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Edna St. David Millay

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Edna St. David Millay
George Eliot a famous novelist once said, “Don’t judge a book by its cover”(The Mill on the Floss). Although the poems “Blue- Butterfly Day” by Robert Frost and “Mariposa”(meaning butterfly in Spanish) by Edna St. Vincent Millay may seem to be similar by their titles, the meanings of the two poems are completely different from each other. The two have differences through their word choice: Frost’s being positive and Millay’s being negative. Robert Frost’s diction creates a positive tone about butterflies flying through the sky in “Blue- Butterfly Day” whereas Edna St. Vincent Millay portrays a negative tone about death coming soon in “Mariposa.”
Aforementioned, the word choice in Frost’s poem “Blue- Butterfly Day” is positive and is about butterflies
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Vincent Millay has a negative mannerism about death coming soon. The author introduces negativity in her poem when, “Mark the transient butterfly/How he hangs upon the flower”(7-8). Here, it is understood that the butterfly in the flower is going to not live for much longer because it is “transient”. The author uses the word “hangs” which indicates that the butterfly does not have a very strong grip to the flower and seems to be not making a large effort to hold on because it is going to die soon. The idea of death coming soon is in Millay’s poem because it describes the butterfly as lasting for a short time and makes it seem to be weak in strength. The poet Edna St. Vincent Millay creates a deathlike theme throughout the poem. She additionally shows negativity when, ”Whether I be false or true,/Death comes in a day or two”(12-13). As it states, the author predicts that death for the butterfly will come in either one or two days. Because of the fact that Millay has the common topic of death in her poem, a negative tone is created. Throughout the poem “Mariposa” by Edna St. Vincent Millay, a negative feeling was created through the authors wording.
The two poets, Edna St. Vincent Millay and Robert Frost had complete different themes in their poems. Frost had a more lighthearted theme through his poem and Millay used more deep words in hers. Robert Frost’s diction creates a positive tone about butterflies flying through the sky in “Blue- Butterfly

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