart” Richard Crashaw
“The Flaming Heart” by Richard Crashaw first appeared in 1652 in the posthumous collection Carmen Deo Nostro: Te Decet Hymnus Sacred Poems, Collected, Corrected, Avgvmented, Most Humbly Presented to My Lady the Countesse of Denbigh. Dedicated to St. Teresa of Ávila, the poem reflects Crashaw’s intense admiration for her mystical union with God and his desire to capture her spiritual fervor in verse. Its popularity stems from Crashaw’s strikingly passionate imagery, where he instructs readers and even the painter of Teresa’s portrait to “transpose the picture quite, / And spell it wrong to read it right” (ll. 9–10), urging them to imagine Teresa as a Seraphim whose fiery devotion transcends earthly form. The poem’s central metaphor of the flaming heart symbolizes divine love that consumes the soul, as seen in lines such as “The wounded is the wounding heart” (l. 97), highlighting the paradox of love as both pain and ecstasy. Crashaw’s fusion of Catholic mysticism, baroque intensity, and lyrical fervor contributed to the poem’s lasting reputation, with its closing invocation—“Leave nothing of my Self in me. / Let me so read thy life, that I / Unto all life of mine may dy” (ll. 145–147)—capturing the self-annihilation and transcendence at the heart of Teresa’s mysticism.
Text: “The Flaming Heart” Richard Crashaw
Well meaning readers! you that come as freinds And catch the pretious name this piece pretends; Make not too much hast to’ admire That fair-cheek’t fallacy of fire. That is a Seraphim, they say And this the great Teresia. Readers, be rul’d by me; and make Here a well-plac’t and wise mistake. You must transpose the picture quite, And spell it wrong to read it right; Read Him for her, and her for him; And call the Saint the Seraphim. Painter, what didst thou understand To put her dart into his hand! See, even the yeares and size of him Showes this the mother Seraphim. This is the mistresse flame; and duteous he Her happy fire-works, here, comes down to see. O most poor-spirited of men! Had thy cold Pencil kist her Pen Thou couldst not so unkindly err To show us This faint shade for Her. Why man, this speakes pure mortall frame; And mockes with female Frost love’s manly flame. One would suspect thou meant’st to print Some weak, inferiour, woman saint. But had thy pale-fac’t purple took Fire from the burning cheeks of that bright Booke Thou wouldst on her have heap’t up all That could be found Seraphicall; What e’re this youth of fire weares fair, Rosy fingers, radiant hair, Glowing cheek, and glistering wings, All those fair and flagrant things, But before all, that fiery Dart Had fill’d the Hand of this great Heart. Doe then as equall right requires, Since His the blushes be, and her’s the fires, Resume and rectify thy rude design; Undresse thy Seraphim into Mine. Redeem this injury of thy art; Give Him the vail, give her the dart. Give Him the vail; that he may cover The Red cheeks of a rivall’d lover. Asham’d that our world, now, can show Nests of new Seraphims here below. Give her the Dart for it is she (Fair youth) shootes both thy shaft and Thee Say, all ye wise and well-peirc’t hearts That live and dy amidst her darts, What is’t your tastfull spirits doe prove In that rare life of Her, and love? Say and bear wittnes. Sends she not A Seraphim at every shott? What magazins of immortall Armes there shine! Heavn’s great artillery in each love-spun line. Give then the dart to her who gives the flame; Give him the veil, who gives the shame. But if it be the frequent fate Of worst faults to be fortunate; If all’s præscription; and proud wrong Hearkens not to an humble song; For all the gallantry of him, Give me the suffring Seraphim. His be the bravery of all those Bright things. The glowing cheekes, the glistering wings; The Rosy hand, the radiant Dart; Leave Her alone The Flaming Heart. Leave her that; and thou shalt leave her Not one loose shaft but love’s whole quiver. For in love’s feild was never found A nobler weapon then a Wound. Love’s passives are his activ’st part. The wounded is the wounding heart. O Heart! the æquall poise of love’s both parts Bigge alike with wound and darts. Live in these conquering leaves; live all the same; And walk through all tongues one triumphant Flame. Live here, great Heart; and love and dy and kill; And bleed and wound; and yeild and conquer still. Let this immortall life wherere it comes Walk in a crowd of loves and Martyrdomes Let mystick Deaths wait on’t; and wise soules be The love-slain wittnesses of this life of thee. O sweet incendiary! shew here thy art, Upon this carcasse of a hard, cold, hart, Let all thy scatter’d shafts of light, that play Among the leaves of thy larg Books of day, Combin’d against this Brest at once break in And take away from me my self and sin, This gratious Robbery shall thy bounty be; And my best fortunes such fair spoiles of me. O thou undanted daughter of desires! By all thy dowr of Lights and Fires; By all the eagle in thee, all the dove; By all thy lives and deaths of love; By thy larg draughts of intellectuall day, And by thy thirsts of love more large then they; By all thy brim-fill’d Bowles of feirce desire By thy last Morning’s draught of liquid fire; By the full kingdome of that finall kisse That seiz’d thy parting Soul, and seal’d thee his; By all the heav’ns thou hast in him (Fair sister of the Seraphim!) By all of Him we have in Thee; Leave nothing of my Self in me. Let me so read thy life, that I Unto all life of mine may dy.
