Metaphors And Tone In What Lips Have Kissed

The author writes this poem in order to inspire the readers to not be stuck to expectations. Gwendolyn uses multiple metaphors in her poems such as “Maud, who went to college, Is a thin brown mouse. She is living all alone In this old house.. “, using this to describe to the readers that

The poem’s structure as a sonnet allows the speaker’s feelings of distrust and heartache to gradually manifest themselves as the poem’s plot progresses. Each quatrain develops and intensifies the speaker’s misery, giving the reader a deeper insight into his convoluted emotions. In the first quatrain, the speaker advises his former partner to not be surprised when she “see[s] him holding [his] louring head so low” (2). His refusal to look at her not only highlights his unhappiness but also establishes the gloomy tone of the poem. The speaker then uses the second and third quatrains to justify his remoteness; he explains how he feels betrayed by her and reveals how his distrust has led him

For more than half a century, millions of eyes, young and old, have viewed this inspiring photo. After the end of World War II in 1945, two random strangers were photographed snogging it out amongst high spirits of celebration. This famous photograph, “V-J Day Kiss” has been one to remember for so many years because the rhetorical elements such as the focus point of the photo, black and white contrasts, and the body language, which all indicate that this photograph was taken at an unprepared moment, help to add a symbolic reference that World War II has concluded.

Millicent, a girl who seems to be young or even young at heart, wandering farther and farther into the woods. A place where the world seems to be completely different than the in which people live. The farther and farther she wondered she became lost among the “columns” of trees, a place where no matter which direction she went she would be surprised, a fact much like that of the journey of life. Stafford’s use of diction and the setting, in the first paragraph set up the scene of how the poem is going to go.

This literary masterpiece of a poem is about the harsh after effects of love. This poem starts with a very lonely man inside of his chamber trying to ease his sorrow for his long lost love Lenore. Lenore was the man’s perfect, beautiful, and loving maiden, who was deceased. The man attempts to disrupt his mental thoughts with the reading of old books of “forgotten lore.” This does not work out for him very well unfortunately.

Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “Sonnet IV” follows many of the conventions of the traditional Petrarchan sonnet. It follows the traditional rhyming scheme and octet, sestet structure. However it challenges the conventions of the typical subject of the Italian sonnet, unrequited love. In the octet at the beginning of the poem Millay uses images that give a sense of transience and in the ending sestet of the sonnet she contrasts the sense of impermanence given earlier with the idea that the speaker cannot forget the smiles and words of their ex-lover. This contrast between permanence and transience illustrates Millay’s interest in a fugacious relationship with everlasting memories. After further analysis of Millay’s highly structured rhyming scheme which puts emphasis on the last words of each line. She uses these words to further express her interest in exploring impermanent relationships by using words that are associated with an end or death.

The speaker uses words such as “louring” (line 2), “deep deceit” (line 8), “grievous” (line 11) and “bale” (line 140. All of these words have sorrowful and despairing meanings to them which gives the whole poem an unhappy tone. The third and fourth lines discus that the speaker cannot even look at the beautiful face, which appears to grow more attractive daily, of the woman he loves. Moreover, the couplet tells the readers that the sorrow in the speaker’s eyes is there because of the pain he has felt due to his faulty relationship. The mouse that “lies aloof for fear of more mishap” (line 7) shows the misery felt by the speaker by using the words “aloof” and “mishap”. “Aloof” means to be stand-offish or reserved, which the speaker is because if he gets too close, he will be hurt again. “Mishap” means disaster or unfortune which altogether sounds miserable. Had the speaker used diction that was lighter or less depressed, the reader truly would not understand the misery the speaker has went through. The miserable diction depicts the deep wounds the speaker received from his love, shedding light to how much he really loved her and how bad she really hurt

