Lines for a Grave-Stone

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



Man alive, that mournst thy lot,
Desiring what thou hast not got,
Money, beauty, love, what not;

Deeming it blesseder to be
A rotted man, than live to see
So rude a sky as covers thee;

Deeming thyself of all unblest
And wretched souls the wretchedest,
Longing to die and be at rest;

Know: that however grim the fate
Which sent thee forth to meditate
Upon my enviable state,

Here lieth one who would resign
Gladly his lot, to shoulder thine.
Give me thy coat; get into mine.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 10, 2023

27 sec read
418

Quick analysis:

Scheme AAA BBB AAX CCC DDD
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 467
Words 90
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 3, 3, 3, 3, 3

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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