1.
Read
the following sonnet by Edna St Vincent Millay (1930)
I dreamed I moved among the Elysian
fields,
In converse with sweet women long since
dead;
And out of blossoms which that meadow
yields
I wove a garland for your living head.
Danae, that was the vessel for a day
Of golden Jove, I saw, and at her side,
Whom Jove the Bull desired and bore
away,
Europa stood, and the Swan’s
featherless bride.
All these were mortal women, yet all
these
Above the ground had had a god for
guest;
Freely I walked beside them and at
ease,
Addressing them, by them again
addressed,
And marvelled nothing, for remembering
you,
Wherefore I was among them well I knew.
(Millay, 1956: 645)
2. Assuming
that the speaker of the poem is a woman addressing her male lover, try to work
out what he is saying about him (one of the clues is that in the final couplet
she seems to compare him to Jove).
Answer: The
last four lines (‘wherefore . . .I knew’)
add a subtle touch of ambiguity, which not only underlines the speaker’s
affiliation with the women she mentions, but also excludes the man from their
special bond. The speaker’s admission that ‘freely I walked
beside them and at ease’ provides a sharp contrast to the
turbulent relationship with the man and the constant antagonism
between the two partners.
The thematic transparency of the sequence is not a simple matter. Millay
cleverly inserts elements that highlight the complexity of her project, a project
which is as much concerned with the redefinition of female power and creativity
as it is with rewriting the tradition of love poetry And
the
first
step towards this redefinition of power lies in the speaker’s
willing ness
to consider alternative forms of psychological support, and
thus disrupt
the traditional dominance of the heterosexual couple in love sonnets.
A female speaker who constantly questions the specifics of her relationship,
resists popular stereotypes of eternal love and loyalty and sees
other women as potential advisors, rather than competitors.
3.
Identify
as many cases of illusion as you can by:
(a)
Circling
all the word and phrases (including names) which you think may be allusions;
Answer:
Ø I
moved among the Elysian field
Ø sweet
women long since dead
Ø living
head
Ø for
a day
Ø Europa
stood
Ø Freely
I walked beside them and at ease
Ø Addressing
them, by them again addressed
(b)
Finding
out what they are allusions to by looking them up in appropriate sources (see
below or see unit 2: using information sources).
Answer:
The presence of these dead women suggests a continuity across time, and the
speaker’s assertion that she walked beside them ‘freely’ and ‘at ease’
reinforces the feeling of solidarity. Millay seems to be equally interested in
surveying the field of women’s inscription in literature, as well as in the
lives of the women she deploys in her work. Her repeated references to these
figures are meant to alert the reader to Millay’s revisionary intention – the creation
of an original female persona whose attitude towards sexuality sees the
vindication of other women’s experiences as a necessary step for the
eradication of silence and prejudice.
4.
Having
done 3, you should now have discovered what the ‘Elysian fields’ are, and have
found out about Jove’s relationships with three ‘mortal woman’. Using this
information, try answering question 2 again. Is your answer any different from
what you gave earlier?
Answer: Edna St.
Vincent Millay’s in “I Dreamed I Moved among the Elysian Fields.” For instance,
the scenarios in which a woman is tortured by a man who she perceives as a God.
Moreover, the authors use Greek mythology–especially mythological folklore
involving male deities– to discuss their positions. Aside from using
Greek mythology simply to illustrate their points aesthetically, she makes such
references to display her intellectual competence. After all, each poem
discusses the power that a man has over a woman in intimate relationships;
perhaps showing intellectual competence is a way for each woman to reclaim a
sense of dignity. Millay writes: “And out of blossoms of that meadow yield/I
wove a garland for your living head” (lines 3-4). Thus, even as she walks
the beautiful fields of heaven, she wants to do something special for her loved
one. Essentially, the author expresses a yearning and desire for a man that
they are not with. In Millay’s work, she mentions various women in Greek
mythology who have been left, abandoned, or wronged by men they loved–men that were
perceived as God. Her works reads: “Danai,
that was the vessel for a day/Of golden Jove, I saw, and at her side/Whom Jove
the Bull desired and bore away/Europa stood and the swan’s fearless bride”
(lines 5-8).
5.
Is
the poem making a compliment to the man or is it doing something else? How do
the allusions support your answer?
Answer:
Millay concludes with “And marvelled nothing for remembering
you/wherefore I was among them, well I knew” (lines 13-14). Millay’s ending
truly captures how much she identifies with the woman of the Greek mythological
world; she says that she belongs in the same afterlife as them because they
have experienced identical situations on Earth. Millay incorporate the knowledge of
Greek mythology in order to create their masterpieces and express the
experience of feeling powerless over a man perceived as a God.