Sonnet 29. The poet Edna Vincent Millay uses vivid words and phrases that bring out her attempts to cope with betrayal.

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 The poet Edna Vincent Millay uses vivid words and phrases that bring out her attempts to cope with betrayal. This poem is her actual experience as she is trying to move on after the treachery she has faced. She is talks about love, how according to her it comes and goes away so quickly. The repetition of the words 'Pity me not' does affect the structure of the verse. The reader is confused whether she wants them to pity her, or she herself is lost while muddling through this mess. The tone changes subtly as the poem mirrors the ‘head v/s heart’ situation.

The tone of the very first quatrain is rational. It illustrates that the fluctuation of ‘ups and downs’ are routine in life. The natural images created by the poet, for instance, the sun which is associated to warmth, “Pity me not because the light of day” reveal emotions and warmth of love. “At close of day no longer walks the sky” and as the sun goes, it returns the next day. “Pity me not the waning of the moon,” this describes the different phases of the moon, the loss of romance and magic crucial in a relationship. These vivacious images help to show a pattern, a natural cyclic process.

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She continues to be very rational in the second quatrain but as it progresses it becomes emotional as she involves personal matters. She voices “Pity me not for beauties passed away” by which she means that beauty fades with age as nothing lasts forever. “From field to thicket as the year goes by;” Something very important she indirectly points out that one needs to give time and attention when in a relationship. She also expresses the tides like physical fervor and when the tide withdraws, resulting a dying of passion. “Nor that the ebbing tide goes out to sea.” “Nor ...

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