Sonnet IV
Not in this chamber only at my birth--When the long hours of that mysterious nightWere over, and the morning was in sight--I cried, but in strange places, steppe and firthI have not seen, through alien grief and mirth;And never shall one room contain me quiteWho in so many rooms first saw the light,Child of all mothers, native of the earth.So is no warmth for me at any fireTo-day, when the world's fire has burned so low;I kneel, spending my breath in vain desire,At that cold hearth which one time roared so strong,And straighten back in weariness, and longTo gather up my little gods and go.
Words in this poem
- steppe n.
- One of the vast plains in Southeastern Europe and in Asia, generally elevated, and free from wood, analogous to many of the prairies in Western North America. See Savanna. Steppe murrain. [From Russ. stepe, through G. or F. steppe.]
- firth n.
- An arm of the sea; a frith. [Scot. See Frith.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- kneel v. i.
- To bend the knee; to fall or rest on the knees; -- sometimes with down. [OE. knelen, cneolien; akin to D. knielen, Dan. knæle. See Knee.]
- spending n.
- The act of expending; expenditure. Spending money, money set apart for extra (not necessary) personal expenses; pocket money.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet IV is in the public domain. This text is taken from Renascence, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #109; 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, Sonnet IV, in Renascence and Other Poems (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #109, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/millay-renascence/sonnet-iv.html, id L20654.
Form and metre
Sonnet IV is 14 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 57% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABBAABBACDCEED birthA · nightB · sightB · firthA · mirthA · quiteB · lightB · earthA · fireC · lowD · desireC · strongE · longE · goD
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 iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Not in this chamber only at my birth-- | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| When the long hours of that mysterious night | 10 | ···/··˘/˘· |
| Were over, and the morning was in sight-- | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| I cried, but in strange places, steppe and firth | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| I have not seen, through alien grief and mirth; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And never shall one room contain me quite | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| Who in so many rooms first saw the light, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Child of all mothers, native of the earth. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| So is no warmth for me at any fire | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| To-day, when the world's fire has burned so low; | 10 | ·····/···· |
| I kneel, spending my breath in vain desire, | 11 | ··/˘····˘/˘ |
| At that cold hearth which one time roared so strong, | 10 | ·········· |
| And straighten back in weariness, and long | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘·· |
| To gather up my little gods and go. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
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.