BY EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY. EN101: Writing for the Humanities
What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why”
BY EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY
EN101: Writing for the Humanities
Poetry Paper
Choose a topic among “Topics For Writing On Poetry” found on pp. 1952-54 of your textbook. You may also choose any topics under “More Topics For Writing” found in any of the poetry chapters. Please indicate page number and topic #. Write a brief, extended, or longer paper (Longer paper should have at least three sources cited; Extended at least two; and Brief at least one source), depending on which length of paper you have already submitted. Remember that you will write one of each by the end of the semester.
Please follow MLA guidelines for drafting your paper. Be sure to indicate which paper (brief, extended, or long) and the number of the topic you chose. You may want to reread Chapter 43 “Writing About a Poem.” I’ve also posted on Blackboard some guidelines for poetry analysis.
Remember that you have access to ECC Tutoring (see Online Tutoring on left hand column on homepage) and the library.
To submit your paper, please use Word and avoid Google.docs. Submit through Mozilla Firefox or Chrome.
This paper is due_______________—no exceptions.
Happy Writing!
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Title
In the short poem “What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why”, the author is reminded by the many loves that have passed by her life. The author of this poem is Edna St. Vincent Millay. Although this poem talks about love, the themes of “What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why” also focus on transience, change, and loss, depicted through setting the mood, structure, and the use of powerful literary devices. This paper aims to analyze the poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay, to have a deeper understanding of the principles and ideas that are applicable from the details given in the poetry.
Summary
The poem “What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why”, also known as Sonnet 43, is about the author/speaker wondering about the people that she had been involved with. This is evident in the title, as well as the first line, where there is an effort in trying to recall what lips she had kissed, and where she had kissed her lovers and the reason behind as to why she did. There is also a declaration that the author had already forgotten these minute details that are evidence of the love that she had shared with her past lovers. There is also a sharing of experience that she had lain on the arm of past lovers until morning came, but without remembrance of the specific person or people, she had shared this experience with. The author also mentions being occasions of being bothered by ghosts in the night waiting for a reply. These ghosts from the past were already forgotten men that will not again be associated with the author in the middle of the night and this thought causes her heartache that she had described as a stirring quiet pain. The loneliness that the author felt is further emphasized by her comparison of herself to a lonely tree during winter that is unaware of the birds that have left her branches one by one. But even without noticing how the birds have disappeared one by one, the tree or the author is aware that the branches that the birds have left are now quieter than before. Again, the inability to recall each lover that has passed by the author's life was mentioned. The poem ends with the author acknowledging that “summer sang in me a little while, that in me sings no more” (Cambridge).
Interpretation
In the way the words were weaved into a poem, it possessed the themes namely, love, transience, change, and loss. The different emotions and thoughts were described in the poem resembling some kind of mourning for the transience of love, changes that have occurred, and the loss of the author’s memory of these past love and lovers. Although there was loneliness mentioned and it was truly evident in the poem, there was no bitterness that can be felt but more on the acceptance of what has happened to these loves with the change of season and the amount of time that had already passed. Love was talked about as something transient and impermanent, emphasizing the reality of love, including the emotions, experiences, and memories that it brings. In addition to these concepts of love, love was also described in moments such as the act of kissing, and the simplicity of laying beside the one you love (Morris III, et al.). The feeling of happiness in those moments was emphasized with how it was compared to the present moment using words such as the season of winter and a lonely tree. The author also used seasons such as summer and winter to indicate change and aging. It should also be noted that the author is not mourning the loss of her past lovers, but more on the loss of the memory of love.
The emotions in the poem were narrated with words such as sigh, pain, lonely, silent, and “sings no more”. This paints a gloomy picture of a woman pondering and trying to reminisce the emotions that love brings, but is unsuccessful in doing so. The ghosts in the night were used to describe the past lovers and the memories of those love. It was compared to the rain that is sighing and tapping upon the windowpane, waiting for some kind of response from the author/speaker. These can be analyzed as the memories of the past love that had been part of the author’s life, wanting attention and acknowledgment, but...