“Fire from the burning cheeks of that bright Booke”
The repetition of initial consonant sounds (“burning,” “bright,” “Booke”) enhances rhythm and intensity, reflecting the consuming passion of divine love.
“Let all thy scatter’d shafts of light, that play / Among the leaves of thy larg Books of day”
The continuation of a sentence without pause carries forward Teresa’s overwhelming spiritual influence across lines, mirroring boundless divine energy.
⚜️ Epigrammatic Paradox
“Love’s passives are his activ’st part”
A paradox stating that passivity (suffering) in divine love is actually its strongest form of action, encapsulating mystical theology.
⚜️ Exclamation
“O most poor-spirited of men!”
Sudden outburst conveys frustration with the painter who misrepresented Teresa, emphasizing the fervency of Crashaw’s devotion.
Parts (hand, dart) stand for the whole figure of Teresa and her mystical love, intensifying her embodiment of divine flame.
Themes: “The Flaming Heart” Richard Crashaw
🔥 Mystical Love and Divine Passion “The Flaming Heart” by Richard Crashaw celebrates the consuming nature of mystical love, expressed as divine passion that burns beyond mortal limits. Crashaw portrays St. Teresa’s love for God as an ecstatic flame: “Leave Her alone The Flaming Heart. / Leave her that; and thou shalt leave her / Not one loose shaft but love’s whole quiver” (ll. 85–87). The “flaming heart” becomes a symbol of spiritual fervor, emphasizing that true devotion is not passive but transformative, consuming the soul with divine fire. The paradox “The wounded is the wounding heart” (l. 97) highlights that suffering in love is itself the most active form of divine union. Through this imagery, Crashaw communicates a theology of love where passion and wound, desire and pain, become inseparable in the soul’s journey toward God.
🎨 Art versus Spiritual Reality “The Flaming Heart” by Richard Crashaw critiques human artistic attempts to capture divine ecstasy, contrasting the limitations of painting with the power of Teresa’s written testimony. Crashaw directly addresses the painter: “Had thy cold Pencil kist her Pen / Thou couldst not so unkindly err” (ll. 35–36), lamenting that art renders only a “faint shade” (l. 37) of her burning spirituality. He argues that Teresa’s writings, “that bright Booke” (l. 41), carry more fire than any painted image. This theme underscores the superiority of inspired words over visual representation, suggesting that divine love cannot be fully contained in human art but only hinted at through spiritual texts and mystical language.
⚖️ Gender, Power, and Spiritual Authority “The Flaming Heart” by Richard Crashaw challenges contemporary gender expectations by elevating St. Teresa above stereotypical notions of weak female sanctity. Crashaw ironically criticizes the painter for making her appear “Some weak, inferiour, woman saint” (l. 39), when in fact she embodies the fiery authority of a Seraphim. He insists, “Give her the Dart for it is she / (Fair youth) shootes both thy shaft and Thee” (ll. 61–62), attributing divine power and agency to Teresa, who becomes not merely a recipient but the active transmitter of God’s flame. The “dart” becomes a gendered symbol of spiritual strength, subverting patriarchal images of women as passive in divine love. Instead, Teresa is represented as a commanding mystic whose authority rests in her spiritual passion.
✨ Martyrdom, Transformation, and Self-Annihilation “The Flaming Heart” by Richard Crashaw explores the theme of mystical martyrdom where love transforms the self through death to the world. Crashaw prays, “Leave nothing of my Self in me. / Let me so read thy life, that I / Unto all life of mine may dy” (ll. 145–147). Here, the poet yearns for self-annihilation, surrendering his identity to be consumed by Teresa’s flame and God’s love. Martyrdom is not physical alone but mystical, a “crowd of loves and Martyrdomes” (l. 109), where the heart continually dies and rises in divine ecstasy. By framing love’s wound as “a nobler weapon then a Wound” (l. 89), Crashaw transforms suffering into triumph, suggesting that true life is found only through mystical death and union with God.
