Comparing Poems 'Love, Death And The Changing Of The Seasons'

Sonnets have for a while in history been seen as strictly categorized and written by male poets, yet from the first written sonnet is has always been adapted by women. The twentieth and twenty-first centuries have brought about an assertion of female-authored sonnets along with the rise of feminism. Edna St. Vincent Millay has positioned herself in a tradition in which most others end up viewing the development of feminism through the use of sonnet. By comparing the works of Edna St. Vincent Millay and Marilyn Hacker there can be a clear distinction drawn as to the feminist context in which both sonnets lay rest. “Time does not bring relief; you all have lied” through the use of literary devices is able to evoke negative emotions and turn them into

Edna St. Vincent Millay’s sonnet “Time does not bring relief; you all have lied” deals with the issues that time does not always heal the pain that an individual may be going through. This pain that the narrator describes can be interpreted in many ways from pain of a lost love to pain of the death of a loved one. The narrator of this sonnet feels that the preconceived notion of time being a healer of all is incorrect and in fact time serves as more of a reminder. Simarily, Marilyn Hacker’s sonnet “Love, Death and the Changing of the Seasons” touches upon the idea of worry over self-image, worry over the lies that may be presented to the narrator at one point or another.

The rhyme schemes of both sonnets differ slightly and thus make “Time” (Millay) a more comprehensive assertion of emotion than “How can you love” (Hacker). Dealing with comprehensiveness in poetry and especially in sonnets really establishes a base for the poems appeal to an audience. The attack on a third party neither the audience nor narrator at the start of the sonnet grabs the attention of the audience into the