The Spring And The Fall Poem Analysis

“The Spring and the Fall” is written by Edna St. Vincent Millay. The poem is about two people, the poet and her significant other that she once had love for. The poem integrates the use of spring and fall to show how the poet stresses her relationship. Of course it starts off briefly by having a happy beginning of love, but the relationship soon took a shift for the worst, and there was foreshadow that there would be an unhappy ending. “I walked the road beside my dear. / The trees were black where the bark was wet” (2-3). After the seasons changed, the poet begins to explain why the relationship was dying, and all of the bad things she endured during the relationship. So, to what extend did the poet’s heart become broken, and did she ever

The poet is explaining the relationship and where she currently stands after the fact. Reading the line “There’s much that’s fine to see and her” can suggest that she is relieved to be broken up and she can start life over again. Although she’s not a part of the relationship, there was something more too why she was hurting. The final two lines of the poem can clarify more, “ Tis not love’s going to hurt my days, / But that it went in litter ways” (17-18). She is not hurt that she had a break up, she is trying express how it relates to spring and fall. As stated before, the spring time is a fresh, new start of the relationship while the fall is a downfall of the relationship. With that being said, the final two lines of the poem is stating that the relationship she had was more than just the average love, she had to watch her relationship deteriorate over time. As readers can see the spring come, then soon the fall time approach; all of what was bloomed during the spring has now died in the fall. Hence her relationship with her ex-lover is very similar to how the season’s

The poet illustrates both her blissfulness and sorrow through the repetition of “In the spring of the year,” and “In the fall of the year” to bring her emotions to life. Overall the poem is well structured. All three of the stanzas contain six lines a piece. The rhyme schemes in the first two stanzas are very similar to each other. Unlike the first two stanzas, the last stanza has a slightly different rhyme scheme and tone. For an example, the first two stanzas follow the AABACC rhyme scheme while the last stanza follows the AABBCC rhyme scheme. The fact that the poet may have chosen to change the tone or rhyme scheme is because she is no longer in a relationship anymore, and is trying to cope with her broken heart. Some may even suggest that whenever the spring or fall season is present, her past tribulations may still be thrown in her face but she is able to move forward with life. Reading lines out of the three stanzas, readers can see what state the speaker was in, whether it was either dealing with a break up or coping with an emotion breakthrough. In the line for an example, “He laughed at all I dared to praise, / And broke my heart, in little ways” (11-12), or “Tis not love’s going to hurt my days / But that it went in little ways” (17-18). Another way to determine how Millay was going through an emotional moment is by some of her word choices. From a common gender stereotype, women are more prone to be emotional