Literary Theories and “The Flaming Heart” Richard Crashaw
The poem’s intricate structure and vivid imagery unify the exploration of Saint Teresa’s divine love, emphasizing spiritual intensity through fire and heart motifs.
“That fair-cheek’t fallacy of fire” (line 4), “The wounded is the wounding heart” (line 74), “O sweet incendiary! shew here thy art” (line 85).
Feminist Criticism
Saint Teresa is portrayed as a powerful, fiery figure, subverting gender norms by wielding the active dart while the male figure takes the passive veil, though her idealization risks reducing her humanity.
“Give her the Dart for it is she / (Fair youth) shootes both thy shaft and Thee” (lines 47–48), “Leave Her alone The Flaming Heart” (line 68).
Psychoanalytic Criticism
The poem expresses a desire for spiritual union with the divine, sublimating human passions into religious ecstasy, with the speaker’s wish to lose the self suggesting transcendence or a death wish.
“Leave nothing of my Self in me” (line 104), “By all thy dowr of Lights and Fires” (line 94), “O thou undanted daughter of desires!” (line 93).
Reflecting 17th-century Baroque Catholic mysticism and Counter-Reformation zeal, the poem uses Saint Teresa to symbolize divine authority while engaging with debates on gender and religious ecstasy.
“And call the Saint the Seraphim” (line 12), “Heavn’s great artillery in each love-spun line” (line 56), “By all the heav’ns thou hast in him” (line 103).
Critical Questions about “The Flaming Heart” Richard Crashaw
❓ How does Crashaw depict the limitations of art compared to spiritual experience in “The Flaming Heart”? “The Flaming Heart” by Richard Crashaw presents art as inadequate to represent the depth of mystical passion, contrasting the painter’s cold depiction with the living fire of Teresa’s writings. Crashaw scolds the artist: “Had thy cold Pencil kist her Pen / Thou couldst not so unkindly err” (ll. 35–36), suggesting that written testimony inspired by divine ecstasy holds more authenticity than a lifeless painting. The poet calls the image a “faint shade” (l. 37), unable to capture the blazing force of Teresa’s spiritual love. This critique highlights the Baroque fascination with the tension between material art and immaterial truth, underscoring that divine passion transcends visual representation and can only be conveyed through inspired words.
❓ What role does gender play in Crashaw’s representation of St. Teresa in “The Flaming Heart”? “The Flaming Heart” by Richard Crashaw challenges patriarchal assumptions by granting St. Teresa spiritual authority typically associated with male saints or angels. He rejects the painter’s reduction of her to “Some weak, inferiour, woman saint” (l. 39), instead presenting her as a Seraphim whose fiery passion is far greater than any earthly depiction. The line “Give her the Dart for it is she / (Fair youth) shootes both thy shaft and Thee” (ll. 61–62) places Teresa in an active, even martial role, wielding divine weapons of love. By giving Teresa the power of the dart, Crashaw subverts gendered expectations, elevating her as a mystical warrior of love. This reveals not only his admiration for Teresa but also his broader theological conviction that divine fire transcends gender boundaries.
❓ How does Crashaw use paradox to communicate mystical truth in “The Flaming Heart”? “The Flaming Heart” by Richard Crashaw relies heavily on paradox to express truths about divine love that defy rational categories. One striking example is: “The wounded is the wounding heart” (l. 97), where Teresa embodies both the receiver and giver of divine passion. Similarly, the paradox “Love’s passives are his activ’st part” (l. 93) suggests that suffering and surrender are the highest forms of action in God’s love. These contradictions reflect the essence of mystical experience, where divine ecstasy is both pain and joy, wound and healing, death and life. Crashaw’s paradoxes not only echo metaphysical poetic traditions but also serve as theological statements that capture the ineffable nature of spiritual union.
❓ In what ways does Crashaw present martyrdom as a spiritual ideal in “The Flaming Heart”? “The Flaming Heart” by Richard Crashaw frames martyrdom not merely as physical death but as a continual spiritual transformation through divine love. He envisions Teresa’s life as a “crowd of loves and Martyrdomes” (l. 109), suggesting repeated mystical deaths and rebirths in God. The poet himself longs for this transformation: “Leave nothing of my Self in me. / Let me so read thy life, that I / Unto all life of mine may dy” (ll. 145–147). Here martyrdom is portrayed as a surrender of the self, a death to earthly existence in order to live wholly in divine flame. By connecting love with wounds, darts, and fire, Crashaw elevates martyrdom as the supreme mode of mystical union, making Teresa both a saintly exemplar and a symbol of transcendent devotion.
