About this chat

We will explore the metaphorical significance of the heart in history and in today’s clinical practice. We’ll begin with a poem by e.e. cummings that positions the heart as the seat of love. We’ll then turn to writings by two contemporary cardiologist-writers: Sandeep Jauhar and Haider Warraich. Both Jauhar and Warraich will join us for this discussion. This chat was curated by Dr. Ritu Thamman and MedHumChat director Dr. Colleen Farrell. It is held in conjunction with Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, an American Heart Association journal.

e. e. cummings: [i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
                                                      i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

Sandeep Jahaur: How your emotions change the shape of your heart

Sandeep Jauhar, TED 2019

“No other organ, perhaps no other object in human life, is as imbued with metaphor and meaning as the human heart. Over the course of history, the heart has been a symbol of our emotional lives. It was considered by many to be the seat of the soul, the repository of the emotions.” Read or Listen Here

Haider Warraich: “Darkness before Dawn,” from State of the Heart: Exploring the History, Science, and Future of Cardiac Disease

“The heart, that muscular organ beating in your chest as you read, sending pulsations throughout your body, is perhaps the part of the body most associated with life at both ends of human existence. Hearing a heartbeat has become a rite of passage for anyone who becomes pregnant… On the other end of existence, when someone falls to the ground unconscious, the reflex of anyone with an ounce of knowledge about the human body will be to reach for their wrist and feel for a pulse. If there is a pulse, there is life. If there is no pulse, there is no life.” Continue Reading