Edna St. Vincent Millay What Lips My Lips Have Kissed
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. Two major themes of this sonnet are change and loss. The theme loss is throughout the entire sonnet.
Some parts of this sonnet are traditional while other parts are untraditional. This is a modern Italian sonnet. The speaker looks back on her younger days and feels pain and a sense of loss. The poet compares her lost lovers to ghosts in the octave, and the sestet would be the summer birds and passing of time. I think that Millay the poet is describing her own life experiences with her lost lovers.
I think Millay used “what lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why” for the first sentence was to give the subject matter of the poem. Millay really wanted to clearly tell us that this poem is special to her and she remembers the kissing of many men she once loved.
In the first line Millay states she has forgotten. I think Millay loved many men and has forgotten their faces but remembers their lips and the love she felt. In the second and third lines, Millay pictures young men’s arms that have held her all …show more content…
She states “I cannot say what loves have come and gone,” because she does not remember the men that once loved her but only the feeling of love. In the thirteen and fourteen, she states the happiness she had by saying, “I only know that summer sang in me.” Summer is a metaphor for the happiness she had with her lovers, the birds, while she felt love. In the fourteenth line, Millay states that her joyful years of love are gone. The poet realizes what she once had was amazing and now realizes she took the men for granted. Now only if she could have one lover who would love her she would feel grateful this time
“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. Two major themes of this sonnet are change and loss. The theme loss is throughout the entire sonnet.
Some parts of this sonnet are traditional while other parts are untraditional. This is a modern Italian sonnet. The speaker looks back on her younger days and feels pain and a sense of loss. The poet compares her lost lovers to ghosts in the octave, and the sestet would be the summer birds and passing of time. I think that Millay the poet is describing her own life experiences with her lost lovers.
I think Millay used “what lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why” for the first sentence was to give the subject matter of the poem. Millay really wanted to clearly tell us that this poem is special to her and she remembers the kissing of many men she once loved.
In the first line Millay states she has forgotten. I think Millay loved many men and has forgotten their faces but remembers their lips and the love she felt. In the second and third lines, Millay pictures young men’s arms that have held her all …show more content…
She states “I cannot say what loves have come and gone,” because she does not remember the men that once loved her but only the feeling of love. In the thirteen and fourteen, she states the happiness she had by saying, “I only know that summer sang in me.” Summer is a metaphor for the happiness she had with her lovers, the birds, while she felt love. In the fourteenth line, Millay states that her joyful years of love are gone. The poet realizes what she once had was amazing and now realizes she took the men for granted. Now only if she could have one lover who would love her she would feel grateful this time