This door you might not open, and you did;
So enter now, and see for what slight thing
You are betrayed…. Here is no treasure hid
No cauldron, no clear crystal mirroring
The sought-for truth, no heads of women slain
For greed like yours, no writhings of distress
But only what you see…. Look yet again-
An empty room, cobwebbed and comfortless
Yet this alone out of my life I kept
Unto myself, lest any know me quite;
And you did so profane me when you crept
Unto the threshold of this room to-night
That I must never more behold your face.
This now is yours. I seek another place.
Sonnet 06: Bluebeard
Analysis, meaning and summary of Edna St. Vincent Millay's poem Sonnet 06: Bluebeard
2 Comments
Leave a Reply
Do you have any comments, criticism, paraphrasis or analysis of this poem that you feel would assist other visitors in understanding the meaning or the theme of this poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay better? If accepted, your analysis will be added to this page of American Poems. Together we can build a wealth of information, but it will take some discipline and determination.
The writer of the previous post is obviously unfamiliar with Bluebeard, the fictional ladykiller–literally–who hid his many murdered wives in a locked room. Literally, the poem is a retelling of Bluebeard’s tale with an alternate ending (although the Bluebeard story could simply be a conceit, a metaphor to conceptualize the speaker’s situation). The “Bluebeard” figure is reconstructed as a victim of mental and emotional trespass; the entered room is not a chamber of horros but an emblem of invaded solitude. The gruesome fairytale is transformed into a relationship crisis. Since Bluebeard is the starring character in the poem’s sustained metaphor, the title is perfectly apt.
the name “bluebeard” doesn’t make any sence it doesn’t go with the poem thats written!!!