Literary Works Similar to “The Flaming Heart” Richard Crashaw
✨ “The Invention of the Darling” by Li-Young Lee This collection explores spirituality, divinity, and intimacy through the beloved, echoing the mystical fervor and devotional imagery found in Crashaw’s “The Flaming Heart.”
🌌 “Something About Living” by Lena Khalaf Tuffaha Rooted in diaspora and history, this work transforms personal and collective love into sacred portals, aligning with Crashaw’s conflation of earthly affection and divine martyrdom.
🕯 Poems from “Nour” anthology Contemporary contributions, including those by Channing Tatum and Pedro Pascal, explore faith, surrender, and emotional worship, resonant with the devotional self-annihilation and spiritual ardor in Crashaw’s poem.
🔥 “New Republic” by Michal Rubin A mystical, visionary dialogue between poets in the afterlife, this piece weaves creative transformation, empathy, and transcendence comparable to Crashaw’s spiritual imagination.
Representative Quotations of “The Flaming Heart” Richard Crashaw
“Well meaning readers! you that come as freinds / And catch the pretious name this piece pretends” (lines 1–2)
The poem opens by addressing readers, urging caution in interpreting its fiery imagery, setting up the interplay between Saint Teresa and the Seraphim.
Formalism: The direct address and alliterative “pretious name” establish the poem’s intricate structure, drawing attention to its linguistic artistry and the thematic tension between appearance and truth.
“You must transpose the picture quite, / And spell it wrong to read it right” (lines 9–10)
The speaker instructs readers to swap the identities of the saint and Seraphim, challenging artistic misrepresentation.
Formalism: This paradox highlights the poem’s playful yet profound use of language, using contradiction to guide interpretation and emphasize the need for careful reading.
“Give her the Dart for it is she / (Fair youth) shootes both thy shaft and Thee” (lines 47–48)
The speaker insists the dart, a symbol of active love, belongs to Saint Teresa, who dominates the youth.
Feminist Criticism: This empowers Teresa as the active agent, subverting traditional gender roles by assigning her the phallic dart, positioning her as the dominant force in the spiritual narrative.
“Leave Her alone The Flaming Heart” (line 68)
The speaker demands that Teresa retain the central symbol of the flaming heart, emphasizing her spiritual potency.
Feminist Criticism: By claiming the flaming heart for Teresa, the poem elevates her as a powerful female figure, resisting attempts to diminish her through weaker depictions.
“O thou undanted daughter of desires!” (line 93)
The speaker praises Teresa’s fearless passion, addressing her as a figure of intense desire and spiritual strength.
Psychoanalytic Criticism: This reflects an unconscious drive for transcendence, with “desires” symbolizing a sublimated yearning for divine union, blending earthly and spiritual passion.
“Leave nothing of my Self in me” (line 104)
The speaker pleads for complete self-annihilation through Teresa’s influence, seeking to merge with her divine essence.
Psychoanalytic Criticism: This expresses a desire for ego dissolution, a psychological wish to transcend the self through spiritual ecstasy, aligning with mystical surrender.
“And call the Saint the Seraphim” (line 12)
The speaker corrects the misidentification of Saint Teresa and the Seraphim, urging a redefinition of their roles.
New Historicism: This reflects 17th-century Catholic debates on mystical figures, with Teresa’s elevation as a Seraphim aligning with Counter-Reformation efforts to exalt female saints.
“Heavn’s great artillery in each love-spun line” (line 56)
The speaker describes Teresa’s writings as powerful, divine weapons, emphasizing their spiritual impact.
New Historicism: This hyperbolic imagery ties to Baroque-era Catholic zeal, portraying Teresa’s texts as tools of religious warfare in the Counter-Reformation context.
“The wounded is the wounding heart” (line 74)
The speaker articulates the paradox of love, where the heart that suffers also inflicts love’s wounds.
Formalism: This paradox encapsulates the poem’s thematic core, using concise, balanced phrasing to convey the complex interplay of suffering and power in divine love.
“O sweet incendiary! shew here thy art” (line 85)
The speaker invokes Teresa as a fiery force, urging her to transform the cold heart with her radiant influence.
Psychoanalytic Criticism: The “incendiary” metaphor suggests an unconscious desire for purification through destruction, with Teresa’s fiery art symbolizing a transformative, consuming passion.
