Edna St. Vincent Millay

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Analysis of theme, language, style, and literary terms in Edna St. Vincent Millay's "Oh, Oh, You Will Be Sorry."

Summary:

Edna St. Vincent Millay's poem "Oh, Oh, You Will Be Sorry" explores themes of gender inequality and societal expectations. The language is sharp and biting, employing irony and sarcasm to criticize patriarchal attitudes. The style is direct and conversational, enhancing the poem's confrontational tone. Literary terms such as irony, sarcasm, and enjambment are used effectively to underscore the poem's message.

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What literary terms are used in Edna St. Vincent Millay's "Oh, Oh, You Will Be Sorry"?

Edna St.Vincent Millay uses repetition and alliteration to convey the emotional force of the poem. The narrator symbolizes the way in which intelligent women of the time were often patronized and belittled by men. In this particular case, it is the narrator's lover who finds it so shocking that a woman should bother her pretty little head with something so decidedly unfeminine as a book.

In relation to the poem's structure, Millay has chosen to use the Shakespearean sonnet form. This consists of fourteen lines of three quatrains and a rhyming couplet at the end. The three quatrains set out the problem of the poem, and the rhyming couplet attempts some sort of answer or resolution. In using the sonnet form, Millay is subtly subverting the form in order to express her unique viewpoint on the relations between men and women. 

Now let us examine the poem in more detail,...

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paying close attention to Millay's use of repetition and alliteration.

"Oh, oh, you will be sorry for that word!"

Here we see the use of repetition to let us (and the narrator's lover) know just how incredibly annoyed she is by his condescending attitude. Again, Millay is using a well-worn literary form to express the intensity of her emotions. We are left in no doubt as to how she is feeling right now.

Alliteration is also used to convey strength of emotion. In addition, it is used to detail the growing contempt the narrator has for her lover. The following lines also represent a savage indictment of a male-dominated society that keeps her in a position of subordination and which does not think she is bright enough to read intellectually demanding books:

"Give me back my book and take my kiss instead.
Was it my enemy or my friend I heard,
"What a big book for such a little head!"

Here is another example from the poem:

"Come, I will show you now my newest hat,
And you may watch me purse my mouth and prink!" 
("Prink" means to fuss over.)

"Well," the narrator sarcastically says, "if you do not think I am intelligent enough to read such books then I will happily play the little wife for you and spend my time fussing over clothes and other mindless trivia."

Alliteration is a particularly useful device in the poem because it calls attention to itself, making us realize that there is something going on underneath the surface. That is exactly what is happening here. Millay is simply putting on a mask and playing the part of the little woman, all the while full of contempt and loathing for her beau:

"I shall be sweet and crafty, soft and sly;"

This line encapsulates the paradox of society's attitude toward women at the time. Women were put on a pedestal, valorized as sweet, gentle, and innocent; at the same time they were often castigated as sly, devious, and underhanded, particularly when it came to gaining the affections of men. Millay has made her intentions clear. She will live down to society's expectations in an act of spite.

Repetition returns as the poem reaches its resolution:

"And some day when you knock and push the door,
Some sane day, not too bright and not too stormy,
I shall be gone, and you may whistle for me."

Once again, repetition is being used for emphasis. This day will be a day like no other. The lover will call and expect his paramour to be waiting for him, but she will not be there.

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What are the theme, language, and style of "Oh, Oh, You Will Be Sorry" by Edna St. Vincent Millay?

"Oh, Oh, You Will Be Sorry" is a poem by Edna St Vincent Millay (February 22, 1892–October 19, 1950), an American poet and playwright distinguished among other things for her feminism, social activism, and unconventional Bohemian lifestyle.

The poem takes the form of a Shakespearean sonnet. It is written in iambic pentameter, meaning that each line consists of five iambic feet. An iamb is a pattern of an unstressed followed by a stressed syllable. Millay uses frequent rhythmic variations, substituting spondees and anapests for iambs, but still does not stray far from the overall pattern of iambic pentameter. The poem follows the typical rhyme scheme of the Shakespearean sonnet, consisting of three open quatrains followed by a couplet, a scheme represented as ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. Most of the rhymes are masculine but the couplet has an irregular feminine rhyme "stormy/me", in which the poet's break with metrical convention is a symbol of her rebellion against gender roles.

