Analysis of The Curse
Edna St. Vincent Millay 1892 (Rockland) – 1950 (Austerlitz)
Oh, lay my ashes on the wind
That blows across the sea.
And I shall meet a fisherman
Out of Capri,
And he will say, seeing me,
"What a Strange Thing!
Like a fish's scale or a
Butterfly's wing."
Oh, lay my ashes on the wind
That blows away the fog.
And I shall meet a farmer boy
Leaping through the bog,
And he will say, seeing me,
"What a Strange Thing!
Like a peat-ash or a
Butterfly's wing."
And I shall blow to YOUR house
And, sucked against the pane,
See you take your sewing up
And lay it down again.
And you will say, seeing me,
"What a strange thing!
Like a plum petal or a
Butterfly's wing."
And none at all will know me
That knew me well before.
But I will settle at the root
That climbs about your door,
And fishermen and farmers
May see me and forget,
But I'll be a bitter berry
In your brewing yet.
Scheme | Abxb BCdC Aexe BCdC xxxx bCdC bfxf xgbg |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (88%) |
Metre | 11110101 110101 0111010 1110 0111101 1011 1010110 101 11110101 110101 01110101 10101 0111101 1011 101110 101 0111111 010101 1111101 011101 0111101 1011 1011010 101 0111111 111101 11110101 110111 0100010 111001 11101010 01101 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 790 |
Words | 168 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 19 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 76 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 20 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 51 sec read
- 126 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The Curse" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/9462/the-curse>.
Discuss this Edna St. Vincent Millay poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In