Analysis of Not Even My Pride Shall Suffer Much

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



Not even my pride shall suffer much;
Not even my pride at all, maybe,
If this ill-timed, intemperate clutch
Be loosed by you and not by me,
Will suffer; I have been so true
A vestal to that only pride
Wet wood cannot extinguish, nor
Sand, nor its embers scattered, for,
See all these years, it has not died.

And if indeed, as I dare think,
You cannot push this patient flame,
By any breath your lungs could store,
Even for a moment to the floor
To crawl there, even for a moment crawl,
What can you mix for me to drink
That shall deflect me? What you do
Is either malice, crude defense
Of ego, or indifference:
I know these things as well as you;
You do not dazzle me at all—

Some love, and some simplicity,
Might well have been the death of me—


Scheme ABABCDEED FXEEGFCXXCG BB
Poetic Form
Metre 110111101 110111110 111101001 11110111 11011111 01011101 11100101 11110101 11111111 01011111 11011101 11011111 101010101 1111010101 11111111 11011111 11010101 11010100 11111111 11110111 11010100 11110111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 738
Words 148
Sentences 3
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 9, 11, 2
Lines Amount 22
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 191
Words per stanza (avg) 49
Font size:
 

Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

44 sec read
147

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

4 fans

Discuss this Edna St. Vincent Millay poem analysis with the community:

0 Comments

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "Not Even My Pride Shall Suffer Much" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 3 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/9408/not-even-my-pride-shall-suffer-much>.

    Become a member!

    Join our community of poets and poetry lovers to share your work and offer feedback and encouragement to writers all over the world!

    More poems by

    Edna St. Vincent Millay

    »

    May 2024

    Poetry Contest

    Join our monthly contest for an opportunity to win cash prizes and attain global acclaim for your talent.
    28
    days
    0
    hours
    40
    minutes

    Special Program

    Earn Rewards!

    Unlock exciting rewards such as a free mug and free contest pass by commenting on fellow members' poems today!

    Browse Poetry.com

    Quiz

    Are you a poetry master?

    »
    Who wrote the 1892 poem Gunga Din?
    A Alfred, Lord Tennyson
    B Rudyard Kipling
    C Ho Xuan Huong
    D Walt Whitman