# XXIX: Dear Heart, Why Will You Use Me So? explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by James Joyce.

## What happens

The speaker addresses a beloved, acknowledging their beauty while lamenting the desolate winds that threaten their love. The poem foreshadows love's dissolution and questions why the beloved treats the speaker so cruelly.

## Themes in this chapter

### Love and Longing

The speaker's deep affection and yearning for the beloved, mixed with pain and confusion.

### Transience and Loss

The impending dissolution of love under the wild winds, highlighting its fleeting nature.

## Character check-ins

### Narrator

The speaker who questions and laments the beloved's treatment.

### Beloved

The addressed heart and eyes, whose beauty is praised but whose actions cause sorrow.

### Love

Personified love that resides in the shadowy garden and is soon to be dissolved.

## Key lines

> Dear heart, why will you use me so?

Beloved, why do you treat me this way?

_Opening plea expressing bewilderment and hurt._

> Desolate winds assail with cries / The shadowy garden where love is.

Lonely winds attack with shouts the dark garden where love resides.

_Imagery of external forces threatening the sanctuary of love._

> And soon shall love dissolved be / When over us the wild winds blow

Love will soon break apart when the fierce winds sweep over us.

_Foreshadowing the end of the relationship due to harsh circumstances._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_11_se/chapters/xxix-dear-heart-why-will-you-use-me-so
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_11_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_11_se/chapters