Edna St. Vincent Millays Sonnet I, Being Born a Woman and Distressed E

Edna St. Vincent Millays Sonnet I, Being born(p) a Woman and upset(a) Edna St. Vincent Millays praise, I, Being Born a Woman and Distressed, serves as an excellent example of a multi-faceted piece. From one angle, it is simply a Petrarchan sonnet, written with a slight variation on rhyme scheme but that variation, taken deeper, reveals new layers of meaning. Added to Millays choice of meter and end-stop, along with a accentuate of Millays person, this sonnet seems not so simple after all. Millay, though she married in 1923, was kn give birth to have extramarital affairs, purportedly with both women and men. (wikipedia.com) In the context of this particular sonnet, such seems revealing indeed for it seems the speaker unit of the sonnet is involved in some sort of affair. Or perhaps Millays sonnet is addressed to her husband, for it was published in 1923 however, that seems unlikely, since the sonnet frames a rejection of her lover. More likely, I see it as a final adi eu to her lover before marriage, for she finds this frenzy insufficient reason to continue seeing him (or her). Though Millay had an open marriage that is, she and her husband consented to each others affairs she likely did not want to begin her marriage with deuce lovers. The 1920s was a booming period, and Millay fit in perfectly with her separatist demeanor. Women had gotten the right to vote in 1920, and this, I think, furthered Millays interest in independence, and perhaps caused her to think about the traditional roles of women. The typical image of a damsel in distress fit her poorly hers was a much forthright existence. On the outside, however, she was a woman, and was thus restrained by her own appearance much ... ...er skills. This reflects in her poetry particularly I, Being Born a Woman and Distressed. Millay took an established form, and altered it to fit her meaning evening taking its original purpose into consideration to create an ironic sonnet that b roke with the norm. After an analysis of both the technical and social features of this sonnet, its unknown meanings and subtle emotion become readily apparent.Works Cited The Norton Anthology of Poetry, Fifth Edition. Margaret Ferguson, bloody shame Jo Salter, & Jon Stallworthy. Copyright 2005, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. Edna St. Vincent Millay. Wikipedia. 21 October 2005. Non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. 31 October 2005. Gale, Robert L. Edna St. Vincent Millays Life. Modern American Poetry. Accessed 31 October 2005. (This source was used solely to confirm the information on Wikipedia.)