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Spring By Edna St. Vincent Millay

695 Words3 Pages

The spring is a time of rebirth and signifying the beginning of a new year. However, what is the purpose of the spring's return? This question develops what Edna St. Vincent Millay in her poem, "Spring", asks to the month of April as this time of year is approaching. She brings up the fact that April's beauty is not enough and is determined to find why the spring season is viewed as bright and lively, when the people experiencing the season continue to act the same. Throughout the poem, Millay incorporates poetic devices, such as personificaton and imagery to demonstate her complex attitude toward the fact that spring does not change the attitudes of people and is the same as the other seasons.

To begin, throughout the first two stanza's, …show more content…

Her distaste begins in line 10 through 12 when she asks "what does that signify? / Not only under ground are the brains of men / Eaten by maggots." The metaphor Millay conveys pertains to the people that are living today. She attempts to demonstrate that people's minds today are rotting and being eaten, not by maggots, but other harmful ideas and thoughts. Millay portrays that it does not matter the season is spring, summer, fall, or winter, people will always be the same. She goes on to elaborate on the fact that "Life in itself / Is nothing" (Millay, 13-14). The paradoxical nature of life being nothing is because people attempt to make their life better in the spring and find meaning, but regardless of when they try, life to Millay is all the same and is the same in any season she is in. Millay uses the personifcation of April again when she creates April to be "an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers" (18) to demonstrate that the season is only a cycle and does not change the ways of people. They will remain the same regardless of the season and the sense of false hope it brings creates the downfall of everyone. To sum it up, Millay portrayal of the spring season is meant to create the idea that people create a false view to make themselves feel better, when in reality, it is all the

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