The Philosopher
And what are you that, wanting you,I should be kept awakeAs many nights as there are daysWith weeping for your sake?
And what are you that, missing you,As many days as crawlI should be listening to the windAnd looking at the wall?
I know a man that’s a braver manAnd twenty men as kind,And what are you, that you should beThe one man in my mind?
Yet women’s ways are witless ways,As any sage will tell,--And what am I, that I should loveSo wisely and so well?
Words in this poem
- crawl v. i.
- To move slowly by drawing the body along the ground, as a worm; to move slowly on hands and kness; to creep. [Dan. kravle, or Icel. krafla, to paw, scrabble with the hands; akin to Sw. kr to crawl; cf. LG. krabbeln, D. krabbelen to scratch.]
- witless a.
- Destitute of wit or understanding; wanting thought; hence, indiscreet; not under the guidance of judgment.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Philosopher is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #59167; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edna St. Vincent Millay, The Philosopher, in Poems (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59167, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/millay-poems/the-philosopher.html, id L24358.
Form and metre
The Philosopher is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in common measure.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 -A-A you · awakeA · days · sakeA
- 2 -A-A you · crawlA · wind · wallA
- 3 -A-A man · kindA · be · mindA
- 4 -A-A ways · tellA · love · wellA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| And what are you that, wanting you, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I should be kept awake | 6 | ····˘/ |
| As many nights as there are days | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| With weeping for your sake? | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And what are you that, missing you, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| As many days as crawl | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| I should be listening to the wind | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And looking at the wall? | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| I know a man that’s a braver man | 9 | ······/˘· |
| And twenty men as kind, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And what are you, that you should be | 8 | ········ |
| The one man in my mind? | 6 | ······ |
| Yet women’s ways are witless ways, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| As any sage will tell,-- | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And what am I, that I should love | 8 | ········ |
| So wisely and so well? | 6 | ·/˘··· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.