Faking them out - What fun!
Edna Millay's "What lips my lips have kissed" is not what it seems
With the school year winding down and the end-of-course Advanced Placement English Literature test looming. my role as a teacher was to find an assortment of passages to sharpen the kids up, prep them for what they might see on that big day. And of course, you try to vary it; stories from now, stories from then, stories that might surprise and make them really think — and stretch their minds.
Radical poet Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “Whose Lips My Lips Have Kissed” surprises!
Earlier, I shared the example of my “Peregrine Pickle” essay, the wonderful story that brilliantly — and subtlety — mocked British restraint.
(May 18th post: “The Hidden Hilarity Of AP Literature - if you want to look it up)
So now, I found a poem from Edna St. Vincent Millay that I was pretty sure they’d see as a Lifetime movie.
Here’s this poor lonesome lady, lying in bed on a rainy morning, missing her man, oh, woe is me. (Which to me, was exactly NOT what she’s writing about.) And, as you’ll see from the student samples below, that was EXACTLY what they thought, giving it a quick and not particularly careful read.
So, I walked through the 14-line poem AGAIN, shared my analysis and asked them to reconsider what they wrote. Happily, THIS time, they got it. I hope it helped prepare them for what would be the intelligent treachery of the AP English Literature team.
Give the poem a read. Check out what my students said (See how hard they’re trying to sound thoughtful!) Then read my analysis. This was 1920! Edna was a wild woman!
Edna St. Vincent Millay –“WHAT LIPS MY LIPS HAVE KISSED”
1. What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why...
2. I have forgotten, and what arms have lain
3. Under my heard till morning; but the rain
4. is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh
5. Upon the glass and listen for reply,
6. and in my heart there stirs a quiet pain
7. For unremembered lads that not again
8. Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.
9. Thus in winter stands the lonely tree
10. Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,
11. Yet knows its boughs more silent than before:
12. I cannot say what loves have come and gone,
13. I only know that summer sang in me
14. A little while, that in me sings no more.
PARDON ME, KIDS – BUT AFTER READING ALL YOUR ANALYSES OF THIS POEM I THINK YOU’RE WRONG. – I DON’T THINK THIS IS ABOUT LOVE AT ALL. One of these samples is OK, the others need more thought and insight. Lots of good stuff to write about here – but you’ve gotta LOOK.
STUDENT SAMPLES:
(1.) An element that is present is Edna St. Vincent Millay’s poem is thematic idea. Within this poem, there is a gloomy tone it expressed so it could be concluded that the poet has lost their happiness or hope for something. Lines 17-18 states “I only know that summer sang in me. A little while, that in me sings no more.” This is Millay’s main reveal of how the last bit of happiness the reader had for something (replaced with summer, summer is known for being cheerful and lively.) was only felt for “a little while” before something occurred to cease the “summer songs” that she was feeling inside. Sensory details are another element that contributes to the story by adding a sense of abandonment and loneliness. Lines 14-15 states “Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one, yet knows its boughs more silent than before.” Birds vanishing one by one add on to the picture that the poet feels about the reality of the possibility of loved ones leaving one day. It’s inevitable. An antecedent in here is in line 11 is “unremembered lads” to line 8 “ghosts.”
(2.) Millay’s attitude toward love, romance and relationships is somewhat sullen but realistic. They realize that love isn’t always going to stay. In the poem, the poet is the “lonely tree in winter”— cold, barren and vulnerable to the harsh conditions the world puts them in. “Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one” Birds reside in trees for shelter and protection and now that the tree (poet) has lost its leaves (equivalent to “summer song”), it doesn’t have anything to offer for the birds (past lovers) so they will leave. The first line “What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why...I have forgotten” is the one of the memory that the love has taken away from her. Love has only left behind the remnants, or the “ghosts” of what she once was.
(3.) From the beginning of the poem, I can infer that Millay is confused by love. Due to this confusion, love is pretty depressing for her. Towards the end, however, she starts to gain a bit of an understanding towards love. This understanding is shown through her repeated use of the the words “knows” or “know”. Even given this understanding, she still views love as a depressing matter.
(4.) A person only remembers what is truly important to them. In this particular poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay, the reader can observe the speakers difficulty to remember where, when and why her lips have kissed lads. The speakers obscurity in remembering them is construed by her inability to attach emotions to people, to love. As a matter of fact, the portrayal of her lovers as just “lads” allows the reader to see the insignificance of their importance. This also allows the reader to convey the speaker as a solitary person. Phrases that emphasize that solitude that the speaker withholds both physically and emotionally are “quiet pain” & “lonely tree”. The speaker characterizes itself as a lonely winter tree that besides not bearing any fruit also does not remember the birds that flew away, it also established a shift in the poem allowing the reader to view a less confused and fogged side of the speakers mind. The speaker KNOWS that there is a silence that was greater than before and that summer no longer sings. The parallel analogy of the speakers lovers to the seasons is that regardless of how long and how many summers (the speakers relationships) may last, winter will always come and the birds will leave one by one and there won’t be any trace but a silent pain that rest upon the speaker’s heart. Leaving the speaker with only one certainty, that it can’t love.
