Analysis of We Talk of Taxes...

Edna St. Vincent Millay 1892 (Rockland) – 1950 (Austerlitz)



We talk of taxes, and I call you friend;
Well, such you are, -- but well enough we know
How thick about us root, how rankly grow
Those subtle weeds no man has need to tend,
That flourish through neglect, and soon must send
Perfume too sweet upon us and overthrow
Our steady senses; how such matters go
We are aware, and how such matters end.
Yet shall be told no meagre passion here;
With lovers such as we forevermore
Isolde drinks the draught, and Guinevere
Receives the Table's ruin through her door,
Francesca, with the loud surf at her ear,
Lets fall the coloured book upon the floor.


Scheme ABBAABBACCCDCD
Poetic Form
Metre 1111001111 1111110111 110111111 1101111111 1101010111 0111011010 10101011101 1101011101 111111101 1101111 01010101 0101010101 0101011101 1101010101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 597
Words 111
Sentences 3
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 462
Words per stanza (avg) 109
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 19, 2023

33 sec read
152

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Edna St. Vincent Millay was an American poet and playwright. She received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1923, the third woman to win the award for poetry, and was also known for her feminist activism more…

All Edna St. Vincent Millay poems | Edna St. Vincent Millay Books

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