What Lips My Lips Have Kissed, And Why By Edna St. Vincent Millay

In the first stanza, the speaker cannot recall the different men that she has kissed or slept with in the past. She states “ but the rain is full of ghost tonight, that tap and sigh” ( 3-4). She is using these two lines to describe the lovers. The rain seems to remind of her of the many

In Edna Millay’s poem “Childhood Is the Kingdom Where Nobody Dies”, expresses how childhood to a place where no one necessarily r dies as a sort of metaphor. That in short, that the innocence which comes with childhood and youth is where no one honestly dies. For instance, yes family pets, the elderly, but not much of people that play an important role in one’s life when young. Especially not your immediate family, such as a child 's parent and so on. In the stanzas 25-28, visually one can imagine a grown woman sitting beside her elderly mother while drinking some tea at a table in comfort. These lines, which leads to illustrate and express how the narrator is grown up and reminiscing on how unchallenging it was to be a child. It was the time where she had not fully realized that people do pass on even parents that have watched her slowly become the woman she has become. She now sits besides her elderly mother who appears to have dementia/memory loss and does not truly pay attention to their tea or anything around her for that matter. While continuing to read through the stanzas 34-38, the narrator seems to become quite annoyed and frustrated towards the senior mother. It could possibly be that she longs for the time in where she may not necessarily need to worry for her mother. As well face the reality

Edna St. Vincent Millay’s sonnet, “What lips my lips have kissed and where and why,” is about being, physically or mentally jaded, and thinking back to the torrid love of one’s youth. The “ghosts” that haunt her are the many lovers of her past; she’s specifically trying to remember them all. She recalls the passion she experienced and how there was a certain feeling within herself. Millay shows this through her vivid imagery, use of the rain as a literary device and by paralleling herself with a lonely tree.

The story carried out a sentimental theme throughout the book. For starters the text states “ Light in her eyes, a smile” The author portrays the theme with that stanza alone. The words the authors use light and smile gives the reader the light-hearted feeling. To also go off of that that, the poem also quotes, “ I took my girl’s hand in mine for two blocks.” This quote also gives it the nostalgic to the story as said in the last reason. As you can see the poem has the same tone throughout but why do these poems have to do with each

In the eighteen hundreds, women were expected to love their husbands, clean and cook, and take care of the children. Most women had to listen to what their husbands said and follow it, so there were not much equal rights in the time. However, in the book The Awakening, the main character Edna is not the typical nineteenth century women. Edna cares about her children, but she is not the motherly figure. Furthermore, she does not worship her husband like many other women do, and she becomes rebellious towards her husband, which is very odd at the time. Throughout the Novella, Edna awakens to her true potential. However, after a couple obstacles she could not take it and decides to kill herself. People argue if Edna’s suicide is her full transformation to awakening, but in all actuality it is her failed attempt of truly becoming free.

While reading "What lips my lips have kissed" by Edna St. Vincent Millay, I realized many things about myself. The first thing was that I, after thinking I would never be able to decipher one word of poetry, actually could. I also found that I was able to enjoy it. Another thing was that the narrator (whom I felt was a woman- no man could portray these feelings like a woman) and I had strikingly similar feelings. There happened to be many other amazing findings, but these two were the first and most important to me.

Evan Ortiz William Feeler English 1320 10.23.2014 Rest in Pieces. Through out the story of Raymond Carver’s “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” the only consistantcy is disappointment, alcohol, and the passing of time. The only true personal definition of love comes from the most contested source, Terri. Till death do you part, Ed sacrificed his sanity and his life in the name of love. Terri seems to be the only one who believes that Ed loved her even though it was aggressive and abusive.

Edna Millay, in her sonnet, “What Lips,” describes her solitude after spending her life searching for love by having romances with several men. Firstly, Millay asks a rhetorical question: “What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why” to explain that she has forgotten her past lovers and the reasons they were together; secondly, to provide a visual image of the speaker’s lonely, quiet, and empty state caused by not finding love, Millay states that “the rain / Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh”; thirdly, Millay uses an oxymoron, “quiet pain,” to explain that although the speaker does not remember her past lovers, the hurt from not finding love still lingers in her; fourthly, Millay provides the image of a “lonely tree” as another

Edna St. Vincent Millay, in her sonnet “What Lips My Lips Have Kissed, and Where, and Why,” reveals her regrets of the past relationships she had coming to an end and how despite being unable to remember the relationship, she remembers how much love she used to give and receive and how that is no longer the case. She develops this idea first by using a metaphor that compares her regrets and her past to ghosts “but the rain / is full of ghosts tonight,” her regrets are like ghosts, they are haunting her and won’t let her live peacefully; second, using personification, “but the rain / is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh / upon the glass and listen for reply,” she further develops the idea that her regrets are like ghosts and won’t leave

Recently I have read a novel by Patricia Highsmith known as the talented Mr. Ripley, which carries excitement and irony throughout the book. This book is about Tom Ripley, twenty-three year old con man, who is almost certain a police officer is approaching him; however it appeared to be one of his ex-friend’s fathers, Mr. Greenleaf. Mr. Greenleaf has been looking for Tom to request if he is able to set sail to Italy to persuade his son, Dickie, in returning to New York. As I continued to read on, many situations captured my attention, such as traveling to Italy, the 1950’s style of regulations and amusement, and etc. Many of these circumstances made the book more tempting to follow, constructing a sense of responsiveness

At the start of each poem the speaker's show signs of being haunted by their father’s memory and are tormented after their passings. In Clifton’s poem, she states “ all week you have stood in my dreams/ like a ghost, asking for more time” (3-4). In His line the

She also follows a sonnet structure to convey her emotions to the reader. Seasons and nature-related nouns are used as symbols of emotion and the passing of time. Millay’s first reference to season is when she writes “but the rain / Is full of ghosts tonight” (3-4). Rain can be interpreted into the spring season. In How to Read

Metaphors and Tone in “What Lips My Lips Have Kissed” The sonnet “What Lips My Lips Have Kissed” depicts a lonely woman who yearns for love, yet is unable to find it yet. It is implied throughout that although she has undertaken numerous romantic relationships, though she failed to have found true love in any of them. However, now, she has realized that her opportunity for true love has passed and is now trapped in her elderly stage of life, depressed and lonely. In “What Lips My Lips Have Kissed,” Millay uses metaphors and a reflective tone to convey the woman’s sense of sadness and yearning for love.

Vincent Millay became known for her poem, “Renascence” that she entered in a poetry contest. In 1923, she won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. One of the poems that helped her win the Pulitzer Prize was “What Lips My Lips Have Kissed,” written in 1922. She was 31 years old when she won the Pulitzer Prize. Some of her poems, like Shakespeare's, were sonnets. “What Lips My Lips Have Kissed” was a poem in the form of a Petrarchan sonnet. Millay had many lovers and she wrote about them without saying who they are. She didn't want them to know who she was talking about in her poems.

“saw”, “heard”, “breathed” – use of the senses – immediacy – “rotting”. This stanza could be her mind revisiting the memory of Lazarus’s dead body. This could symbolise her reuniting with him – her escape from isolation. From beyond the grave, Lazarus maintains control over Mrs Lazarus – she is unable to rid him from her mind – eternally married to him – so she must be faithful. Does love