Edna St Vincent Millay

A detailed Summary of Edna St Vincent Millay

Analysis of "Love Is Not All" by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Edna St. Vincent Millay's sonnet "Love Is Not All" describes love unlike other sonnet's by great poetics. It does not intially portray love as a universal feeling of magnitude felt by all. It is as orindary and unimportant as many objects that are taken for granted in this age. Although love can never be forgotten or traded in for ones life it is still of importance in this sonnet. These ideas are described with help of figurative language and the conventions of the Shakepearean sonnet with some minor alterations.

In the first octave of "Love Is Not All", Millay shows that love is arbritrary, it is not food or water, and it will not save a drowning man from death or give one air to breath, it is mearly an emotion that conquers all others and makes everything else absolete. This poem uses indirect theme and abrupt change in message to add more emphasis to the meaning of the poem. By beginning the poem with an image that cont

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rasts the main theme, Millay is able to inflict a more vivid impression on the reader. Even the title gives us an idea of what the poem's theme is likely to be. "Love is not all" suggests that the persona is decrying love.

The perspective change of the sonnet occurs at the end of the octave and reverses the ordinace of love to be of something great, that people value love above their own lives. The early turn in the seventh line, "Yet many a man is making friends with death / Even as I speak, for lack of love alone" contridicts everything the poet has written thus far. This allows Millay to develop the perspective in the sestet that when in great circumstances people feel the need to turn to love to free them from their environments and proves in the end that the worth of love is far more valuable than life.

Love can be thought of as being overrated in a life of great adventures. Realizing that love re

Some common words found in the essay are:
Love Millay, Vincent Millay's, St Vincent, Edna St, edna st vincent, edna st, rhyme scheme, love millay, change message, sonnet lines, ones life, st vincent, figurative language,

Approximate Word count = 665
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous

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Edna St Vincent Millay

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