Suggested Readings: “The Flaming Heart” Richard Crashaw
Crashaw, Richard. “The flaming heart.” Norton Anthology of English Literature (2012): 1753-1755.
Yeo, Jayme M. “POLITICAL THEOLOGY IN THE POETRY OF RICHARD CRASHAW.” Literature and Theology, vol. 25, no. 4, 2011, pp. 393–406. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23927103. Accessed 28 Aug. 2025.
“At the Border, 1979” by Choman Hardi first appeared in her debut poetry collection Life for Us (2004), published by Bloodaxe Books.
Introduction: “At the Border, 1979” by Choman Hardi
“At the Border, 1979” by Choman Hardi first appeared in her debut poetry collection Life for Us (2004), published by Bloodaxe Books. The poem explores the themes of exile, displacement, and the fragility of national boundaries, reflecting the poet’s own experience as a Kurdish child returning to Iraq after years in exile. Its popularity lies in its deceptively simple, childlike narrative voice that captures profound contradictions—the promise of a “home” versus the reality of borders, the innocence of childhood perception versus the weight of political divisions. Lines such as “my right leg is in this country / and my left leg in the other” illustrate both the arbitrariness of borders and the curiosity of a child’s imagination. Similarly, “the autumn soil continued on the other side / with the same colour, the same texture. / It rained on both sides of the chain” highlights the shared natural landscape that transcends political separations. The poem resonates because it humanizes the experience of exile and belonging, portraying how children witness and interpret geopolitical realities with a clarity that often exposes their absurdity.
Text: “At the Border, 1979” by Choman Hardi
‘It is your last check-in point in this country!’ We grabbed a drink – soon everything would taste different.
The land under our feet continued divided by a thick iron chain.
My sister put her leg across it. ‘Look over here,’ she said to us, ‘my right leg is in this country and my left leg in the other.’ The border guards told her off.
My mother informed me: We are going home. She said that the roads are much cleaner the landscape is more beautiful and people are much kinder.
Dozens of families waited in the rain. ‘I can inhale home,’ somebody said. Now our mothers were crying. I was five years old standing by the check-in point comparing both sides of the border.
The autumn soil continued on the other side with the same colour, the same texture. It rained on both sides of the chain.
We waited while our papers were checked, our faces thoroughly inspected. Then the chain was removed to let us through. A man bent down and kissed his muddy homeland. The same chain of mountains encompassed all of us.
Annotations: “At the Border, 1979” by Choman Hardi
“‘It is your last check-in point in this country!’ / We grabbed a drink –”
The speaker recalls the border guard announcing that this is the final point before leaving their country. The family pauses for a drink, signaling both tension and transition. Devices: ⚡Imagery (visualizing border), 🗣️Direct Speech, 🚧Symbolism (border = division).
“soon everything would taste different. / The land under our feet continued”
Suggests that even ordinary things like taste will change across the border, highlighting psychological and cultural differences. The ground, however, stays the same, showing continuity of nature. Devices: 🌍Juxtaposition (taste vs. land), 🌱Motif of sameness in nature.
“divided by a thick iron chain. / My sister put her leg across it.”
The chain is a literal border marker, but the sister treats it playfully, testing its authority. Devices: 🚧Symbolism (chain = political division), 👧Childlike innocence, ✂️Contrast (harsh chain vs. playful act).
“‘Look over here,’ she said to us, / ‘my right leg is in this country and my left leg in the other.’”
The sister reduces the seriousness of the border to a game, showing how arbitrary human boundaries appear to children. Devices: 🗣️Direct Speech, 🎭Irony (serious border vs. childish play), 🌐Symbolism (division crossed by body).
“The border guards told her off. / My mother informed me: We are going home.”
Guards enforce rules, showing the border’s strictness. The mother reassures the child that they are returning to their homeland. Devices: ⚖️Authority vs. ❤️Family bond, 👮Power imagery, 🏠Theme of belonging.
“She said that the roads are much cleaner / the landscape is more beautiful”
The mother paints an idealized image of home, perhaps to comfort the child. Devices: 🌄Idealization, 🌸Imagery, 🎨Contrast (cleaner/more beautiful vs. implied dirtiness of the present).
“and people are much kinder. / Dozens of families waited in the rain.”
Kindness of people is emphasized, but immediately contrasted with the hardship of waiting families. Devices: 🎭Irony, 👥Collective imagery, 🌧️Pathetic fallacy (rain reflects mood).
“‘I can inhale home,’ somebody said. / Now our mothers were crying.”
