Normal Covers a Wide Range: The Poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay
Through the years, female writers have created some of the most provocative, insightful
works, in spite of the egregious, brutal suppression by their male, patrician counterparts.
The poet Edna St. Vincent Millay is a composite of her own unique history: she thinks about it,
reflects upon it, and recognizes how things happen in life and why. As a result, her poetry has a
cause and effect quality, as though shaped by the people, events, and relationships influential to
her thinking and behavior. However, Sigmund Freud says that the drives and impulses behind
behavioral forces are internal. [comment1]He defines normal behavior as equilibrium in the trilogy of
interactions among pleasure (the id), reality (the ego), and social constraints (the superego). Both
the analyst and the poet create controversy by discussing the functionality of sex; the former
analyzes its subtle motivations, and the latter uses it to contradict the social norm of female
asexuality. Unlikely to be wholeheartedly approved of by either Freudians or feminists, Millay's
poems: [I, being born a woman and distressed], [What lips my lips have kissed, and where and
why], and [Women have loved before as I love now], explore a female-centered artistic vision
which turns the table on the prevailing male-centered expectations of women.
Applying both psychoanalytic criticism and feminist criticism to the work of Millay results in
a Jekyll and Hyde dichotomy. Psychoanalytic criticism applied to the behavior of Millay's
speakers may lead us to view their feminist leanings and the poet's creativity as imbalance,
possibly neurosis. The pleasure-seeking-id surfaces in [Women have loved before as I love now].
From a psychoanalytic point of view, the neurotic world of fantasy-escape is exemplified in lines
thirteen and fourteen: "When [1]treacherous queens, with death upon the tread, / Heedless and
wilful, took their knights to bed." Freud might classify the speaker as unbalanced due to an
overactive id. Perhaps the speaker seeks refuge in fantasy because of an inability to cope with
reality. On the other hand, the use of strong female images from mythology would, most likely,
give the feminist critic an entirely different spin on the same poem. [comment2]It is a widely
accepted feminist belief that characterizations of stronger women in literature and mythology
have been ignored while submissive and demure representations of women have flourished.
Images of two powerful women are conjured up by the speaker. The speaker compares herself to
a woman of the past in line three; [comment3]"Of Irish waters by a Cornish prow" refers to
Cleodhna, a supernatural female of Irish mythology, who lures young men away for sexual
purposes. Akin to the sirens in Classical culture, she emits a wail or call that none can
resist.Additionally, line four "Or Trojan waters by Spartan mast" refers to Helen, who maddened
with lust for a Trojan man, follows him to Troy, leaving at home her child and husband.
Although her true nature is the subject of ongoing debate by scholars, generally Helen is blamed
for the war which devastated both Greece and Troy. While neither character exemplifies the
most illustrious traits of women, still their imagery subverts the common idea of passivity
associated with women's sexuality.
Millay's poems maintain that the sexual freedom formerly commandeered by men is equally
valid for women. This feeling is particularly obvious in the sonnet beginning "What lips my lips
have kissed" (1); the speaker's love life is characterized by a series of convenient relationships.
Given lines seven and eight for analysis, "For unremembered lads that not again / Will turn to me
at midnight with a cry," Dr. Freud might suggest that the impulsive sex serves the double
purpose of sabotaging a promising relationship while feeding the needs of thespeaker's
ego.Feminist and other [1] critically-oriented literary scholars who have learned how to identify
objectification in their sleep certainly would not miss it in this poem. [comment4]But because
convention is twisted by the poet's gender, this tactic seems fresher, less hurtful, and more
amusing.There is novelty and irony in a woman using what may be considered the male gaze to
scrutinize her own capriciousness.The use of analogy in the sestet ties together the transience of
nature's beauty with the loss of magnetism that the aging speaker feels: "Thus in the winter
stands the lonely tree, / Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one" (9-10). Cyclicly, in
nature, beauty which perishes will renew itself, but this speaker does not believe her last lover
will be followed by another.As winter marks the ending of a year, so the speaker feels her beauty
has faded with age and, as a result, her active love life has reached its end. Line twelve "I cannot
say what loves have come and gone" at once illustrates a certain selfishness in the speaker's
attitude towards her former lovers and also gives the impression that there were quite a few of
them. [comment5]With tenderness, the closing lines whisper remembrance and regret: "I only know
that summer sang in me / A little while, that in me sings no more" (13-4). But, as a whole, this
poem and more obviously the next poem resists sentimentality.
