Song of a Second April

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1921

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Form and Meter

Like all of Millay’s poetry, “Song of a Second April” possesses a traditional and regimented meter and form. Unlike her Modernist peers, Millay does not deviate from or experiment with her poetic structure in any way. The poem possesses a precise rhythm and meter. Each line is written in iambic tetrameter, meaning the lines follow a pattern of alternating unstressed and stressed syllables for eight syllables per line. “Song of a Second April” also contains three sestets or six-line stanzas for a total of 18 lines. In each stanza, Millay adheres to the same ABABBA CDCDDC EFEFFE rhyme scheme and mostly employs masculine rhymes. A masculine rhyme is any rhyme that involves only one syllable. Except for “otherwise” and “butterflies” (Lines 1, 6) where two syllables in the paired words rhyme, every other rhyme in Millay’s poem involves a pair of simple, monosyllabic words like “bores” and “chores” (Lines 10, 11) or “run” and “sun” (Lines 14, 16). Similarly, each stanza concludes with an end-stopped line, neatly concluding each stanza’s thought before moving on to the next point. The effect of this regulated form, rhyme scheme, and meter is a sense of organization and order that reflects the poem’s subject matter of order and routine returning in the spring.

Alliteration

Alliteration is the deliberate repetition of a particular sound at the beginning of two or more closely related or adjacent words. While describing the weather of the new spring, Millay ironically describes the “dazzling mud and dingy snow” (Line 4), stressing the sound of both descriptors to emphasize the specific attitudes towards the natural changes. Later, Millay references the “men” who are “merry” (Line 11) at work, linking the men and their mood with the same stressed sound.

In the third stanza, there are two more instances of alliteration. This final description of nature contains references to the “swift” water of the “small brooks” (Line 14) and to the “mullein stalks” (Line 15) through which the sheep wander. Millay uses alliteration to stress the interconnected and unified nature of the streams, brooks, and flowering plants, creating an idyllic portrait of the natural beauty of spring.

Repetition

Just as Millay repeats sounds by using alliteration, she also repeats specific words in the poem. In the first stanza’s description of the changing weather, the speaker portrays two Aprils, each “full of whispers, full of sighs” (Line 3). The repetition of the word “full” emphasizes the totality of the speaker’s personal dissatisfaction and regret. Later in the poem, Millay also repeats the word “run.” She writes, “The larger streams run still and deep, / Noisy and swift the small brooks run” (Lines 13-14). The same verb describes the movement of both the streams and the brooks, reinforcing the poem’s depiction of nature as ordered and connected.