“What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why” BY EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY

 “What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why”

BY EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY

What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,       repetition, consonance

I have forgotten, and what arms have lain

Under my head till morning; but the rain           caesura, enjambment: disjointed and lost

Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh        RECALLING MEMORIES BITTERSWEET

Upon the glass and listen for reply,

And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain

For unremembered lads that not again

Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.

Thus in the winter stands the lonely tree,

Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,

Yet knows its boughs more silent than before:

I cannot say what loves have come and gone,

I only know that summer sang in me

A little while, that in me sings no more.

What is your reaction to the poem?

a) why so? 

-diction: 

symbolism of nature and its changing seasons:

Winter evokes images of barren and dark landscapes filled with ice and snow. Plants do not flourish and animals are rarely seen. Winter thus is often a season traditionally associated with death, loss, and emptiness. In contrast, summer is full of life in the midst of blossoming. Many plants and animals thrive in the summer, and the days are long and full of sunlight. Summer, therefore, is typically associated with life, joy, and rebirth.

In "What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why," the speaker progresses from a state of "summer" to "winter" as she ages and forgets her memories of love. This progression not only marks the progression of time but also reflects the speaker's inner emotional state from the joy of experiencing love in her youth to the pain of losing her memories of love in her older age. The speaker does not seem to have any hope that she will return to a state of summer. As winter is also the last season of the calendar year, the poem suggests the speaker will live out the rest of her days in this emotional state of "winter."

tree

A tree full of leaves and branches is often a symbol of life and possibility. Therefore, a barren tree in the midst of winter can symbolize death and loss. In "What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why," the speaker compares herself to a "lonely tree" in "winter." The tree that appears in the poem symbolizes the speaker's current state that is devoid of love and full of loss.
The tree once kept company with the birds who nested in its branches, just as the speaker once kept company with various lovers over the years. However, the birds "have vanished" just as the speaker's lovers have all vanished "one by one." Moreover, though the tree enjoyed the company of the birds, the departure of the birds leaves the tree "more silent than before." Therefore, the poem implies, the departure of the speaker's lovers and the loss of her memories of their love leave the speaker more pained than if she had never loved in the first place. Because the speaker loved in the past, the poem radically suggests, the speaker is worse off now as she is left with only pain and loss.

ghost, 
The appearance of ghosts can often evoke fear, sorrow, and pain in the viewer. They are symbols of death and of the past, as well as reminders of what one has lost. In "What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why," ghosts symbolize the speaker's memories of love and her past lovers.

The speaker hears ghosts in the rain outside her window. Moreover, these ghosts are "tap[ping]" upon her window glass and waiting for her "reply." The ghosts represent the speaker's relationship and attitude toward her past memories and lovers. They want the speaker to acknowledge them. However, the speaker, who has forgotten her memories of the past, is unable to recognize them. She can only listen to their incessant tapping and sighing. Thus, these ghosts do not evoke happy emotions, but rather painful and sorrowful ones. To the speaker, they represent the past that she has lost and the happiness she can never regain.-

tone: sad, lamentable, evoking catharsis, tragedic

-imagery: auditory rain, sighs, tapping, onomatopoeia

lonely tree visual, winter

-sound: consonance, enjambment, alliteration /summer sang/

-form:  petrarchan love sonnet

What is your understanding of the poem?
a) What is it about? Themes? 

Loneliness, maybe regret, loss of love. fleeting feelings, lamenting love, painful loss of memory.

All she knows is that she experienced pleasurable and summery feelings of love in the past, though only for a brief time; now, the speaker is filled only with a sense of loss.

In “What my lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,” the speaker reflects on her previous lovers, all of whom she has forgotten. She mourns not the loss of these lovers themselves, but rather the loss of her memories of them. Other love poems might more commonly grieve an unrequited love or the death of a lover. However, this poem seems to radically suggest that it would be better if the speaker had never loved at all, rather than be forever haunted by the loss of her memories of that love.

The speaker admits she’s forgotten whom she’s kissed or slept with, as well as the details behind those encounters. She does not remember “[w]hat lips” she has kissed or “what arms” she has rested her head upon. The fact that these body parts are disassociated from names and faces makes for unsettling images that parallel the speaker’s unnerving lack of memory. Furthermore, the speaker does not remember “where” she has had past romantic encounters and, perhaps more importantly, she does not remember “why” she has had them either. She has not only lost the specifics of her memories—she has also lost the passionate emotions behind them. The thought of these emotions, which once may have comforted her, is now only a reminder of her loss and pain.

Consequently, the speaker is haunted by the fact that she’s forgotten these memories and emotions. The rain outside her window sounds as though it is full of “ghosts … tap[ping] and sigh[ing]/ [u]pon the glass.” These may be the ghosts of her previous lovers themselves or the ghosts of the speaker's memories of those lovers. Either way, these ghosts actively demand the speaker’s attention and wait for her “reply.” They want to be let inside or acknowledged; however, the speaker is unable to do either. The window that separates these ghosts and the speaker represents the division between the speaker’s memories and her present self. Though she cannot name or discern these ghosts individually, the speaker is taunted by their general presence. Similarly, just as she cannot recall her previous lovers individually, the speaker is tormented by her knowledge that they once existed.

As a result of forgetting these lovers, the speaker suffers from a “quiet pain” and loneliness. The adjective “unremembered” is key to the speaker’s pain. The speaker is not simply pained by the loss of her lovers, but rather by the fact that she has “unremembered” them. To emphasize this, the speaker compares herself to a “lonely tree.” Birds once filled this tree’s branches, but have since departed. In fact, the loss of these birds makes the tree “more silent than before.” Thus, the loss of what the tree and the speaker once possessed—the birds and the memories, respectively—causes greater silence and pain than if they had never possessed them in the first place.