The double standard that restricts women while compelling men to be overtly sexual is
ridiculed in Millay's [I, being born a woman and distressed]. The tone of the poem is detached
and unemotional, stereotypically masculine. In contrast, the choice of diction keeps the sexual
expressions subtle and indirect; the word choice in lines three through five, "Am urged by your
propinquity to find / Your person fair, and feel a certain zest / To bear your body's weight upon
my breast," is purposely and stereotypically feminine. Concluding physical attractiveness and the
convenience of nearness to be practical catalysts for sexual liaisons is part of a logic that has
long been associated with males [1] exclusively. The speaker exercises her femininity in a
tongue-in-cheek fashion to undo her opponent with the etiquette based on this masculine logic.
Using direct dialogue, albeit one-way, the speaker makes it clear to a past conquest that she is
not only uninterested in resuscitating their former affair, but coldly adds that she would like this
conversation to be their last:
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.
(Millay, [I, being born a woman and distressed] 11-4)
[comment6]By
aligning her emotions so closely with that of the opposite sex, Millay would most
likely find criticism from Freudians and feminists to be at opposite ends of an approval spectrum.
Freudians may see the poet's literary imitation of male behavior as a manifestation of the
inferiority complex known as penis envy. However, the feminist critic might applaud the poet for
exposing the love'em and leave'em system of behavior practiced by too many males. Sharp
contrasts in criticism would likely please Millay because her poetry is replete with contrasts.
Comparing the poems [Women have loved before as I love now] and [I, being born a woman
and distressed] to one another we see a consistent style that unifies both works, but we also see
contrasting emotions that explore relationships from different vantage points. The speaker in "I,
being born" has no memory of the past and no prevision of the future; she is not bitter, but
objective and in total control of her emotions. [comment7]Her blasé attitude is in sync with her
dispassionate actions. In contrast, "Women have loved" offers a protagonist of intense, even
tragic vitality; this vitality expresses itself in ferocious, violent activity: "I find some woman
bearing as I bear / Love like a burning city in the breast" (7-8). In like manner, the choice of the
women of antiquity to which the speaker compares herself leads us to visualize her passion as a
mighty and destructive force. Because of the intensely dissimilar overt attitudes, Freudians might
have their work cut out for them in discovering a single covert meaning underlying these two
poems. Likewise, feminists may scratch their heads in confusion because of the poet's refusal to
fit her ideas neatly into a feminist package. Another interesting contradiction made obvious by
comparing these two poems is: by the use of standard sonnet form, Shakespearian in "Women
have loved" and Petrarchan in "I, being born," the poet's unorthodox views may receive the
legitimacy of tradition while the content simultaneously mocks tradition. [comment8]Unable to fully
know the poet's intent, we may only speculate that perhaps Millay is attempting to reconcile
with, rather than distance herself from, convention.
It is doubtful that either Millay's mental health or her politics can be evaluated on the basis of
three poems. While her poetry has a feminist essence, most modern feminists do not believe that
using the methods of patriarchal oppression against men will further the cause of equity for
women. Furthermore, many of Freud's opinions and the [comment9]judgements of psychoanalytic
criticism based on his opinions seem laced with sexism; this leaves the value of these judgments
open to debate. Yet, examining these poems from both psychoanalytic and feminist perspectives
allows greater insight into the complexities of Millay's mind and greater appreciation for the
independence of her spirit. Today, in the world of feminism and psychoanalysis there is no single
system of thought to describe the female experience - normal covers a wide range. In this age, as
women and men continue to redefine the standards of moral and proper behavior for both sexes,
Edna St. Vincent Millay's ability to look beyond the status quo is a rare and much sought after
gift.