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Love Me Not

3 Pages 730 Words


Love Me Not

William Shakespeare’s sonnet number 138 is very much alike to one of Edna St. Vincent Millay’s poems. In Shakespeare’s sonnet the voice is a male one talking to a woman. This man is a desperate one who is looking for love, he feels that even though this woman lies to him and probably cheats on him he needs to be with her. In Millay’s poem the voice is a woman’s who says to her boyfriend, if you are fed up with me, leave me and do it graciously because I would never want you to be unhappy. The voice in this poem is a semi-sarcastic one. On one hand one might interpret this as the truth that she really cares about this guy and she, herself is also needing love but, she does not want to be with the wrong person. On the other hand someone might interpret her as being sarcastic in a sort of fake sad voice.
The first idea about Millay’s poem compares with Shakespeare’s very nicely. Both voices are those of people who are desperately in search of love because they feel they need it. Each voice is telling the other person that they are lying to them at this point. Shakespeare’s voice says this directly when he says, “Therefore I lie with her and she with me.” Millay’s voice says this when talks of her boyfriend and asks him to “always be fair” and leave her because he is lying to her about wanting to go out with her.
The main difference between these two poems under this interpretation is that Shakespeare’s voice is happy with the person that he seeing, he says this when he states that, “Therefore I lie with her and she with me and in our faults by lies we flattered be.” The voice says that he does not mind this woman lying to him. Millay on the other hand says the completely opposite thing. She tells this man that if he does not like her anymore than she does not want to be with him at all. She says that she would rather be alone than be with someone that is not happy being with her at all. ...

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