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6. METAPHOR Much of the language in this poem is metaphorical, but its most striking, standalone metaphor is that of the “mighty heart” in the final line. The poem personifies the city elsewhere—for example, in the image of the city wearing the sunlight “like a garment”—and in that way prepares the reader for this heart image. But the heart represents an entirely new vision. It is rawer and more consuming than the images that come before it, and therefore deserves special attention. The “still” and “mighty heart” is an appropriate end to the poem, because it embodies many of the physical and emotional tensions that the poem is so concerned with. For example, the speaker sees beauty in the industrial sprawl of the city. Like the city, the heart can be both ugly and beautiful. It is beautiful in the sense that it symbolizes love and makes human life possible. At the same time, however, the speaker might cower at the sight of the giant, raw organ. The speaker’s reaction to it—“Dear God!”—implies both beauty and terror. The heart metaphor also reminds the reader of the tension between the individual and the group. Is the city a single organism, or a collection of distinct organisms? The speaker doesn’t answer the question directly, but by presenting the city at the end of the poem as the life force of a single human being, the speaker signals an opinion: the city is both. All the people who live in the city together make up a single, beating heart; at the same time, the city is itself a source of vibrancy, a heart that pumps life into its surroundings. The heart also returns the poem to its beginning, to the speaker, whose heart beats unacknowledged as the poem develops. The “mighty heart” could be the speaker’s way of reminding him or herself that he or she is just one body among many. Where Metaphor appears in the poem: • Line 14: “that mighty heart”