What Lips My Lips Have Kissed, And Where, And Why

Question 1

What is Millay communicating about conflict?

Answer 1

Mourning loss of soldiers in conflict (lovers), long term impact

Question 2

What is the structure of “What Lips My Lips Have Kissed And Why”?

Answer 2

Petrarchan sonnet - associated with love/remorseful of impact
Octave/sestet - reflective (can’t remember)
Volta - change in 9th line

Question 3

What are the techniques of “What Lips My Lips Have Kissed And Why”?

Answer 3

Metaphorical language - “winter stands the lonely tree” - how lonely she is, how much worse it is that she’d known different lovers
Pathetic fallacy/personification - “rain/is full of ghosts”, “tap and sigh” - sets somber mood, sinister memories returning to speaker in fragments

Question 4

What is the rhythm/rhyme of “What Lips My Lips Have Kissed And Why”?

Answer 4

Iambic pentameter - associated with love
Enjambment - raw emotion of horror
Caesura - last line - pause highlights how lonely she is in the present

Question 5

What is the vocabulary of “What Lips My Lips Have Kissed And Why”?

Answer 5

Slang - “unremembered lads” - raw/emotional

Tense change - past to present for last line - shows how she’s impacted years later