Someone describes home as a scent, showing longing and emotional intensity; mothers cry out of relief, nostalgia, or sorrow. Devices: 👃Olfactory Imagery, 💧Pathos, 🌬️Metaphor (inhaling = absorbing belonging).
“I was five years old / standing by the check-in point”
The narrator recalls childhood innocence and confusion, giving authenticity to memory. Devices: 👶Child’s perspective, 🕰️Flashback, 📝Autobiographical element.
“comparing both sides of the border. / The autumn soil continued on the other side”
The child notices no difference between the soils, suggesting artificiality of political lines. Devices: 🌍Motif of sameness, 🍂Seasonal imagery, 🚧Irony (politics divide what nature unites).
“with the same colour, the same texture. / It rained on both sides of the chain.”
Reinforces natural continuity—rain and soil don’t change with human boundaries. Devices: ☔Repetition (same, same), 🌧️Natural imagery, 🌀Universality theme.
“We waited while our papers were checked, / our faces thoroughly inspected.”
Bureaucracy and suspicion dominate human movement, showing power structures. Devices: 📑Symbolism (papers = control), 👀Imagery (inspection of faces), ⚖️Authority.
“Then the chain was removed to let us through. / A man bent down and kissed his muddy homeland.”
The lifting of the chain symbolizes temporary release; kissing the mud shows devotion and emotional attachment to homeland. Devices: 🚧Symbolism (chain removed = passage), 💋Gesture imagery, ❤️Patriotism.
“The same chain of mountains encompassed all of us.”
The poem ends with the unifying image of mountains that surround both sides, contrasting with the artificiality of man-made borders. Devices: 🏔️Symbolism (mountains = permanence/unity), 🌐Theme of universality, 🎨Contrast (nature vs. man-made borders).
Literary And Poetic Devices: “At the Border, 1979” by Choman Hardi
Device
Example
Detailed Explanation
📝 Autobiographical Element
Entire poem as memoir of crossing border
The poem is drawn from Hardi’s lived childhood experience of migration. By presenting memory as poetry, she transforms personal recollection into a universal exploration of displacement, identity, and belonging. It merges private narrative with political history, showing how borders impact real lives.
📑 Bureaucratic Imagery
“our papers were checked, / our faces thoroughly inspected”
Evokes the cold, mechanical nature of border bureaucracy. People are reduced to documents and scrutinized appearances, stressing state control. This imagery highlights how political systems strip individuals of dignity and humanity.
👧 Child’s Perspective
“I was five years old”
A child’s innocent eyes capture the absurdity of man-made divisions. The perspective makes the border appear almost trivial, reflecting how natural sameness contrasts with adult seriousness. This voice amplifies honesty, vulnerability, and emotional authenticity.
🎨 Contrast
“people are much kinder. / Dozens of families waited in the rain”
Sharp opposition between idealized homeland (mother’s description) and harsh visible reality. This literary device exposes contradictions between nostalgic memory and lived suffering, showing the complexity of “home.”
🗣️ Direct Speech
“It is your last check-in point in this country!”
The guard’s voice creates immediacy and authority. Direct words make the scene vivid and confrontational. In contrast, family dialogue adds intimacy, showing competing voices of power and belonging.
🎭 Idealization
“the roads are much cleaner / the landscape is more beautiful”
The mother constructs an image of home as perfect and superior. This idealization comforts the child, but also reveals how memory and longing shape perception. It blurs the line between reality and imagined homeland.
“my right leg is in this country / and my left leg in the other”
The child treats the border as a game, trivializing a grave political division. The irony lies in how a playful act exposes the arbitrariness of national boundaries that adults take so seriously.
🌸 Imagery (Visual)
“the roads are much cleaner / the landscape is more beautiful”
Visual detail paints a mental picture of the mother’s idealized homeland. This device helps readers “see” the promised home while contrasting with the gloomy reality at the border.
👃 Imagery (Olfactory)
“I can inhale home”
Smell conveys closeness and intimacy with homeland. Using sensory imagery deepens emotional attachment, showing how belonging can be experienced physically as well as mentally.
💋 Gesture Imagery
“A man bent down and kissed his muddy homeland”
The act of kissing mud embodies devotion and reverence. Gesture imagery shows patriotism through action rather than words. The “muddy” detail adds realism, highlighting sacrifice and unromantic love for homeland.
🌱 Motif of Sameness in Nature
“The autumn soil continued on the other side / with the same colour, the same texture”
Repeated references to natural sameness emphasize how borders cannot change the earth. This motif critiques human divisions by showing how soil, rain, and mountains remain constant and united.
