Analysis of Menses
Edna St. Vincent Millay 1892 (Rockland) – 1950 (Austerlitz)
(He speaks, but to himself, being aware how it is with her)
Think not I have not heard.
Well-fanged the double word
And well-directed flew.
I felt it. Down my side
Innocent as oil I see the ugly venom slide:
Poison enough to stiffen us both, and all our friends;
But I am not pierced, so there the mischief ends.
There is more to be said: I see it coiling;
The impact will be pain.
Yet coil; yet strike again.
You cannot riddle the stout mail I wove
Long since, of wit and love.
As for my answer . . . stupid in the sun
He lies, his fangs drawn:
I will not war with you.
You know how wild you are. You are willing to be turned
To other matters; you would be grateful, even.
You watch me shyly. I (for I have learned
More things than one in our few years together)
Chafe at the churlish wind, the unseasonable weather.
"Unseasonable?" you cry, with harsher scorn
Than the theme warrants; "Every year it is the same!
'Unseasonable!' they whine, these stupid peasants!—and never
since they were born
Have they known a spring less wintry! Lord, the shame,
The crying shame of seeing a man no wiser than the beasts he
feeds—
His skull as empty as a shell!"
("Go to. You are unwell.")
Such is my thought, but such are not my words.
"What is the name," I ask, "of those big birds
With yellow breast and low and heavy flight,
That make such mournful whistling?"
"Meadowlarks,"
You answer primly, not a little cheered.
"Some people shoot them." Suddenly your eyes are wet
And your chin trembles. On my breast you lean,
And sob most pitifullly for all the lovely things that are not and
have been.
"How silly I am!—and I know how silly I am!"
You say; "You are very patient. You are very kind.
I shall be better soon. Just Heaven consign and damn
To tedious Hell this body with its muddy feet in my mind!"
Scheme | ABBC DDEE FXXXX XXC GHGAA IJAIJXXX C K KXF EXXXXH LMLM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111101100111110 111111 110101 010101 111111 1001111010101 10011101101101 11111110101 1111111111 001111 111101 1101001111 111101 1111010001 11111 111111 1111111110111 110101111010 1111011111 111101011010 1101010110 1111101 1011010011101 11111010010 1101 11101110101 0101110011101011 1 11110101 11111 1111111111 1101111111 1101010101 1111010 1 1101010101 110111001111 011111111 01111101011110 11 1101101111011 1111101011101 1111011100101 1100111011101011 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,821 |
Words | 352 |
Sentences | 36 |
Stanzas | 11 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 5, 3, 5, 8, 1, 1, 3, 6, 4 |
Lines Amount | 44 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 124 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 31 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 02, 2023
- 1:43 min read
- 78 Views
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"Menses" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/9401/menses>.
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