Clift 1 James Clift Introduction to Poetry, ENG 2240 Dr.

Karen Moloney 2/26/14 Getting into the Meat of Millays Love is Not All In her poem, Love is Not All, Edna St. Vincent Millay addresses the oft-overlooked plainness of love. In a contemplative state, the persona begins to question the importance of love, providing examples of essential human needs that love cannot account for. She notices that, even though love is not all, there is considerable demand for it. Nevertheless, the persona admits that if pressured to sell [her lovers love] for peace, and though love lacks many qualities, she would not do it. Millay enhances the general meaning of the poem and adds depth with the use of many poetic devices. Her use of imagery, meter, diction, allusion, and irony allows the reader to better understand the message, therefore increasing the sentiment of the poem. The poem is divided into three quatrains, with a final couplet, identifying it as a standard Shakespearean sonnet. The poem can be more accurately divided into three full, main sections. Lines one through six compose the first section, while lines seven and eight comprise the second section, and the last six lines make up the third and final section. Each section is a crucial step in the narrative. The first section presents the personas initial claim and evidence, whereas the second section is the opposing evidence; in the third section, Millay presents a scenario to address the previous sections starting in line nine, It well may be that in a difficult hour, with I might be driven to sell your love for peace in line twelve. In this thought experiment, Millay even seems to support the notion that love is not all, but then eliminates all belief of this idea with the last sentence of the piece, I do not think I would. Because Millay opens with one statement, contradicts that statement, supports it again, and then eliminates it, she succeeds in bringing a unique quality of mystery and ambiguity to the poem. Though there are countless

Clift 2 metrical variations, Millay writes the piece primarily in iambic pentameter, as evidenced in line six, nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone. The first section is a great example of how Millay uses diction to assist in the presentation of imagery, and how both devices combine to create a compelling narrative. Every line of this section contains elements of both diction and imagery. Some examples include, nor slumber nor a roof against the rain, love cannot fill the thickened lung with breath,/ nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone. The repeated use of the word nor connotes abundance: so many things that love cannot do. Word choice is also important. The word slumber in the first example is chosen over sleep not only to fulfill a five-foot requirement, but also to provide connotation of especially heavy rest rather than a light sleep; this achieves two main goals. First, it provides yet another example of something essential to life that love itself cannot bring, thereby supporting the personas claim that love is not all, and second, it more heavily supports the image of a person in deep sleep, adding realism to the poem. Slumber therefore contributes to a stronger relation with the poem and the reader by strengthening the imagery of the words following it. From not meat nor drink to set the fractured bone, Millay provides a surreal sense of imagery even with tight poetic restraints. The detailed images bring relevancy into the poem and keep the reader enthralled. The use of allusion and meter also enhances the imagery in the first section, particularly in lines three to four, nor yet a floating spar to men that sink,/ and rise and sink and rise and sink again. Millay alludes to the way the central wooden shaft of a boats mast bobs up and down in the water and, as if that image isnt enough, she utilizes diction and more imagery to greatly improve the image. Again, word choice is deliberate and critical. The purposeful use of polysyndeton on the words and, rise, sink, denotes a strong sense of urgency, another form

Clift 3 of imagery, but this time in the mode of an emotion or sensation. Millays use of iambic pentameter contributes to and strengthens that sense of urgency. The second section presents an ironic theme and serves as a critical point in the poem, utilizing enjambment and meter to increase speed and ease diction. Millay provides a stark contrast in regard to the first six lines of the poem. She points out the cultural and societal discontinuity that, even though love is not all, people treat it like it is. Useful in presenting the stark irony of the second section is enjambment. What makes this enjambment so effective is the punctuation and meter structure. The word death at the end of line seven is without a comma or period or any other ending mark, facilitating the speed of the transition to the next line. A reading aloud of the second section reveals an incredulous tone made possible only by Millays enjambment, as if the persona believes it irrational that people take love so seriously when love is not all. Furthermore, the following phrase, Even as I speak [for], contains a trochee, pyrrhic, and another trochee, simplifying the flow of the transition and especially the meaning of the line. Also useful in the rhetoric of the second section is the ironic metaphor, making friends with death. The ironic nature of the phrase forces the reader to reexamine the poem up to that point, at which time the irony becomes much more clear. As the third and final section begins, the persona begins to contemplate what would happen in a difficult hour. The persona suggests that in such a circumstance, Pinned down by pain and moaning for release, she would have to give up her love for an individual. Rather than employ the last two lines of the sonnet for a famous Shakespearean turn, Millay places the turn in the last six syllables of the last line: I do not think I would. True to the standard Shakespearean turn, Millay successfully manages to turn the whole poems message around, or, at least, present a critical change in the theme of the message. Up to this point, the whole poem

Clift 4 entertained the supposition that love is not all, and then as Millay exposes the truth, I do not think I would, she reveals the true, ironic meaning of the poem, that love is, in fact, all. It is worth noting that several aspects of the poems meaning vary due to meter and tempo. For example, in line five, Millay divides the word cannot into two different feet. Depending on the stress placement of the word, which also changes from reader to reader and also in the context of which its being used, line five can therefore have three different connotations. If cannot were trochaic, the line would take on a more poignant, almost questioning sort of tone; if it were iambic, the line would be persuasive; and if it were spondaic, more persuasive and even forceful. It is nearly impossible for the word to be pyrrhic, but if it were, the line would gain an attribute of sadness. Furthermore, pinned down in line ten could either be spondaic or iambic. Due to the iambic nature of the poem, it is most likely the latter, but it is important to distinguish the implications of the difference. Pinned down being spondaic would increase the effectiveness of the lines imagery, whereas being iambic would increase the tempo which affects also affects imagery, albeit in a different way. These meter and tempo variations are used as a form of audible imagery to influence the emotions felt by the reader. Millays strong use of poetic devices plays a significant role in the message and emotion of the poem from the moment she notes that love is neither meat nor drink, to the moment she confesses her devout love for another individual. Combined, the devices assist the reader in establishing a deeper connection with the poem. Millays use of imagery, meter, diction, allusion, and irony helps the reader understand not only the message of the piece, but also reflects the array of conflicted emotions of the persona. Millays use of these poetic devices gives the reader a meaty perspective and grasp of a womans struggle with love.