Analysis of Sonnet I: Thou art not lovelier than lilacs
Edna St. Vincent Millay 1892 (Rockland) – 1950 (Austerlitz)
Thou art not lovelier than lilacs,--no,
Nor honeysuckle; thou art not more fair
Than small white single poppies,--I can bear
Thy beauty; though I bend before thee, though
From left to right, not knowing where to go,
I turn my troubled eyes, nor here nor there
Find any refuge from thee, yet I swear
So has it been with mist,--with moonlight so.
Like him who day by day unto his draught
Of delicate poison adds him one drop more
Till he may drink unharmed the death of ten,
Even so, inured to beauty, who have quaffed
Each hour more deeply than the hour before,
I drink--and live--what has destroyed some men.
Scheme | ABBAABBACDECDE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111111 110011111 1111010111 1101110111 1111110111 1111011111 1101011111 111111111 1111111011 11001011111 1111010111 10101110111 110110101001 1101110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 628 |
Words | 116 |
Sentences | 3 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 471 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 111 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 16, 2023
- 34 sec read
- 163 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Sonnet I: Thou art not lovelier than lilacs" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/9432/sonnet-i%3A-thou-art-not-lovelier-than-lilacs>.
Discuss this Edna St. Vincent Millay poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In