Sorrow

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



Sorrow like a ceaseless rain
   Beats upon my heart.
People twist and scream in pain,—
Dawn will find them still again;
This has neither wax nor wane,
   Neither stop nor start.

People dress and go to town;
   I sit in my chair.
All my thoughts are slow and brown:
Standing up or sitting down
Little matters, or what gown
   Or what shoes I wear.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 14, 2023

20 sec read
387

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAXAB CDCCCD
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 345
Words 67
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 6, 6

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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