❤️ Patriotism
“kissed his muddy homeland”
A powerful moment of love and loyalty. Patriotism is portrayed through emotional and physical dedication to homeland. It reflects deep attachment felt by exiles returning home, showing how identity is tied to land.
Weather mirrors the mood of hardship and sorrow. Rain emphasizes the suffering of displaced families, reinforcing themes of endurance, uncertainty, and shared pain at the border.
Emotion directly appeals to the reader’s sympathy. Mothers’ tears express collective grief, nostalgia, and trauma of displacement, making the poem emotionally moving.
Repeated phrasing reinforces sameness of soil, stressing that human divisions are artificial. Repetition strengthens rhythm, emphasizes key themes, and gives weight to the natural continuity across borders.
The chain is both literal and metaphorical: a real border marker and a symbol of division, restriction, and separation imposed by politics. Its heaviness contrasts with the lightness of childhood play.
🏔️ Nature Symbolism
“The same chain of mountains encompassed all of us”
Mountains symbolize permanence, strength, and unity. Unlike fragile man-made chains, mountains remind us that nature transcends human boundaries, connecting people despite divisions.
🕰️ Flashback / Memory
“I was five years old”
The poem recalls a vivid childhood moment. Memory transforms into poetry, adding authenticity and emotional resonance. The flashback structure helps reflect on identity, belonging, and innocence lost.
🌀 Universality Theme
“It rained on both sides of the chain”
Suggests that nature, weather, and human experience are shared across borders. The universality emphasizes futility of political boundaries and highlights common humanity.
🌍 Juxtaposition
“soon everything would taste different. / The land under our feet continued”
Contrast between perception (food/culture “tastes” different) and reality (soil remains the same). This device underlines the tension between cultural constructs and natural continuity.
Themes: “At the Border, 1979” by Choman Hardi
· 🌍 Theme of Borders and Division In “At the Border, 1979” by Choman Hardi, one of the central themes is the artificiality of borders that divide people and landscapes. The poem vividly shows how political boundaries contrast with the continuity of nature: “the autumn soil continued on the other side / with the same colour, the same texture. / It rained on both sides of the chain.” Here, the thick iron chain is a human-made barrier that interrupts the natural unity of the earth, highlighting the absurdity of separating identical lands and communities. This theme emphasizes that while borders are socially and politically enforced, they cannot alter the shared essence of humanity and nature.
· 🏠 Theme of Home and Belonging In “At the Border, 1979” by Choman Hardi, the idea of home emerges as both an emotional and physical space. The mother’s words—“We are going home”—reveal the deep longing for return, belonging, and reconnection with one’s roots. Yet, the children’s perspective complicates this sense of belonging, as their perception of home is shaped through comparisons of “roads,”“landscape,” and “kindness of people.” The repeated emphasis on returning “home” reflects both nostalgia and idealization, suggesting that exile intensifies the desire for a purified vision of homeland.
· 👧 Theme of Childhood Innocence and Perception In “At the Border, 1979” by Choman Hardi, the child narrator filters political realities through playful imagination. The sister’s remark—“my right leg is in this country / and my left leg in the other”—illustrates how children interpret borders as sites of curiosity and play, rather than conflict. The narrator’s age, revealed in “I was five years old / standing by the check-in point,” underscores the innocent lens through which the divisions of nations are perceived. This theme demonstrates how childhood innocence contrasts with adult anxieties, providing a unique perspective on migration and displacement.
· 😢 Theme of Exile, Displacement, and Longing In “At the Border, 1979” by Choman Hardi, the emotional weight of exile and displacement permeates the poem. The lines “Dozens of families waited in the rain. / ‘I can inhale home,’ somebody said. / Now our mothers were crying” highlight the collective trauma and emotional yearning tied to return. The act of “a man bent down and kissed his muddy homeland” symbolizes reverence and attachment to a land left behind, even when scarred by political upheavals. This theme captures both the pain of forced migration and the deep, almost sacred connection individuals feel toward their homeland.
Literary Theories and “At the Border, 1979” by Choman Hardi
“It is your last check-in point in this country!” / “our papers were checked, / our faces thoroughly inspected”
New Historicism situates the poem in the political and historical realities of Kurdish displacement and border-crossing in the late 20th century. The strict border checks reflect how state power and geopolitical conflict shape individual lives. The poem’s personal memory becomes a historical testimony, linking private trauma to collective political contexts.
“the same colour, the same texture. / It rained on both sides of the chain.”
Postcolonial reading highlights artificial boundaries imposed by political forces, often echoing colonial border-making practices. The sameness of soil and shared rain expose how nature resists these divisions. The poem critiques the legacy of nation-state borders that marginalize displaced groups like the Kurds, emphasizing resistance to imposed identities.