The poem is narrated in the first person by a female narrator and addressed to a male interlocutor. It opens with a portrait of a relationship in which the man is interested in the narrator in terms of traditional gender roles and the narrator at first considers conforming to those expectations, but in the couplet offers a reversal stating that even if she temporarily conformed, she would not stay in a relationship that made her violate her own sense of self and identity.

Putting the words, “What a big book for such a little head!” in the mouth of the interlocutor is a striking way of revealing a sort of patriarchal attitude by showing the reader a typical expression of the attitude rather than just telling us about it.

The language is that of ordinary speech, reflecting the vernacular of a certain sort of upper or upper middle class fashionable society, something that sharpens the critique of people who think well of themselves as an elite but nonetheless are far more backwards-thinking than they would wish to admit.

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The educator below provided a great analysis of theme, so I'll help you tackle some of the language devices used in the poem.

The structure itself is an ironic choice. This poem takes the form of a Shakespearean sonnet (with a few liberties taken in iambic pentameter—furthering the speaker's independent spirit), which the speaker's husband would likely not believe his pretty and sweet wife capable of identifying or crafting. After all, he has made a demeaning comment conveying that her "little head" is not capable of fully digesting such a "big book." She keeps her inner response hidden from her husband, yet she structures the poem in a highly sophisticated literary form. Clearly she is quite capable of understanding "big" books.

Imagery is used to capture what the wife now knows is her expected role:

Come, I will show you now my newest hat,
And you may watch me purse my mouth and prink!

She is expected to look pretty, to busy her mind with new hats and a pretty mouth. She is not expected to fill her mind with thoughts of depth or substance.

The speaker also makes a paradoxical statement in this line:

I shall be sweet and crafty, soft and sly;

This presents the dual roles women are thought to play in society and especially when this poem was written in the early 1900s. Society asks that they present themselves with a sweet personality—yet views them as "crafty" (or devious or cunning) when they think independently. They are asked to be soft in their mannerisms—yet are seen as sly if they fail to follow the expectations of cultural power dynamics.

The language choices further the theme of the poem—that women are just as capable as men of intellectual thought. It also shows that when unappreciated, they can play the role society expects of them while they slyly build other options for themselves.

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I am allowed to answer only one of your questions: the parts must each be listed as separate questions.

Edna St. Vincent Millay was a feminist and activist for women's rights during the beginning of the twentieth century. This can easily be seen in her poem.

In terms of the theme, the poem "Oh, Oh, You Will Be Sorry" is about the cultural and intellectual repression of women. The speaker has obviously tried to have an rational, "educated" conversation with her husband, and he has discredited her ability to handle a discussion of consequence by saying, "What a big book for such a little head!"

The title would indicate that her husband has misspoken, and the wife (the narrator) is highly offended; she promises that she will never again try to engage him in any kind of "scholarly" debate. She will not read in front of him, but will behave herself like men expect their women to act during this time period: she will offer him a kiss, or a look at look at her newest hat. She will love him and be "sweet and soft," but their relationship will not be the same from this moment on.

This wife informs her husband that one day he will knock and enter her room, but she will be gone, and he can just whistle for her, for she will have no time for him.

The theme here is about a woman being a man's equal in terms of "brain function." This was not a popular concept during this era. On one hand, women were a force to be reckoned with in terms of helping the poor, and supporting the church and morals within society and the home. At the same time, they were also trying to earn the right to vote, and it was a long, hard battle. Millay is not only expressing her belief that men and women were equals, but offering words of warning to men who were unable to see this or accept it.

In today's society, these messages will be lost in that opportunities are available to women today that could not have been imagined a hundred years ago. While it is said that women generally only earn seventy percent of what men make for the same job, women are no longer relegated to inferior jobs because of gender, and can seek education and employment just as men do.

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