What Lips My Lips Have Kissed, and Where, and Why
By Edna St. Vincent Millay
Iambic
pentameter
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First 8 lines are
an octave that
focuses on
speaker’s p.o.v.
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Next three
lines create a
tercet that
provides
readers with
key image
The last tercet
brings the
image in the
previous
tercet and the
first octave
together.
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b
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c
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Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,
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This image of a tree in winter
symbolizes Millay’s own heart
and her despondency.
d
Note that even here Millay opts
out of using a period. She
extends the thought as far as it
can go.
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I only know that summer sang in me
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I cannot say what loves have come and gone,
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Yet knows its boughs more silent than before:
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The first of the two periods in
the poem, this is the least
common punctuation compared
to the comma.
a
Thus in the winter stands the lonely tree,
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The rhyme scheme and line
choice of this poem makes it a
Petrarchan sonnet. We see in
the opening octave a problem
is presented. The next tercet
introduces a metaphor to help
explain the speaker’s stance.
The final tercet brings us back
to the speaker and provides us
with a (desolate) conclusion.
b
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“Lips” and “arms” serve as an
example of synecdoche as these
parts of the body refers to the
“ghosts” that Millay loved.
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a
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Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.
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14
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12
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For unremembered lads that not again
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And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain
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Upon the glass and listen for reply,
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6
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Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh
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Under my head till morning; but the rain
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I have forgotten, and what arms have lain
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3
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What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,
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2
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c
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A little while, that in me sings no more.
This last line of Millay’s sonnet uses the concept of summer ended as a
metaphor for the love she believes now wasted. It’s important to pay
close attention to that first part of the sentence though as she explains,
“I cannot say what loves have come and gone.” This sentiment ties in to
her word choice in the second and seventh line with words like
“forgotten” and “unremembered.” This also supports Millay’s important
use of synecdoche.
e
The last period in the poem,
this is Millay’s final conclusion.
Millay’s choice of punctuation
is worth noting as it shows us
the end of her hoping. There is
nothing more to say.