(5.) Based on the poem I think that Millay’s attitude toward love, romance and relationships is sadness and the love she once had for all of those things have disappeared from her heart just like everyone. By the lines “Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one” you noticed that she hasn’t just lost people once but multiple times and has gone through all the hurt and pain many times. Shes used to have people come and go out of her life as they pleased. So now she feels like they were the only thing she had left and eventually gave up by saying “ A little while, that in me sings no more,” because now they are only part of her history.
NOW LET’S TAKE A CLOSER LOOK!
NOGO SAYS: My contention is this poem is NOT about love at all. It's about something that CAN be a part of love or important IN love but as far as love, per se, I don't think that's what Edna was going for. And the reason I wanted to revisit this is I think this is an excellent example of you guys taking what looks like an easy way out, a simple interpretation, yeah, I got this and it's an AP Trap. YOU HAVE TO AVOID THIS. THEY ARE NOT GOING TO HELP YOU. THEY WANT YOU TO THINK
If you were able to figure this out in less than 5 minutes - some of you didn't take that long, right. YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE YOU ARE DEAD-ASS WRONG. NO AP POEM WILL BE THAT SIMPLE. GUARANTEED!
So...you have to tell yourself, THERE IS SOME COMPLEXITY, AMBIGUITY, SOMETHING UNUSUAL HERE...WHY THIS? On the surface, as you guys quickly saw, here's a lonely woman, lying by herself, the rain hitting the window, she's getting wistful...compares herself to a lonely tree in winter...the birds have split...and so on...As I noted the other day, sounds like a Lifetime movie. Cliche-city. What did we miss?
First of all, Edna St. Vincent Millay, the name alone sounds aristocratic, wealthy, classy...you wouldn't expect someone like her to sleep around. Well, not exactly sleep.
Context: SOOOO IMPORTANT. She wrote this for Vanity Fair Magazine in 1920. The year women were finally permitted to vote for President. What were women's roles in society then? Wives, mothers, nurses, maybe teachers. SO we have a RADICAL here, as some of you noted, a FEMINIST before there was such a thing...and when it came to sex, a REVOLUTIONARY!
Notice that she talks about "unremembered lads" who "cry at midnight." Hmmm... UNREMEMBERED? So many men, she couldn't keep track? In 1920, that's wild. And, if I can say this in a way that you CANNOT use on the AP test, a "hit it and quit it" GIRL. Not only was that her deal, SHE WROTE A NATIONALLY PUBLICIZED POEM about it. SHOCKING!
Gender reversal anyone? I don't think the "cry at midnight" was for a chalupa, even if Taco Bell had been invented and was still open late.
1. What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why.. .(THIS IS A STUNNING ADMISSION, ESPECIALLY IN 1920)
2 I have forgotten, and what arms have lain
3. Under my head till morning; but the rain (UNDER HER HEAD..so they slept in and she STILL doesn't remember them - like a guy?)
4. is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh (They are ghosts...not faces and names she would remember)
5. Upon the glass and listen for reply, (NICE sensory detail here, you can imagine them touching her, waiting to hear her voice)
6. and in my heart there stirs a quiet pain (quiet pain in her heart...ok...love? MAYBE.. but she doesn't say that..)
7. For unremembered lads that not again (SHE will say "unremembered LADS...not men. LADS. TEENAGERS! LIKE YOU GUYS!)
8. Will turn to me at midnight with a cry. (WHO TURN AT MIDNIGHT... NOT WRITING ABOUT LOVE HERE - this is 1920!)
9. Thus in winter stands the lonely tree (THUS...here's the turn we talk about...just like in the sonnets...look for that turn)
10. Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one, (every bird has split. Birds often nest. Not this time. They don't stay the season)
11. Yet knows its boughs more silent than before: (It's boughs...more silent...makes you think of arms untouched)
12. I cannot say what loves have come and gone, (SHE CAN'T REMEMBER WHAT LOVES HAVE COME AND GONE? HUH?)
13. I only know that summer sang in me (Hate to stereotype but sounds like a guy, especially then...notice image: summer...warm..hot)
14. A little while, that in me sings no more. (Sang in her a little while but no more...so wouldn't LOVE if it were love, linger? Who would say love disappeared? The theme of that Tom Robbins' book that was excerpted for us...How do you make love stay?)
CONCLUSION:. If you think this is a sappy love poem or one of lost loves...I think you need to go deeper. It's a revolutionary cry from a woman who in 1920 is acknowledging her desires, that she has a right to have them and if she wants, write a poem. In fact, they aren't even men. They're LADS, which perhaps suggests SHE was the mature one. FOR 1920, this is turning things like gender roles and female sexuality ON ITS head. She was scandalized, in some circles for this.
But ol' Edna didn't care. Good for her!
SO BOTTOM LINE, kids...if it seems too easy to understand, think again.