Analysis of Fontaine, Je Ne Boirai Pas De Ton Eau!

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



I know I might have lived in such a way
As to have suffered only pain:
Loving not man nor dog;
Not money, even; feeling
Toothache perhaps, but never more than an hour away
From skill and novocaine;
Making no contacts, dealing with life through Agents, drinking
     one cocktail, betting two dollars, wearing raincoats in the
     rain.
Betrayed at length by no one but the fog
Whispering to the wing of the plane.

"Fountain," I have cried to that unbubbling well, "I will not
    drink of thy water!" Yet I thirst
For a mouthful of—not to swallow, only to rinse my mouth in
—peace.
And while the eyes of the past condemn,
The eyes of the present narrow into assignation. And—
    worst—
The young are so old, they are born with their fingers crossed;
    I shall get no help from them.


Scheme ABXCABCXBXB XDXXEXDXE
Poetic Form Tetractys  (20%)
Etheree  (20%)
Metre 1111110101 11110101 101111 1101010 1011101111001 1101 1011101111010 111011010100 1 0111111101 100101101 101111111111 11110111 101111101011110 1 010110101 011010100110 1 0111111111101 1111111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 785
Words 145
Sentences 7
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 11, 9
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 30
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 297
Words per stanza (avg) 71
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 31, 2023

42 sec read
124

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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