|
HOME »
WORKSHOPS » POETRY » EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY, "[I, BEING BORN A WOMAN AND DISTRESSED]" » READING
Edna St. Vincent Millay, "[I, being born a woman and distressed]"
BIOGRAPHY
Reading » Re-Reading » Explorations
Reading Questions
Text on p. 879 of the full Ninth Edition and p. 655 of the shorter Ninth Edition.
5
10 |
 |
I, being born a woman and distressed
By all the needs and notions of my kind,
Am urged by your propinquity to find
Your person fair, and feel a certain zest
To bear your body's weight upon my breast:
So subtly is the fume of life designed,
To clarify the pulse and cloud the mind,
And leave me once again undone, possessed.
Think not for this, however, the poor treason
Of my stout blood against my staggering brain,
I shall remember you with love, or season
My scorn with pity,let me make it plain:
I find this frenzy insufficient reason
For conversation when we meet again. |
Reading Questions
1. Read the poem aloud, making sure that you observe the punctuation pauses and stops. What tone of voice do you hear?
2. What is the speaker saying to "you"? What sort of relationship have they had? What is their future?
3. What sort of conflict does the speaker feel?
|
Icon Directory
In The Portable Intro to Literature
In The Seagull Reader
In Portable & The Seagull Reader
|