preview

Love Is Not All By Edna St. David Millay

Decent Essays

Love is not all
When the poem begins by listing the many things that love isn’t, the negative statements have the effect of arguing love isn’t the necessity of life. The poem doesn’t compare to the occasional stance that love empowers an individual. Straightforwardly, Edna St. Vincent Millay concludes love can’t feed, save, or protect a person.
Moreover, the poem contains a change of perspective. The meaning and tone of the poem towards love shifts from viewing love as a redundant factor of life, to a demand for love at line 14 (the last line).
When Millay produces juxtaposing concrete particulars with abstract concepts aids the she also produces dramatic effect. An example for each is “Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone”

Get Access