The Lamp and the Bell

The poem explores the speaker's inner turmoil and emotional struggle, oscillating between the opposing forces of creativity and destruction, symbolized by the lamp and the bell. The lamp represents reason, intellect, and artistic expression, while the bell embodies chaos, passion, and primal instincts. Throughout the poem, the speaker grapples with these conflicting desires, seeking a balance between the rational and emotional aspects of their being.

By Edna St. Vincent Millay · First published 1921 · Genre: Drama, Poetry, Feminist Literature · 19 chapters

Contents

• SCENE 1
• Four months later
• The following summer,
• Five years later
• SCENE 1
• SCENE 2
• SCENE 2
• SCENE 2
• SCENE 2
• SCENE 2
• SCENE 3
• SCENE 3
• SCENE 3
• SCENE 3
• SCENE 3
• SCENE 4
• SCENE 4
• SCENE 5
• SCENE 5

More by Edna St. Vincent Millay

• Second April: PRAYER TO PERSEPHONE (1921)
• Second April: SONG OF A SECOND APRIL (1921)
• Second April: THE BLUE-FLAG IN THE BOG (1921)
• Renascence and Other Poems (1912)
• Second April: SPRING (1921)
• Second April: CITY TREES (1921)
• Second April: JOURNEY (1921)
• Second April: EEL-GRASS (1921)
• All works by Edna St. Vincent Millay