Robbie's+Analysis

In the poem "Dirge Without Music", by Edna St. Vincent Millay, she speaks of how she does not like the fact that people die. While it is the overall theme of the poem, it can most easily be seen in the first line: "I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground."

Part of what makes this poem appealing and remembered for so long is the simplicity of the language. To most readers, there is not a single word in the poem that is unknown, and people can also get a sense of the meaning of the poem without reading over it too many times.

In the first stanza (lines 1-4), Millay sets up the rest of the poem by introducing what she is going to talk about. It reads as follows:

I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground. So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind: Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely. Crowned With lilies and with laurel they go; but I am not resigned.

She speaks of how she isn't happy that people die, and that everybody does so. She points out that it has always been and will always be this way, and while she can't do anything about it, she isn't content.

In the second stanza (lines 5-8), she begins by continuing the theme from the first one, but then builds on what has been introduced. This stanza reads:

Lovers and thinkers, into the earth with you. Be one with the dull, the indiscriminate dust. A fragment of what you felt, of what you knew, A formula, a phrase remains, --- but the best is lost.

At the beginning she nearly orders people to die and be buried. In the last two lines, Millay portrays that while the person's body still exists, their mind is gone, or as she puts it, "but the best is lost". While we can stare at a person's dead, decaying beauty, we can no longer communicate with them, and that is what she truly wants.

In the third stanza (lines 9-12), Millay continues to talk about while a dead person's body is functional, it is not nearly what it was when they were alive. She writes:

The answers quick and keen, the honest look, the laughter, the love, They are gone. They have gone to feed the roses. Elegant and curled Is the blossom. Fragrant is the blossom. I know. But I do not approve. More precious was the light in your eyes than all the roses in the world.

She speaks of how the person was once alive, and gives images of how quickly people disappear when they die. She then introduces a seemingly positive metaphor when talking about how the body is feeding the rose and how beautiful roses are. However, she turns this around by saying how she'd rather have "the light in your eyes then all roses in the world", and makes a seemingly positive statement continue to prove how she wants people who are dead to be alive.

The final stanza (lines 13-16) serves as a sort of conclusion. She doesn't introduce anything new, but wraps it up in a good way.

Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind; Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave. I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.

She once again writes that everybody dies, gently and quietly. Nobody is an exception, and while she knows this, she wishes it wasn't true.

One important aspect of this poem is the clear, yet not forced, repetition. "I am not resigned", and "I know. But I do not approve," both show up multiple times in the poem and are a good indicator of what this poem is about.

Another interesting part of this poem is how, while she laments the dead the whole time, she never speaks of herself. Many poets would write this poem out of their own fear of death, but it appears that Millay writes it simply because she is sad of all the death around her.

Overall, "Dirge Without Music" by Edna St. Vincent Millay is a simple yet deep poem that can get to a reader at many levels and speaks of a subject we can all relate to. Millay does a great job of giving the poem a very deep meaning without hiding it behind tricky passages and long words. It is the sort of poem that can stick with a person for awhile, and rightfully so.