Edna St. Vincent Millay, in her sonnet “What Lips My Lips Have Kissed, and Where, and Why,” reveals her regrets of the past relationships she had coming to an end and how despite being unable to remember the relationship, she remembers how much love she used to give and receive and how that is no longer the case. She develops this idea first by using a metaphor that compares her regrets and her past to ghosts “but the rain / is full of ghosts tonight,” her regrets are like ghosts, they are haunting her and won’t let her live peacefully; second, using personification, “but the rain / is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh / upon the glass and listen for reply,” she further develops the idea that her regrets are like ghosts and won’t leave

“What my lips have kissed, and where, and why” is a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay, it was written way ahead of its time because it talks about a very promiscuous woman in a time where women were supposed to be submissive to their husbands. The poem involves a speaker who is recalling her past experiences with men. Towards the end of the poem the speaker starts to feel regret because she is getting old and cannot participate in these activities anymore. Edna St. Vincent Millay’s, “What my lips have kissed, and where, and why” the speaker expresses regret of growing old by using the ghost, winter and summer, and the tree to show her feelings.

First, the poet uses metre, a style that emphasizes the use of a specific structure, which is an appropriate way of presenting poems with positive themes such as love. In this case, the poet achieves metre through the use of a uniform number of syllables in every line of the first stanza (10 syllables per line). This approach not only makes the poem memorable in recitation and listening but also relaxes the listener which is important in understanding the subject matter. Petrach uses a qualitative metre, which concentrates on the use of uniform syllabic arrangement. As a result, he creates an aesthetic euphony thus making the listener and the reciter to enjoy the presentation of the poem. The technique is appropriate in the presentation of a love sonnet. Equally, the first two stanzas have four lines each, but the last two stanzas have three lines each. This aspect aligns with the two perspectives presented in the poem, the first being his great affection for Laura, and the second is an expression of the pain he experiences as a result of the unreciprocated love. Furthermore, he has been unable to express his feelings to her, which compounds his pain evident in the words “I had love's tinder in my breast unburned, was it a wonder if it kindled there?” (Lines 8 – 9).

Edna St. Vincent Millay’s sonnet, “What lips my lips have kissed and where and why,” is about being, physically or mentally jaded, and thinking back to the torrid love of one’s youth. The “ghosts” that haunt her are the many lovers of her past; she’s specifically trying to remember them all. She recalls the passion she experienced and how there was a certain feeling within herself. Millay shows this through her vivid imagery, use of the rain as a literary device and by paralleling herself with a lonely tree.

Although this is a short poem, there are so many different meanings that can come from the piece. With different literary poetic devices such as similes, imagery, and symbolism different people take away different things from the poem. One of my classmates saw it as an extended metaphor after searching for a deeper connection with the author. After some research on the author, we came to learn that the

The couplet of this sonnet renews the speaker's wish for their love, urging her to "love well" which he must soon leave. But after the third quatrain, the speaker applauds his lover for having courage and adoration to remain faithful to him. The rhyme couplet suggests the unconditional love between the speaker and his

““What Lips My Lips Have Kissed, and Where and Why” and “Sonnet 116” are, in fact, two different sonnets. “What Lips My Lips Have Kissed, and Where and Why” is a Petrarchan or Italian sonnet; Due to the fact, that this sonnet has a rhyme scheme that divides the first eight lines from the last six lines. By dividing the poem, the rhyme scheme helps to emphasize the theme. The overall theme of the poem is loss, which occurred in the past. Since the rhyme scheme is divided into two parts; the first part uses the metaphor of lovers while the second part uses the metaphor of a tree. On the contrary,

The way that this poem is a Shakespearean sonnet, is in the way that it has 14 lines, there’s iambic pentameter, and follows the rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg. There are several literary devices in the poem above. There’s an allusion to the River of Lethe, which is a river in Greek mythology, indicating that if one drinks from it, would cause forgetfulness. The memories that the speaker has about her lover, would be gone – and she would finally forget him. But yet there seems to be this irony, as the speaker claims she will forget him, but yet finds herself reflecting on these memories.