Sonnet XXX

Recently I came across an incredible poem by an incredible poet, Edna St. Vincent Millay. I'm not really a big fan of love poems, or sonnets for that matter, but I thought this one was very clever, and very modern.

This poem seems very true to love and very honest. It makes some excellent points about love and life, and I think it is insightful and thought-provoking.

Sonnet XXX
Of Fatal Interview

by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink
Nor slumber nor a roof against the rain;
Nor yet a floating spar to men that sink
And rise and sink and rise and sink again;
Love can not fill the thickened lung with breath,
Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone;
Yet many a man is making friends with death
Even as I speak, for lack of love alone.
It well may be that in a difficult hour,
Pinned down by pain and moaning for release,
Or nagged by want past resolution's power,
I might be driven to sell your love for peace,
Or trade the memory of this night for food.
It well may be. I do not think I would.

I love how Edna St. Vincent Millay builds up so much how love is not essential to survive. It cannot provide the basic needs for human survival: food, shelter, water, medicine, healing. Even when enduring such pain, one could sell love for survive. But would you really give up the experience of loving someone just to be alive? "I do not think I would."

This brings up a good question. If you were on your death bed, would you take away all the loving experiences of your life just to stay alive even if you couldn't have any more once you survived? How much is love worth living life?

I just really enjoyed this sonnet. I think she really shows off her talents in this piece.

So, what do you think of the sonnet?