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Sydney Renfro

12.15.22

Eng. II, per. 2

Spring

by Edna St. Vincent Millay

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My impression of this poem’s title is that, like most poems where spring is concerned, it will be about life in one context or another.

This poem is written by Edna St. Vincent Millay, published in her book Second April, during the year 1921.

Title: “Spring”

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Slide 3: Paraphrase

To what purpose, April, do you return again? Beauty is not enough. You can no longer quiet me with the redness Of little leaves opening stickily. I know what I know. The sun is hot on my neck as I observe The spikes of the crocus. The smell of the earth is good. It is apparent that there is no death.	Why do you return, April? No matter how pretty you are, I will not be quiet For your promises of life and beauty. I know what I know. The sun beats down on me as I see Sprouts of crocus. The soil is rich. It is clear that there is no death here.

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Slide 3.5: Paraphrase

But what does that signify? Not only under ground are the brains of men Eaten by maggots. Life in itself Is nothing, An empty cup, a flight of uncarpeted stairs. It is not enough that yearly, down this hill, April Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.	But what is that worth? Below us, bodies rot Eaten by maggots. Life is, in reality, Nothing, Boring, It is not enough that annually, April Comes as a fool, throwing flowers haplessly.

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Slide 4: Connotation

To what purpose, April, do you return again?

Beauty is not enough.

You can no longer quiet me with the redness

Of little leaves opening stickily.

I know what I know.

The sun is hot on my neck as I observe

The spikes of the crocus.

The smell of the earth is good.

It is apparent that there is no death.

But what does that signify?

Not only under ground are the brains of men

Eaten by maggots.

Life in itself

Is nothing,

An empty cup, a flight of uncarpeted stairs.

It is not enough that yearly, down this hill,

April

Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.

Death/ rebirth

(willful) Ignorance/ lack thereof

Beauty

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Slide 5: Attitude

Attitude

She takes a very interesting cynical attitude towards April, but expresses it like realism. She is unfooled by the things April hides behind its faux beauty, but I think the assumption that the world is hiding its ugliness behind flowers and budding leaves is, in and of itself, cynicism.

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Slide 6: Shift

Throughout the first part of the poem, she holds this almost hopeful, innocent tone, with little hints of a more cynical point of view. She describes beauty, sunshine against her neck and flowers blooming. But she then takes a sharp turn into a darker theme on line 10, and forward: “But what does that signify?”- mentioning rotting corpses and the meaninglessness of life, comparing the formerly beautiful spring to an idiot. Where she mentioned blooming flowers and the smell of rich soil, she swiftly changes to mentioning corpses being eaten by maggots.

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Slide 7: Title Revisited

Title revisited

Looking back on the title, it is about life, but it is also about death and the falseness of objective beauty.

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Slide 8: Themes

One of the themes shown in Edna St. Vincent Millay’s Poem is the concept of not remaining ignorant, or blind to the ugliness of the world for the sake of beauty, or the lie that life is objectively beautiful in and of itself. She compares April to an idiot who throws flowers around mindlessly, covering up the truth that there is a fair amount of ugliness to life, and that life is only truly worth anything if there is color and substance beyond haplessly thrown flowers.

Minor themes: death, ignorance, beauty