Sonnet 02: Time Does Not Bring Relief; You All Have Lied

Time does not bring relief; you all have lied
Who told me time would ease me of my pain!
I miss him in the weeping of the rain;
I want him at the shrinking of the tide;
The old snows melt from every mountain-side,
And last year’s leaves are smoke in every lane;
But last year’s bitter loving must remain
Heaped on my heart, and my old thoughts abide

There are a hundred places where I fear
To go,-so with his memory they brim
And entering with relief some quiet place
Where never fell his foot or shone his face
I say, “There is no memory of him here!”
And so stand stricken, so remembering him!

Analysis, meaning and summary of Edna St. Vincent Millay's poem Sonnet 02: Time Does Not Bring Relief; You All Have Lied

7 Comments

  1. Robert J. Muldoon says:

    Whenever I lose someone, or even –perhaps, especially–
    a pet, that I have loved so intensely, I re-read this poem, because it offers solace even if for a brief moment.

  2. Moumi chatterjee says:

    Firstly,Edna creates here the major theme:time. It is true that we forget about him/her with the passing of time. But it remains forever. Recently i have lost my grandfather. He was very close to me. But i know,he will be in my mind,my heart ever & forever. I have read this poem. I like it.

  3. Reem says:

    Really , it`s wonderful poem .It expresses our emotions when we loose someone.I like it .

  4. franz haroldson says:

    this poem makes me want to poop all over the place!!!

  5. Merle Amodeo says:

    When my husband first died I became obsessed with wanting time to fly so the pain I felt would stop, but what I now realize is the longer you go without seeing a loved one the more you ache for their presence.
    That’s exactly what this poem is saying – that even avoiding things you’ve shared doesn’t help because his absence is preset everywhere. This poem is equal to Huxley’s “Stop all the clocks” for a powerful description of loss and the conviction that “nothing now can come to any good”.

  6. stella lockyer says:

    At last I have found the words to express my anger (anguish)when a well-meaning acquaintance says time will heal the pain of losing my son. 2 years later the pain is still so intense that it is better not to think of him at all! How I long to show this wonderful
    poem to those people! Especially the line “And entering with relief some quiet place Where never fell his foot or shone his face —–And so stand stricken, so remembering him!”

  7. Chazlynn says:

    I loved this poem. I felt the pain and sorrow that this author put into this. To remember something you wish not to can hurt a lot.

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