Edna St Vincent Millay- “What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why”

A Short Analysis of Edna St Vincent Millay’s poem “ What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why.”

This poem by Edna St Vincent Millay was released in the magazine Vanity Fair in 1920 ( see source note). This poem starts off being a  narrative of someone who has had many lovers in their lifetime and continues into a more lyrical form, as the narrator becomes more reflective of the impact having many lovers leave has had.

The poem has been written as a Petrarchan Sonnet. The Petrarchan sonnet is less known than its later counterpart Shakespearean Sonnet. A Petrachan sonnet would usually follow the form of two quatrains ( 4 lines) to make an octave ( 8 lines) and then a sestet ( 6 lines) to create a poem 14 lines long. The Rhyme pattern for this particular piece is ABBA,ABBA,CDE,DCE. This follows a typical Petrachan sonnet in which the octave would commonly follow an ABBA pattern, then the octave’s rhyme pattern being the author’s choice. 

I have picked up a couple interesting points to focus on regarding the rhyme scheme and the techniques used in conjunction. Firstly the first quatrain of the octave has a Caesura( pause e.g. comma or full stop) in the middle of every line. The only other line to feature a caesura mid-line is the last line (14th). This first quatrain has not only a mid-line caesura every line, but also apart from the first line; which also has a comma at the end, the other three use enjambment, where the line runs on onto the next line. However the next line starts with a capital letter, indicating it’s possibly not meant to be read as one long sentence and is a new thought. But because of the enjambment of the lines, the reader has an opportunity to read it in different ways that could change the meaning of each thought. The second quatrain of the octave has no caesura mid-line nor any enjambment. The full stop at the end of the octave signifies we are to expect the volta next line, in which it does appear with the word “thus”.

So what could the use of caesura and enjambment tell us? For the first quatrain, the Caesura’s mid line shows the author’s own reflection that is taking place. Perhaps the author is encouraging us to do the same. Another possibility is that the lines are all muddled just like her recollection, of the lovers whose “arms have lain” under the Narrator’s “head till morning”. The second quatrain of the octave isn’t jumbled because the narrator isn’t talking about trying to recall the lovers, more the impact it has had and the “ghosts” that haunt her. 

In the sestet and thus the volta ( shift in the poem), the narrator refers to themselves in the third person, using the metaphor of being “the lonely tree” in “the winter” time. The narrator seems to be trying to distance themselves from the “unremembered lads”. By the end of the 3rd line of the sestet (10th line of the poem)  the narrator has realised it’s no use, they cannot run from the loneliness they feel, as life is “more silent than before” and the “summer” that sang in the narrator is no longer there. The juxtaposition of using the seasons of winter and summer, mirrors the  contrast in her feelings; of the time she wasn’t alone as a result of having lovers that her lips “have kissed”, but now she is a lone tree in winter where all the birds have “vanished one by one”; the birds being a metaphor for the lovers. 

 I sense regret from the narrator in the poem, as she says about the “quiet pain that stirs’ ‘ despite having turned away the lads who turned to her “at midnight with a cry” and are longing to continue their relationship. This behaviour could also imply the narrator had commitment issues, which is not discussed within the bounds of the poem however there is a case to be made that this could be the reason for her behaviour. 

The final line’s mid-line caesura creates a final moment of reflection in which the author ultimately states that the happiness she once felt “sings no more”, implying that the “birds” were the reason for the joy she once experienced.  With this being the final line of the poem, there is perhaps concern from the narrator that this feeling will be forever. 

Read the Poem Here, this is also the source I used when finding out where the poem was first published. 

© Megan Layley