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Comment 20 of 60, added on January 14th, 2007 at 12:59 PM.
I have felt this poem, despite its appeal, was inauthentic. Millay may have
been ahead of her time sexually, but what of it? That is nothing to poetry,
and her sexual antics of any stripe add nothing to the depth of human
experience. What do I care what she did in bed? She was shallow, nasty and
vicious which a glance through "Savage Beauty" will tell you. And her
attitudes toward sex, with their cheapening of other's feelings, most
likely made her that. Renascence is good, and her work can be good, but
come on... alot of this woman's poetry is posing, and this one is no
exception. She thinks she is a free spirit, a libertine, and a poetess. As
Nietszche points out it is precisely these "free" spirits who are the most
bound.
Dan Drumm from United States
Comment 19 of 60, added on May 11th, 2006 at 6:39 AM.
I have loved this poem since I was 18 and at college and it still touches
my soul in an inexplicably tender way today, even more so, now that I am
60. "What lips my lips have kissed"...all those she has loved, fleetingly,
lingeringly, passionately, or casually...where and why, who knows...but she
wonders where they are, and in her heart there is a quiet pain of longing
for those moments of tenderness and passion.
For they have all gone, and she is alone...in the winter of her years, a
tree barren of its foliage, it's beauty faded and bare. No birds singing in
the branches. She feels the pain of silence and solitude. But yet, despite
the loneliness, she remembers that once summer sang in her, that she was
vibrant, desired alive and loved...and these memories sustain her to the
end.
I came across Edna St Vincent Millay's poems as a teenager and nobody in my
circle had ever heard of her, then...but I loved her energy and sensuality
and still do today. This is my favourite poem.I am amazed that there is so
much interest in her work today.
Berenice from Australia
Comment 18 of 60, added on April 6th, 2006 at 4:41 PM.
she talks about the lads, last to my knowledge there were no women that
were lads.
Micheal from Belgium
Comment 17 of 60, added on February 20th, 2006 at 10:05 PM.
I was enthralled with this poem when I first read it. Millay excells at
nostalgic verse. If anyone cares to discuss her poetry with me, feel free
to email.
Joy from United States
Comment 16 of 60, added on February 6th, 2006 at 7:39 PM.
I understand for the most part the symbolic meaning of the pems and i
presume that the mood/feeling is a flashback memeory type of feeling but is
this poem written in iambic pentameter and does line eight have a sexual
allusion: "turn to me at midnight with a cry" supposed to be an orgasm?????
Can anyone also help me understand and interpret the poem and tone better?
Plz email if someone can help: pynklady@sbcglobal.net
Sam from United States
Comment 15 of 60, added on January 13th, 2006 at 12:35 PM.
This is a poem obviously on her bisexual feelings... I mean, "What lips
have I kissed"? or whatever? I get it. Me, being a bisexual myself gets it.
Sarah Mathers--lol from Canada
Comment 14 of 60, added on November 7th, 2005 at 4:51 PM.
What is the imagery in his poem?
I'm so confused...
Sandra from Canada
Comment 13 of 60, added on September 22nd, 2005 at 3:35 PM.
I need to write an essay on the defamiliarization of this poem any ideas??
Sarah from Canada
Comment 12 of 60, added on September 18th, 2005 at 7:55 AM.
I think this poem by Edna is remembering her promiscuous youth and
contemplating her free-spiritness. The poem describes Edna as a 'lonely
tree' who's companions have vanished over time. Edna speaks of her past
lovers as 'ghosts' and refers to them as 'lips' - showing no concern as to
who she was with.
At the time the poem was written, Edna was 29 years old. I think that
because of her young age, Edna must have considered her marriage, later
that year, to be spelling the end of her unconditional 'fun'. I think she
wrote the poem with an 'this is the end of my life as I know it' attitude.
And she acknowledges the fact that she may no longer be desirable to the
people she once shared a bed with.
Matt from United Kingdom
Comment 11 of 60, added on July 9th, 2005 at 11:30 AM.
Millay's life and activism are extraordinary, but they should have little
impact on our reading of this poem. Inserting biographical information
into a poem is like wondering if Tom Cruise and Nichole Kidman's real
relationship was on the rocks when they made Eyes Wide Shut: it doesn't
matter to the performance. The speaker in a sonnet is much like an actor
delivering a dramatic monologue.
Here, the focus of the poem is simple, deep and devastating. An older woman
is haunted by the lovers of her youth because she no longer feels
desirable, and she cannot have them back again. Around this simple focus
is a complexity of sexual views and relationships. The quest for true love
doesn't enter the picture -- the boys have no identities and no single one
made a deep impression on the speaker, and the speaker is not bothered by
this. What she is haunted by is not the absence of love, but rather the
absence of lovers. She has had her conquests -- (and at this point we
might reflect on what a bold social statement this was in the 1920's) --
but her conquests are behind her.
In addition to Herrick's "To the Virgins", check out the passages in The
Waste Land about the hyacinth girl and the typist.
Topher Hemann from United States
This poem has been commented on more than 10 times. Click below to see the other comments.
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I have felt this poem, despite its appeal, was inauthentic. Millay may have
been ahead of her time sexually, but what of it? That is nothing to poetry,
and her sexual antics of any stripe add nothing to the depth of human
experience. What do I care what she did in bed? She was shallow, nasty and
vicious which a glance through "Savage Beauty" will tell you. And her
attitudes toward sex, with their cheapening of other's feelings, most
likely made her that. Renascence is good, and her work can be good, but
come on... alot of this woman's poetry is posing, and this one is no
exception. She thinks she is a free spirit, a libertine, and a poetess. As
Nietszche points out it is precisely these "free" spirits who are the most
bound.
Dan Drumm from United States