The void that cannot be filled: Edna St. Vincent Millay's Sonnet "What lips my lips have kissed"

Abstract

The paper aims at (re)tracing some significant developments in the art of sonnet writing in the second half of the twentieth century by making special reference to one of the most representative lyrical productions of the American poet Edna St. Vincent Millay: “What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why” displays an interesting challenge to pre-established patterns in both form – given its departure from the Shakespearean sonnet conventions, and content – providing a thought-provoking perspective on the themes of unrequited love, loss and transience.