Analysis of Three Songs Of Shattering
Edna St. Vincent Millay 1892 (Rockland) – 1950 (Austerlitz)
The first rose on my rose-tree
Budded, bloomed, and shattered,
During sad days when to me
Nothing mattered.
Grief of grief has drained me clean;
Still it seems a pity
No one saw,—it must have been
Very pretty.
Let the little birds sing;
Let the little lambs play;
Spring is here; and so 'tis spring;—
But not in the old way!
I recall a place
Where a plum-tree grew;
There you lifted up your face,
And blossoms covered you.
If the little birds sing,
And the little lambs play,
Spring is here; and so 'tis spring—
But not in the old way!
All the dog-wood blossoms are underneath the tree!
Ere spring was going—ah, spring is gone!
And there comes no summer to the like of you and me,—
Blossom time is early, but no fruit sets on.
All the dog-wood blossoms are underneath the tree,
Browned at the edges, turned in a day;
And I would with all my heart they trimmed a mound for me,
And weeds were tall on all the paths that led that way!
Scheme | abab xaxa cdCD efef cdCD Axax Adad |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (86%) |
Metre | 0111111 11010 1011111 1010 1111111 111010 1111111 1010 101011 101011 1110111 110011 1101 10111 1110111 010101 101011 001011 1110111 110011 10111010101 111101111 0111101011101 10111011111 10111010101 110101001 0111111110111 010111011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,006 |
Words | 187 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 102 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 26 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 09, 2023
- 56 sec read
- 120 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Three Songs Of Shattering" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/9485/three-songs-of-shattering>.
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