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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SONNET: 18 by EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY

Poet Analysis

First Line: WHEN I TOO LONG HAVE LOOKED UPON YOUR FACE
Last Line: TILL I BECOME ACCUSTOMED TO THE DARK.

When I too long have looked upon your face,
Wherein for me a brightness unobscured
Save by the mists of brightness has its place,
And terrible beauty not to be endured,
I turn away reluctant from your light,
And stand irresolute, a mind undone,
A silly, dazzled thing deprived of sight
From having looked too long upon the sun.
Then is my daily life a narrow room
In which a little while, uncertainly,
Surrounded by impenetrable gloom,
Among familiar things grown strange to me
Making my way, I pause; and feel, and hark,
Till I become accustomed to the dark.





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