Recuerdo

media type="custom" key="6191753"

"Recuerdo", by Edna St. Vincent Millay is basically a remembrance of a fond night that she shared with someone. Every verse she repeats the lines, “We were very tired, we were very merry/We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry” (Millay, Edna St. Vincent) This may mean that even though these two people were exhausted and doing something as repetitive as going back and forth on a ferry, they were still overjoyed and excited to spend the evening with each other. This poem may put off the feeling of listening to a love-sick teenage girl bubbling about a wonderful evening that she had. “Millay is the poetic voice of eternal youth, feminine revolt and liberation, and potent sensitivity and suggestiveness.” (Edna St. Vincent Millay's Life) “Modernists believe the world is created in the act of perceiving it; that is, the world is what we say it is”. (Lorcher, Trent) Recuerdo reflects that type of thinking when Millay describes all of the little details, f or instance even though the night was very cold and grey, Millay responds on how breathtaking the sunrise was. Or even though it smelled like a stable, she and this friend or lover could still look into a fire and think about romance and happy occasions. This type of optimistic feeling helps the readers understand how wonderful her evening was, and how no matter what happened, the character in this poem was still overjoyed to be with the person she was with. “ Modernist literature brought about openness in the ways in which authors wrote novel, poetry, and short story. Because Modernism brought about a new openness in the areas of feminism, bisexuality, the family, and the mind, modernist literature began to contain a profound amount of imagery.” (Melton Ph.D, Lili) Not only does this relate to the large amount of imagery found in "Recuerdo", but this also reflects Millay’s life. “She was an acknowledged bisexual who carried on many affairs with women, an affection for which is sometimes evident in her poems and plays.” (AmericanPoems.com)

Perhaps this new “openness” allowed Millay to show more of how she felt through her writings. In this particular poem, she spews out happiness and joy. That is not the case in all of her works. For instance, in //"I Will Put Chaos Into Fourteen Lines"//, Millay sounds very frustrated and mortified at society. This is perhaps the exact opposite of "Recuerdo", but it does reflect Modernism as well. In most other modernist works, authors show how confused they are with society, and how they should find their inner selves. Yet, "Recuerdo" does show some similarities to these works through the imagery that Millay uses to describe the evening. Similar to //"Breakfast"// by John Steinbeck, she uses a great amount of imagery to show the readers how her memory is. These Modernist authors really enjoy painting a picture for the readers to get the full grasp of the situations.

In conclusion, "Recuerdo" is an interesting example of modernism. It shows a great deal of happiness which is rare in Modernistic works, yet the use of imagery is very alike to other modernistic works.

Works Cited:

"Edna St. Vincent Millay - Poems and Biography by AmericanPoems.com." //American Poems - YOUR Poetry Site//. Web. 25 Apr. 2010. .

"Edna St. Vincent Millay's Life." //Welcome to English « Department of English, College of LAS, University of Illinois//. Oxford University Press., 2000. Web. 23 Apr. 2010. < http://www.english.illinois. edu/maps/poets/m_r/millay/ millay_life.htm >.

Lorcher, Trent. "Modernism in Literature." //Bright Hub//. 26 Dec. 2009. Web. 2 May 2010. .\ Melton Ph.D, Lili. "Modernism in Literature and History - by Lili Melton Ph.D. - Helium." //Helium - Where Knowledge Rules//. Web. 25 Apr. 2010. .