I Shall Go Back

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



I shall go back again to the bleak shore
And build a little shanty on the sand
In such a way that the extremest band
Of brittle seaweed shall escape my door
But by a yard or two; and nevermore
Shall I return to take you by the hand.
I shall be gone to what I understand,
And happier than I ever was before.
The love that stood a moment in your eyes,
The words that lay a moment on your tongue,
Are one with all that in a moment dies,
A little under-said and over-sung.
But I shall find the sullen rocks and skies
Unchanged from what they were when I was young.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 03, 2023

34 sec read
343

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBAABBACDCDCD
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 555
Words 116
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

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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    I wandered lonely as a _______ that floats on high o'er vales and hills
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