Lament

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



Listen, children:
Your father is dead.
From his old coats
I'll make you little jackets;
I'll make you little trousers
From his old pants.
There'll be in his pockets
Things he used to put there,
Keys and pennies
Covered with tobacco;
Dan shall have the pennies
To save in his bank;
Anne shall have the keys
To make a pretty noise with.
Life must go on,
And the dead be forgotten;
Life must go on,
Though good men die;
Anne, eat your breakfast;
Dan, take your medicine;
Life must go on;
I forget just why.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 19, 2023

30 sec read
241

Quick analysis:

Scheme abcdefghijikilMaMnoaMn
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 490
Words 97
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 22

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…

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