The speaker regrets her past relationships and realizes they were so meaningless that she does not even remember them. She wishes she could have stayed with the one person she truly did love

These ghosts are representative of past lovers who are haunting her, which is especially disturbing to the speaker because she cannot remember them. Perhaps she cannot remember the past lovers because she was promiscuous rather than trying to find real love. I think Millay chose the word ghost because usually things that haunt you are things that you feel guilty about, and I think Millay feels guilty for her past behavior of being promiscuous.

represents happiness, juxtaposes with "rain" mentioned in the first stanza. Summer could also represent her true love that made her the happiest, while the ghosts in the rain represent all of the other unimportant people she was with.

This is an example of assonance used to exemplify her awareness of the silence around her.

metaphor for the speaker, the "birds" are a metaphor for her past loves, and they have all "vanished". Therefore, the speaker is like this tree in the winter, left alone with no companionship. This is also personification because trees cannot be lonely.

This line also contributes to the overall gloominess of the text because it does not indicate any sort of hope for the future or incline that something will change for the speaker, whether that be her getting her memories back or her companionship and and presumable happiness back. They are saying that they were only happy for a little while and will never be happy again.

definition: main branch of a tree

Between the two stanzas is where the volta happens. The first stanza is more reflective while the second stanza is more self pitying.

The speaker feels as though she should have deeper associations and more vivid memories of these past experiences.

This stanza is the speaker mourning the loss of "summer".

The speaker might not know what loves have come and gone; However, she obviously senses on a base level that she was once happy and that she no longer is. The pain in her heart is "quiet" but it is very much present and continuing to hurt the speaker.

second stanza is a sestet, rhyme scheme cdedce

italian sonnet, first stanza is an octet First stanza rhyme scheme abbaabba

alliteration: what, where, why Question words emphasize the speakers confusion and lost memory. Soft "w" sound indicates calmness. This relatively calm line is interrupted with the harsh "k" sound from the word kissed, perhaps to make it stand out

gloomy, secluded

This last line is highly indicative of the melancholy tone throughout the passage. If we didn't catch the tone prior due to the use of words such as "rain", "quiet pain", "cry", "lonely", and "gone", we definitely know now. This last line is especially depressing because of the placement of the comma. The word summer seems to represent happiness, and the short pause indicated by the comma in the last line enhances the speakers realization that she had happiness and will no longer have it again.

The entire poem is in the past tense up until the very last line. The speaker claims that they have forgotten who they have kissed and uses words like "unremembered" and "vanished" to further emphasize this point. The shift is tense in the very last line is representative of the speaker reflecting on the past and and their disappointment with how the past has affected the present.

italian sonnet