Edna St. Vincent Millay was an American poet and a very skilled writer of sonnets during the twentieth century. She combines modernist outlooks with old fashioned forms thus producing very unique poetry. The “What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why” (Millay) is an Italian sonnet that uses many aspects to express a meaning. Through the poem, Millay uses many metaphors, has a good structure and moods; seasonal imagery is also evident in this sonnet. She expresses the love she had and the desolation she went through with a sad conclusion. The poem has two essential themes that are change and loss. Change in the poem can suggest past moments where youth vanishes and so are bygone the memories and feelings. Loss is stressed is the loss of love, time, memory and loss of lives, but it’s mostly …show more content…
The losses of her lovers are mentioned on the octave and in the sestet she expresses of a profounder loss and her dwindling memory of them “I cannot say what loves have come and gone”. (Millay) Rhyme and rhythm can be seen through the poem, it creates a feeling to us the readers as she describes her lovers. The speaker starts by stating that she doesn’t remember “What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why” (Millay) and mentions that she hears “ghosts, that tap and sigh….upon the class and listen for reply”, (Millay) to me that says that she is alone. On the sestet, she mentions the “lonely tree in winter, whose birds have vanished one by one” (Millay), the speaker uses the “lonely tree” metaphor to compare to herself, and I can feel a depressed tone. In the end, the “problem” mentioned in the octave, the speaker not remembering her lovers or how she felt kissed or held by them is resolved by how it would no longer matter “I only know that summer sang in me…a little while, that in me sings no more.”
In The Awakening, Edna Pontellier is a selfish character. She wishes to live her life the way she wants without anyone interfering. She did not start selfish, but grew selfish as her hidden desires were awakened. Her selfishness comes from her complete disregard for anyone’s happiness besides her own. Edna refuses to attend her sister’s wedding, describing the event as lamentable. Even if Edna did not want to attend, a wedding is for the bride and groom’s happiness. She is unable to compromise any of her own desires for the happiness of others. Edna’s own marriage was an act of rebellion for marrying outside of what was expected, and came with the titles of wife and mother. Edna abandoned her relationship without trying to resolve any difficulties with her husband before satisfying her needs. She does not discuss with him her unhappiness or seek his approval before moving to the pigeon house. She develops her relationship with Arobin only to fulfill her own physical needs.
Edna St. Vincent Millay’s sonnet, “What lips my lips have kissed and where and why,” is about being, physically or mentally jaded, and thinking back to the torrid love of one’s youth. The “ghosts” that haunt her are the many lovers of her past; she’s specifically trying to remember them all. She recalls the passion she experienced and how there was a certain feeling within herself. Millay shows this through her vivid imagery, use of the rain as a literary device and by paralleling herself with a lonely tree.
Daniel Mark Epstein says that “the truth about her personal affairs was scarcely less fantastic than the rampant speculations; even now, historians find it difficult to separate Millay rumor from Millay fact.” The speaker is obviously at an older age now, and feels as if her youth was wasted. “What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why, I have forgotten,” is the first line in Millay’s sonnet. This line sets the tone and theme of the poem right away. She has been with many men in her younger years.
The Sonnet by Edna St. Vincent Millay, “Love is Not All” demonstrates an unpleasant feeling about the knowledge of love with the impression to consider love as an unimportant element that does not worth dying for; the poem is a personal message addressing the intensity, importance, and transitory nature of love. The poet’s impression reflects her general point of view about love as portrays in the title “Love is Not All.” However, the unfolding part of the poem reveals the sarcastic truth that love is important.
The meaning of this poem is an epitaph of a dead woman narrating the story of her life from the other world. She tells a sad story of a tough life, but she does not for what has happened to complain. She remembers the dances of
The poem's speaker mistreated,gloomy and being isolated. She is a person who loss and assimilation if not loose your self. “That this
Throughout the poem, she cautions the readers that no one is excluded from feeling the pain of loneliness. Everyone, in her eyes, needs love from others. She uses repetition to remind readers of this. She repeats these lines, which serves as a separate refrain for the poem:
The speaker begins the poem an ethereal tone masking the violent nature of her subject matter. The poem is set in the Elysian Fields, a paradise where the souls of the heroic and virtuous were sent (cite). Through her use of the words “dreamed”, “sweet women”, “blossoms” and
This essay is anchored on the goal of looking closer and scrutinizing the said poem. It is divided into subheadings for the discussion of the analysis of each of the poem’s stanzas.
The poem becomes personal on line 10 when she uses the first person and says “I lost my mother’s watch”. She is letting the reader know what she has lost in reality. Then she gets sidetracked to mention other things she has lost; she then mentions other things she has lost of much more importance such as houses, continents, realms, and cities, but then again mentions it was not so hard to lose those things. But in the end, mention the loss that really matters. She remembers the qualities of the lover she lost.
Although this section is the easiest to read, it sets up the action and requires the most "reading between the lines" to follow along with the quick and meaningful happenings. Millay begins her poem by describing, in first person, the limitations of her world as a child. She links herself to these nature images and wonders about what the world is like beyond the islands and mountains. The initial language and writing style hint at a child-like theme used in this section. This device invites the reader to sit back and enjoy the poem without the pressure to understand complex words and structure.
"Memory…is the diary that we all carry about with us." - Oscar Wilde. In her poem, "Recuerdo" Edna St. Vincent Millay tells of a night worth remembering, as she gives purpose and significance to the tiny moments. Edna St. Vincent Millay uses repetition, common themes, and imagery to recount an innocent memory through the eyes of a young girl in love.
In Millay's poem " What Lips My Lips Have Kissed, and Where and Why" she laments over lost lovers. Ironically, she is described as both fondly remembering and regretfully forgetting them. In the second and third lines, the speaker recalls the lips and arms, of the young men, that have embraced her in the past, rather than their faces, suggesting her ignorance of their identities or names. She continues, "the rain is full of ghosts tonight." (3-4) In this octave she uses raindrops hitting a windowpane to stand for the sighs of lost lovers. She also compares raindrops to ghosts as a metaphor for memories of lost lovers, whose absence she feels, though who have faded into a vague abyss. In this comparison, she also uses the windowpane to show the separation between the present and past, or a border which allows insight but not interference. She is able to look back at her past but not change anything she has done thus she can only reminisce and unfortunately only regret. She describes "a quiet pain" (6) in her heart "for unremembered lads" (6-7) emphasizing her loneliness and sorrow caused by these meaningless trysts. In the sestet Millay compares herself to a "lonely tree," (9) "with birds vanishing one by one" (10) and "boughs more silent than before." (11) The tree is an analogy for her lost chances at true love. The lack of leaves and singing birds on the boughs of the trees stand for the loss of youth and lovers. In the last few lines of the poem Millay's character realizes that nobody young desires the her, now that she has aged.
To begin, the episodic shifts in scenes in this ballad enhance the speaker’s emotional confusion. Almost every stanza has its own time and place in the speaker’s memory, which sparks different emotions with each. For example, the first stanza is her memory of herself at her house and it has a mocking, carefree mood. She says, “I cut my lungs with laughter,” meaning that...
This metaphor in her poem captures how this woman at one point of her life had it all. Lost the temporary love she had in her youth. " Summer sang to me. A little while, that in me sings no more" she explains that living life freely didn’t last forever. The metaphors used by both the poets captured the imagery of living in the main characters