Edna St. Vincent Millay's Travel

Wanderlust by Dorothy Hewett explores journeys, both physical and imaginative. The poem starts off with a quote from another poem. “When

Finally, the journey encountered in this poem varies from all three types of journeys, inner, imaginative and physical. “With a dampness that slowly sank into our thoughts – but we ate it all” expresses the realization of where they were and the reality of what they were going through with the mood while the hyphen is used to separate the thought and the atmosphere which is used to express the

The work of prominent feminist writer Edna St. Vincent Millay continues to hold value in the educational space, illustrating a sense of humanity and fragility through her verse. In nineteen twenty-three, she published her Italian sonnet “I will put Chaos into fourteen lines,” a powerful work that showcased her ability to command language. Millay’s sonnet chronicles her experience of pitting Chaos into that confining structure of an Italian sonnet, making the figurative cacophony mingle with Order. The sonnet emphasizes the importance of creativity through the form of chaos interacting with the limiting structure and confines of rules and limitations represented by order. I can prove this assertion through Millay’s use of personification, Italian sonnet stanza structure, and meter iambic pentameter.

The author uses imagery in the poem to enable the reader to see what the speaker sees. For example, in lines 4-11 the speaker describes to us the

Physical journeys can impact upon the traveler in many ways. They can be faced with obstacles which can impact on the traveler and will need to overcome. Physical journeys can impact upon the traveler in various ways. This is shown in Dawes poem “last seen at 12.10am” where a mother is on a journey to find her missing daughter. This is also evident in Michael James Rowland 2007 film “Lucky Miles”, where a group of men’s inner journey of friendship despite differences goes through obstacles which they overcome. Another impact upon a traveler is also shown in Bruce Dawe poem “Drifters” which a frustrated mother’s journey of disappointment, which has impacted her when suddenly faced with picking up her belongings and being, forced to move. A

Journey is an act of travelling from one place to another which can be seeking permanent home in a different country or travelling in the same country. It can affect different people in many different ways as they get emotional, intellectual and imaginative experiences individually in their life. All of these have been explored in some of Bruce Dawe’s meaningful poems ‘migrants’ and ‘drifters’ and a related text ‘Still Life’ which is a short film by Martin Sharpe. The poem ‘migrants’ was about group of European migrants seeking permanent home in a completely different country to escape from war and have better standard of life but the poem ‘drifters’ was about a family journeying in the same country. In comparison, the short film, ‘Still Life’ is about a man who has boring and meaningless life. The composers employ poetic and film techniques to convey the possible positive and negative ramifications of journeys.

Travellers in order to arrive at their desired destination may encounter hardships as a result of trying to proceed forwards or overcoming obstacles. Journeys challenge travellers with obstacles and without being able to overcome them, may result in life changing consequences preventing the traveller from reaching their destination. The poems by Peter Skrzynecki and Missing Her are two texts in which an exploration of how failure to overcome obstacles within journeys may have resulted in different destinations for the traveller.

In the third stanza of the poem, the horse, the speaker's conscience, realizes the speaker's intention, and interrupts the the tranquil surroundings. When the horse gives it's harness bells a shake (9), it is trying to gain the speaker's attention. The speaker believes that the horse is trying to make the man realize how bad an idea suicide would be, as that would cause him to go to Hel (10). The speaker acknowledges the horses intent, and realizes the foolishness of suicide. Sensory imagery is used to show how easy suicide would be.

Readers are aware of this ambiguity. Here the heaviest flashback thoughts and the short-lasting issue set up a continuing contrast throughout the poem, which enchants its effect.

Images in the poem reflect the difficulties of the choice the traveler faces. The difficulty is shown in the passage "long I stood" (3)

While in stanza two he begins to explain it was a “bleak december”, Clearly setting the sad and seemingly depressing mood. But as the stanza moves on the sadness is filled with creepy suspense as it states that not only the speaker is up late at night on a late, and bleak December night, that the statement “And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor” finding out that the statement is explaining how the fire in the fireplace is slowly dying out, and the very few pieces of coal the “dying embers” seem to create creepy ghost like shadow around the room which creates the depressed and the creepy suspense filled mood.

The theme of emptiness is seen throughout Thomas’ poems. The wartime poet writes of his memory of livelihood and activity in villages, such as the one described in ‘Aspens’, and then how it begins to disappear as a result of war. This is shown as the village is left with a ‘lightless pane and footless road’ causing the village to appear as ‘empty as sky’ and this simile gives a sense of vastness of the effects of the war, emphasising on the emptiness in the poem. Further, the mention of the ‘cross-roads to a ghostly room’ explicates that the village is so empty that it is leading nowhere. This metaphor is ironic as cross-roads are suggestively open gateways and a sense of choice in direction. However this connotation is altered as Thomas uses the metaphor ‘ghostly room’, to portray the vacant village and this is supported by the cross-roads as they lead to emptiness and isolation. This is also seen in ‘Old Man’ as the paradox ‘only an avenue, dark, nameless, without end’ gives a sense of no lead despite the fact that an avenue should lead somewhere. It is clear here that Thomas’ state of depression is

The second stanza is addressed to ‘wise men’ who know they cannot hide from death and it’s inevitability. Poetic techniques used in this stanza are metaphors, rhyme, symbols and repetition. The line “words had forked no lightning” is a metaphor because words cannot actually fork lightning. This line suggests that the men hadn’t made an impact on the world, nor accomplished all they wanted to in life. Rhyming is also a technique used in every line, ‘right’ and ‘night’ are rhyming words used, and ‘they’ in the second line rhymes with ‘day’ in the previous stanza. So ‘night’, ‘light’ and ‘right’ rhyme, and ‘day’ and ‘they’ rhyme, hence the ABA ABA rhyming pattern. The third poetic device used in the second stanza is symbolism of ‘dark’ in the first line, which represents death. Repetition of “do not go gentle into that good night” is repeated every second stanza as the ending line, ‘night’ in the final line also symbolises death.

These 'actual' journeys help Jane on her four 'figurative' journeys, as each one allows her to reflect and grow. The journey only ends when she finds true happiness.

In this poem, the narrator opens up with a serene scene of a winter night – or so it seems. Although the narrator describes an externally cozy, peaceful scene, he unveils a discordant heart, as suggested by the restless tone he uses. During this silent night, the narrator watches a piece of soot flicker over the fire: “Only that film, which fluttered on the grate, / Still flutters there, the sole unquiet thing. Methinks, its motion in this hush of nature / Gives it dim sympathies with me who lives, / Making it a companionable form” (15-19). In other words, the narrator associates himself with