Sonnet IV: Not in this chamber
Edna St. Vincent Millay 1892 (Rockland) – 1950 (Austerlitz)
Not in this chamber only at my birth--
When the long hours of that mysterious night
Were over, and the morning was in sight--
I cried, but in strange places, steppe and firth
I have not seen, through alien grief and mirth;
And never shall one room contain me quite
Who in so many rooms first saw the light,
Child of all mothers, native of the earth.
So is no warmth for me at any fire
To-day, when the world's fire has burned so low;
I kneel, spending my breath in vain desire,
At that cold hearth which one time roared so strong,
And straighten back in weariness, and long
To gather up my little gods and go.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 36 sec read
- 61 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABBAABBACDCEED |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 629 |
Words | 120 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
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"Sonnet IV: Not in this chamber" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/9435/sonnet-iv:-not-in-this-chamber>.
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