Four Sonnets by Edna St. Vincent Millay
The collection explores themes of love, beauty, and mortality, with the speaker reflecting on the fleeting nature of life and the inevitability of death. The sonnets are characterized by their use of rich imagery, metaphor, and symbolism to convey a sense of urgency and longing. Throughout the poems, the speaker grapples with the tension between the desire for eternal youth and beauty, and the harsh reality of aging and decay.
By Edna St. Vincent Millay · First published 1922 · Genre: Poetry, Romantic, Drama · 720 words
First lines
I
Love, though for this you riddle me with darts, / And drag me at your chariot till I die, -- / Oh, heavy prince! Oh, panderer of hearts! -- / Yet hear me tell how in their throats they lie / Who shout you mighty: thick about my hair / Day in, day out, your ominous arrows purr / Who still am free, unto no querulous care / A fool, and in no temple worshiper! / I, that have bared me to your quiver's fire, / Lifted my face into its puny rain, / Do wreathe you Impotent to Evoke Desire / As you are Powerless to Elicit Pain! / (Now will the god, for blasphemy so brave, / Punish me, surely, with the shaft I crave! )
II
What this Textopian page supports
Four Sonnets is listed on Textopian as a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay, dated 1922 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Edna St. Vincent Millay
- Date: 1922 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Poetry, Romantic, Drama
- Length: 720 words
- Structure: 1 section, 14 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for Four Sonnets by Edna St. Vincent Millay
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
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Genres
- Poetry — The work is composed of four sonnets, a form of poetry.
- Romantic — The sonnets explore themes of love, desire, and heartbreak.
- Drama — The emotional intensity and personal conflict within the sonnets suggest elements of drama.
Tags
Poetry · Sonnet · Love · Romance · Feminism · Early 20th Century · American Literature · Literary Movement · Modernism · Free Verse · Imagery · Symbolism
More by Edna St. Vincent Millay
- Renascence and Other Poems (1912)
- Second April: SPRING (1921)
- Second April: CITY TREES (1921)
- Second April: THE BLUE-FLAG IN THE BOG (1921)
- Second April: JOURNEY (1921)
- Second April: EEL-GRASS (1921)
- Second April: ELEGY BEFORE DEATH (1921)
- Second April: THE BEAN-STALK (1921)
- All works by Edna St. Vincent Millay