Edna St. Vincent Millay was an American lyrical poet, playwright and feminist. Two major themes of this sonnet are change and loss. Analysis of Edna St.Vincent Millay’s “What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why” In the 1923 sonnet, “What lips my lips have kissed,” Edna St. Vincent Millay speaks about several loves coming to an end and the emotion its gives her while she reminiscences through her past. Love-. This role is evident in her sonnet, “Pity Me Not”: Famous for her works of sonnets — poems which explore emotions and ideas in an abstract way, without any strict story or narrative, especially focused on different aspects of love, Millay perfected this “tormented lover” role in her sonnets — it is not her opinions directly in the poem, she is taking on a persona or becoming a character in order to explore certain emotions. Rhyme scheme: abab cdcd cece cfcf abab gXgX Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4, Closest metre: iambic pentameter Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme Сlosest stanza type: sonnet Guessed form: blank verse Metre: 010111111 110101011 110011111 1111111 010111011 101101011 111011111 1010111111 11111101101 11111001001 0100100101 101001101001 1111111111 111100101 … — An article from the Guardian on Millay's posthumous reputation. If you like this resource be sure to check out my CIE English Literature poetry course and other Lit / essay writing courses here: https://scrbbly.teachable.com/p/cie-igcse-poetry. Than the great tide that treads the shifting shore. The speaker tells her one-time lover not to pity her based on the fact that his love has (quite naturally) waned: pity her, the speaker says, because, even though she can understand that love doesn't last forever, her heart's still in terrible pain. Beauty — Millay talks of fading beauty, and says that when beauty fades it is natural that a man’s attention should fade too. Nature — the poet says that disappearing or fading away is a natural part of life, and gives many examples of how this happens in nature e.g. Edna St. Vincent Millay (February 22, 1892 – October 19, 1950) was an American lyrical poet and playwright.. Encouraged to read the classics at home, she was too rebellious to make a success of formal education, but she won poetry prizes from an early age, including the Pulitzer Prize in 1923, and went on to use verse as a medium for her feminist activism. By Edna St. Vincent Millay About this Poet Throughout much of her career, Pulitzer Prize-winner Edna St. Vincent Millay was one of the most successful and respected poets in America. “And you no longer look with love on me.” The woman is being defensive that she realised that the man didn’t love her — it’s almost as if she’s accusing him, “Pity me that the heart is slow to learn” This suggests that the woman wants the man to understand that she doesn’t know how to deal with or recover from this type of situation, “When the swift mind beholds at every turn.” The mind of the woman is quick to catch up and move on — logically, she understands that the relationship is over and it makes sense to her, “light of day” fades into night, “beauties” disappear over time, “waning moon” “ebbing tide”, The woman observes natural processes in nature and believes that relationships are the same — they grow and then fade, and this normal, Anaphora — “Pity me not” / “Pity me” — Millay repeats the phrase ‘pity me not’ early on in the poem, each time providing a new example from nature about why we shouldn’t feel sorry for her. 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