Shyanne Miles
B. Vogt
AP Literature
6 October 2010
“I Will Put Chaos into Fourteen Lines”
By Edna St. Vincent Millay
I will put Chaos into fourteen lines
And keep him there; and let him thence escape
If he be lucky; let him twist, and ape
Flood, fire, and demon --- his adroit designs
Will strain to nothing in the strict confines
Of this sweet order, where, in pious rape,
I hold his essence and amorphous shape,
Till he with Order mingles and combines.
Past are the hours, the years of our duress,
His arrogance, our awful servitude:
I have him. He is nothing more nor less
Than something simple not yet understood;
I shall not even force him to confess;
Or answer. I will only make him good.
1. Read the poem, marking the meter and rhyme scheme
2. Identify the type of sonnet
Italian
3. Colormark the sonnet
4. Explain the theme pertaining to the containment of Chaos, citing imagery to support your ideas.
Millay’s idea is that chaos can be put into a form; by “placing” chaos in the “fourteen lines” it is as if she is containing it likes it something stuck in a box. It as if she is trapping it in line 2 “and keep him there; and let him thence escape”. Line 3 “let him twist and ape” makes it seem like Millay wishes to cause chaos pain or discomfort.
5. Discuss the effect of personification in the poem.
Millay personifies the elemental disorder as “him”, a male figure, this gives chaos somewhat of a character…allowing the reader to picture him being held captive.
6. Identify the poem’s tone.
The speaker's tone is disparaging and is out for revenge.
7. State the theme for the poem in one complete sentence.
"I will put Chaos into fourteen lines" is darkly cynical and has the sense of a failed relationship, where a man is to blame.