In “How to Read a Poem” William Carlos Williams writes that a reader must “complete” what the poet has begun, in the Italian sonnet, “What My Lips Have Kissed and Why and When”, Edna Saint Vincent Millay uses her sonnet to make provoke thought in the reader. Poems tell stories and in order to understand the story, the reader must read between the lines to fully understand. The sonnet is at a surface level about love and loneliness. The deeper meaning to gain from the poem is the narrator reflecting on past loves and regrets she has had and the heartache she feels. In lines 6 through 8, the text states, “And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain For unremembered lads that not again Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.”. The narrator is guilty that she has forgotten these past lovers who were once important in her life. As time moves on, she knows they will never rekindle what they had or will speak again in the same way. Lines 12 to 14 state, “I cannot say what loves have come and gone, I only know that summer sang in me A little while, that in me sings no more.” Though the narrator knows she enjoyed being in love with her past lovers, though short-lived she feels empty and in grief. She now wonders if the relationships she’s experienced were even worth experiencing. Usually, we’re used to seeing stories about love where the person is longing for past loved ones but the narrator doesn’t remember much about them. The sonnet started off with her longing for these past relationships she only faintly remembers and ends open-ended left for the reader to come to their own conclusion of how their outlook on the topic.
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