Reading a poem requires an open mindset and having analytical skills to understand the poet’s intent.
In the Italian sonnet, “What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why” by Edna St. Vincent Millay, the speaker describes a past lover that they have forgotten. The speaker says, “And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain / For unremembered lads that not again” (Millay 6-7). These lines convey the speaker’s emotions of sadness, yet their faded memory of the person who is causing the pain. The speaker expands their pain by comparing it to a tree, “Thus in the winter stands the lonely tree,/ Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,” (Millay 9-10). The use of imagery is a technique to convey the emotion of the speaker by using metaphors. The birds going away one by one and the tree not knowing the birds is a reflection of the speaker’s past love and fading memories. Millay’s use of a melancholy environment is described by the speaker and enhanced by the use of imagery and metaphors.
3 thoughts on “Eldred Espinal Discussion 4”
This was an amazing analysis Eldred! Literary devices are an important aspect under techniques of reading poems. It makes you wonder why such an impactful person to him. He cannot find the capacity to remember. It leads the reader to question certain things. Was there an argument, or a long-distance lover. As I read various literature pieces, I realize everyone leaves a piece for the reader to comprehend or even feel. For example, the second quote uses the metaphor to show emotion of what the main character feeling. It gives a glimpse of how we can possibly feel if we were in the same circumstances. Great analysis!
I think you descriped this wonderfully. I agree that imagery was used. I also think it was really sad how she compared herself to a tree and the lost of birds resembleing the lost of her past loves. I can only imagine the fear that the future held for her. She knew as time past the bigger the distances would be between her and the only thing she had eft, her memories. She doesnt just loose her past love, but herself as well.
Eldred, this is a good discussion of the poem by St. Vincent Millay, but have you addressed the prompt about the reader’s attitude and technique when approaching poetry?