👧 Feminist / Gender Theory
“Now our mothers were crying” / “My mother informed me: We are going home.”
Through a feminist lens, the poem underscores women’s voices in shaping memory and homeland narratives. Mothers appear as emotional anchors, carrying both nostalgia and grief. Their tears embody the gendered dimension of displacement—women as preservers of cultural identity and transmitters of hope, but also as sufferers of migration’s emotional toll.
“I was five years old / standing by the check-in point”
A psychoanalytic approach interprets the poem as a recollection of childhood trauma. The border crossing becomes a formative memory shaping identity and belonging. The child narrator’s act of “comparing both sides of the border” reflects unconscious attempts to reconcile divided realities. The adult voice revisiting the memory suggests repression, longing, and unresolved feelings tied to early displacement.
Critical Questions about “At the Border, 1979” by Choman Hardi
· ❓ How does “At the Border, 1979” by Choman Hardi highlight the artificiality of national borders? In “At the Border, 1979” by Choman Hardi, the artificiality of national borders is made visible through the imagery of continuity in nature. The speaker observes that “the autumn soil continued on the other side / with the same colour, the same texture. / It rained on both sides of the chain.” This imagery dismantles the notion that political divisions alter the essence of the land. The “thick iron chain” symbolizes man-made separation imposed upon a naturally unified world. The child’s perspective of comparing both sides emphasizes the futility of believing that borders can fundamentally change shared human and environmental realities.
· 🌿 In what ways does the poem address the theme of home and belonging? In “At the Border, 1979” by Choman Hardi, the concept of home is presented as both nostalgic ideal and emotional anchor. The mother insists, “We are going home. / She said that the roads are much cleaner / the landscape is more beautiful / and people are much kinder.” These words embody the longing of exiles who view their homeland through the lens of memory and hope. Yet, the poem complicates this idea, as the child narrator notices the sameness of the soil and the rain on both sides, questioning whether home is as different or superior as adults claim. The theme of belonging is therefore interwoven with both longing and disillusionment.
· 👧 How does the child’s perspective shape the representation of migration in the poem? In “At the Border, 1979” by Choman Hardi, the child narrator frames migration through innocence and curiosity. The sister’s playful gesture—“my right leg is in this country / and my left leg in the other”—captures how children perceive political divisions not as threats but as opportunities for imagination. The line “I was five years old / standing by the check-in point” emphasizes that the memory is filtered through youthful observation. This childlike lens provides both emotional distance and ironic clarity, exposing the absurdity of human-made boundaries while also underscoring the vulnerability of families caught in geopolitical struggles.
· 😢 What role do emotions of exile and displacement play in the poem? In “At the Border, 1979” by Choman Hardi, exile is portrayed as a shared experience of grief and longing. The image of “Dozens of families waited in the rain” underscores the collective suffering of displaced people. Emotional intensity heightens with “Now our mothers were crying” and the symbolic act when “a man bent down and kissed his muddy homeland.” These gestures reveal the pain of separation, the reverence for homeland, and the emotional burden migration carries. The poem thus captures displacement as more than physical movement—it becomes a profound psychological rupture, one that deeply marks individuals and communities.
Literary Works Similar to “At the Border, 1979” by Choman Hardi
🌍 “Home” by Warsan Shire This poem, like “At the Border, 1979”, deals with exile, displacement, and the painful reality of migration, emphasizing that leaving one’s homeland is never a choice but a necessity.
🕊️ “Refugee Blues” by W.H. Auden Auden’s poem resonates with Hardi’s in its portrayal of refugees, longing, and the arbitrary cruelty of borders that deny people belonging, echoing the same themes of exclusion and loss.
🚶 “Immigrants at Central Station, 1951” by Peter Skrzynecki Similar to Hardi’s work, Skrzynecki’s poem reflects the emotions of migrants waiting in transit, capturing displacement, uncertainty, and the shared experience of leaving one life for another.
🌧️ “The Weary Blues” by Langston Hughes (though not about migration directly, but longing and displacement in identity) This poem parallels Hardi’s work through its sense of longing, struggle, and the search for belonging, albeit in the cultural rather than geographic sense.
🌄 “Exile” by Julia Alvarez Much like “At the Border, 1979”, Alvarez’s poem reflects on childhood memory, migration, and the disorienting feeling of crossing into an unfamiliar place while yearning for home.
Representative Quotations of “At the Border, 1979” by Choman Hardi
