#ClassicPoetry – #EdnaSt.VincentMillay – #LoveIsNotAll –

/ Marcia Meara

 

Haven’t shared any poetry in some time, and realized I needed to rectify that situation. With that in mind, here’s today’s offering from Edna St. Vincent Millay. Hope you enjoy it! 😀

Love is Not All (Sonnet XXX)
Edna St. Vincent Millay – 1892-1950

Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink
Nor slumber nor a roof against the rain;
Nor yet a floating spar to men that sink
And rise and sink and rise and sink again;

Love cannot fill the thickened lung with breath,
Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone;
Yet many a man is making friends with death
Even as I speak, for lack of love alone.

It well may be that in a difficult hour,
Pinned down by pain and moaning for release,
Or nagged by want past resolution’s power,
I might be driven to sell your love for peace,
Or trade the memory of this night for food.

It well may be. I do not think I would.

Edna St. Vincent Millay
February 22, 1892 – October 19, 1950

Throughout much of her career, Pulitzer Prize-winner Edna St. Vincent Millay was one of the most successful and respected poets in America. She is noted for both her dramatic works, including Aria da capo, The Lamp and the Bell, and the libretto composed for an opera, The King’s Henchman, and for such lyric verses as “Renascence” and the poems found in the collections A Few Figs From Thistles, Second April, and The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1923. Like her contemporary Robert Frost, Millay was one of the most skillful writers of sonnets in the twentieth century, and also like Frost, she was able to combine modernist attitudes with traditional forms creating a unique American poetry. But Millay’s popularity as a poet had at least as much to do with her person: she was known for her riveting readings and performances, her progressive political stances, frank portrayal of both hetero and homosexuality, and, above all, her embodiment and description of new kinds of female experience and expression. “Edna St. Vincent Millay,” notes her biographer Nancy Milford, “became the herald of the New Woman.”

Hope you enjoyed this one!

24 thoughts on “#ClassicPoetry – #EdnaSt.VincentMillay – #LoveIsNotAll –”

    • I find it interesting, rather than disturbing, Vera. And Love definitely won’t feed you, etc. But in the end, she admits she doesn’t believe she’d trade it for any of those things, so Love wins out. Probably. 😉😁

      Thanks for stopping by today, and hope you have a great week ahead! 😀 ❤

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    • I’ve always loved her work, too, Darlene, but then I’m a sucker for old-fashioned poetry and old-fashioned themes. Glad you enjoyed a chance to re-read this one today, and hope you have a great week ahead! 😀 ❤

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    • She was a poet from a different era, though back in my day, we studied them all in English class. It’s my pleasure to introduce you to her, Mar, and you might find her other works to your liking, too.

      My Classic Poetry series isn’t new, though I haven’t updated it much in recent weeks. But you just might find some other poets from “back in the day” that you’d enjoy, too. You can do a search under “Classic Poetry” and scroll through some of the older posts, if you are interested. I do hope to get back to featuring this every other Monday, too, and hope you’ll enjoy checking it out now and then.

      Thanks for stopping by, and hope you have a great week ahead! 😀 ❤

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      • Thanks so much, Marcia! I’ve been able to catch a few of these posts but definitely need to find the ones I’ve missed. I’m such a fan of poetry and classic literature so this is right up my alley! 🙂

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        • Oh, that’s great to know, Mar. I plan to keep this series going as long as possible. I’m aiming for every other Monday, though sometimes it doesn’t work out. But I’ll keep trying. Glad you enjoy these. 😀 ❤

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    • So glad you enjoyed it, Gwen. She was a favorite of mine (with MANY others) when I was in high school, all those years ago. (I graduated in 1962!!! Holy Moly, I’m OLD!)

      Thanks so much for stopping by and taking a moment to let me know you enjoyed this one. Here’s to a fabulous week ahead! 😀 ❤

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    • Glad you enjoyed it. Some of these Classics were poems I read in junior high (Middle School nowadays) and high school, and I’m enjoying them all over again via sharing on TWS. Will keep aiming for every other Monday, if all goes well.

      Thanks for stopping by and hope your week is off to a super start! 😀 ❤

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    • I’m glad you enjoyed reading (re-reading?) Millay’s poem, Nancy. It’s always been a favorite of mine, as well as most of her work. And I agree with your take on it, too!

      Thanks so much for stopping by to share your thoughts. Here’s to a great rest of your week! 😀 ❤

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