Answer: This proclamation, given in such a simple manner in these two lines, is the core theme of the poem, that by existing in a way that “can stop one heart from breaking,” the narrator “shall not live in vain.” The easy interpretation of this idea is that so long as the ability exists to “help” another person, life can be something that is worth experiencing. However, it is worth noting that Dickinson has not said that life would not be “in vain” so long as she could “help” another for a first concept. Rather, she has stated the specific action of being able to “stop one heart from breaking.”
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