Edna St. Vincent Millay grew up in a small town in Maine. She was always encouraged by her mother to pursue her writing and musical talents. She finished college and moved to New York City where she lived a fast pace life pursuing acting and play writing. Her liveliness, independence, and sexuality inspired her writing styles and gave her poetry a freshness that no others had. She is famous for writing sonnets like “What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why.” This poem holds many metaphors and symbols pertaining to how certain seasons make people feel. She compares the feeling of nature with her personal feelings of being alone after having so many lovers. In “What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why” Millay reminisces back to a time when she had one lover after another. She cries because she lost them all and instead of opening her heart to them and offering her love she remained closed off and simply enjoyed the physical connections. Edna St. Vincent Millay may have imagined a speaker for this poem but she makes it seem as if it is coming from her own personal experiences. 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. Night after night, she remembers kissing them and being with them, but she admits to forgetting names, faces, locations, and even reason be... ... middle of paper ... ...ere he will see the impact that his words will have on society. His hopes that his plead to the wind will spread his work to the world and inspire consciousness and imagination. In “What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why?” Edna St. Vincent Millay says that “the summer sang in me” meaning that she was once as bright and lively as the warm summer months. In the winter everyone wants to bundle up and be lazy, but when summer comes along the sunshine tends to take away the limits that the cold once had on us. She uses the metaphor of summer to express the freedom she once felt in her youth, and the winter in contrast to the dull meaningless life she has now. There are many poets that feel a connection with the changing of seasons. In “Odes to the West Wind” Percy Bysshe Shelley describes his hopes and his expectations for the seasons to inspire the world.
In John Knowles’ novel, A Separate Piece, the main Character, Gene Forrester, has to learn to become friends with his hazardous roommate, Phineas, at his school, Devon, in New Hampshire. The novel is affected by a number of changes, however the largest and most significant change is the change in seasons. In Thomas C. Foster’s novel, How to read literature like a Professor, chapter twenty explains the significance of the seasons. Foster states that, “Summer [symbolizes] adulthood and romance and fulfillment and passion,” while, “ winter [symbolizes] old age and resentment and death.” John Knowles’ book A Separate Peace, all aspects of Summer, Fall, and Winter are excellently represented as explained in Thomas C. Foster’s novel, How to read
Edna St. Vincent Millay once stated, “I am glad that I paid so little attention to good advice; had I abided by it I might have been saved from some of my most valuable mistakes.” Millay was a poet in the early 1900s. She wrote numerous poems in which all a constant theme. Two of my favorite poems from her are Spring, which was written in 1921, and I Forgot for a Moment which was published in 1940. These two poems were written nineteen years apart, but Millay showed a thematic connection between them.
In his 1967 book, Edna St. Vincent Millay, James Gray writes that "the theme of all her [Millay's] poetry is the search for the integrity of the individual spirit" (Gray 6). While searching for the uniqueness of the individual spirit, Millay's poetry, especially "Sonnet xxxi", becomes interested in how the individual works when it is involoved in a relationship and must content with the power struggles which occur within that relationship. Power struggles occur on many levels, but Millay works in "Sonnet xxxi" with the decision of a partner to deny her individuality in order to provide harmony within the couple. Ultimately, the poem demonstrates that happiness cannot be found when one partner chooses to deny themselves and their individuality.
Millay’s sonnet, “What lips my lips have kissed,” grows further involved and meaningful through the use of literary concepts. These profoundly dark and clouded sentiments highlighted in the demeanor of a speaker, the tone, sounds of language, vocabulary, figurative language, and structure used. These literary concepts would not have been as imperative as it is in delivering the speaker’s sentiments to the reader. Any artist who applies color, texture, medium, and space to bring their pieces of art to life in as much a poet must use these kinds of literary
Sax Rohmer presents many great works throughout his writing career and “The Curse of a Thousand Kisses” was no exception. Some biographical information will lead readers to believe that his stories co-relate to his own life and experiences. In this story Rohmer presents someone who is cursed and the only way to reverse it is through a thousand, willing, and unknown of the curse true kisses. Rohmer reminds his readers that generosity, common curtesy, and caring for somebody else can make you a better person as well as others. The readers analysis of the story “The Curse of a Thousand Kisses” presents the use of literary elements together with Sax Rohmer’s history to give their own reflection.
Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) was born in Rockland, Maine. Her parents, Cora Lounella, a nurse, and Henry Tolman Millay, a schoolteacher. (Blain, Grund, and Clements ) Known to her family as "Vincent," she was named after St. Vincent Hospital in New York City, where her uncle had received care. At the age of 8, her parents divorced, and her mother raised Millay and her younger sisters.("Edna St. Vincent Millay" ) After Millay’s mother and father got a divorce her mother raised her and her 2 other sisters on her own in the year 1899.(Academy of American Poets 1) Millay’s mother motivated her daughters to appreciate music and literature from an young age so that they would be ambitious and self-sufficient.(Academy of American Poets 1) Millay’s mother implored that Millay enter her poem "Renascence" into a contest as the outcome to her mother's advice she won fourth place and publication in The Lyric Year.(Academy of American Poets 1) This being the case she not long after received notice and a scholarship to Vassar. (Academy of American Poets 1) As can be seen her mother...
Millay was born on February 22, 1892 in Rockland Maine. She was the daughter of Henry Tollman and Cora Buzzle. Cora Millay divorced her husband in 1990 due financial irresponsibility and moved Millay and her younger sisters to Camden Maine (Bio. A&E Television Networks). Millay’s mother had encouraged her daughters to value literature, which sparked Millay’s love for writing. Millay had originally wanted to be a concert pianist, but due to her small hands her piano instructor discouraged her from pursing the career (Bio. A&E Television Networks). So instead she pursued a career in writing. Millay attended public high school where she held the position of editor in chief of her school’s magazine (Bio. A&E Television Networks). Her first great poem was Renascence, was published in the anthology he Lyric Year in
“Summer is a season of the year.” “ it is the season of growing , the season of life.”
Edna St. Vincent Millay was born on February 22, 1892 in Rockland, Maine. During her childhood years, she grew up in an impoverished family. However, despite the fact that the family was poor, Cora Millay, her mother, continually supported her cultural advancement by exposing her to a mixture of reading materials and music lessons. The efforts of her mother eventually paid off when Millay became an accomplished poet. In an original work called Figs, Millay expresses the feelings of rebellion and desire for freedom within young teenagers. However, the ability to relate to her readers only represented one aspect of Millay’s versatility. Similar to another accomplished poet, Robert Frost, Millay had the ability to incorporate tradition forms
nature and the season of summer. The two poems that I am to study are
In the poem “What Lips my Lips Have Kissed, and Where and Why”, Edna St. Vincent Millay elucidates that it is possible to feel alone in a relationship, and if a significant other doesn’t mean anything, then forgetting the details of a past romance is inconsequential: regardless of whether a lover is close or distant, a profound emptiness endures. Millay reaches this conclusion by first hinting in the title that the identities of the men are negligible— they all blend together and take a back seat to the woman’s desolation— as she uses synecdoche to refer to her past lovers as “lips” rather than people as a way of dehumanizing them; secondly, through melancholy imagery of ghosts which furthers the idea of an unseen force, or rather feeling, haunting her and beseeching attention, and she cannot be bothered to respond to these pleas, despite the fact that they “stir a quiet pain”, because it would do nothing to ameliorate her aloneness (line 6); and lastly, through the metaphor of a “lonely tree” whose boughs are “more silent than before” because Millay doesn’t specify that the tree was vibrant or prolific during summer or include any distinctive details about the birds: the focus is on the sense of solitude— none of the birds were special, but the woman misses having someone around to help foster the illusion that she isn’t alone, despite the fact that she is emotionally void (9-11).
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.
When the poem starts it takes place in autumn. The speaker is explaining his love for autumn and all the things he does with his wife. For him autumn is the time of year where
... In all three poems, change is represented as a transition between seasons with the narrator being enthralled by the present and not wanting time to change what they have. In “Reluctance” the seasons are more than actual seasons as the display a turning point in the narrators where he must decide to embrace change or follow his heart. In “Spring Pools” and “Nothing Gold Can Stay” the narrators both emphasize the short-lived beauty of nature because of the change in seasons and want so desperately the delay that change. However, both narrators almost reluctantly come to the conclusion that change can bring more beauty but are worried to lose what they have in the present. Frost’s mastery of poetry, nature, and human behavior are beautifully intertwined in these poems to create powerful messages that will continue to be relevant as mankind struggles to accept change.
Both Shelley, in "Ode to the West Wind," and Wordsworth, in "Intimations of Immortality," are very similar in their use of nature to describe the life and death of the human spirit. As they both describe nature, these two poets use the comparison of how the Earth and all its life is the same as our own human life. I feel that Shelley uses the seasons as a way of portraying the human life during reincarnation. Wordsworth seems to concentrate more on the stages that a person goes through during life. Shelley compares himself to such things as clouds, leaves, and waves.