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So, I am currently reading Edna St. Vincent Millay:

Doing a little critical analysis of the poem, "Never May the Fruit Be Plucked"

What is the fruit?
How can we "eat love?"
Certainly we cannot gather love, like gathering grapes in a barrel.
Is this a carpe diem poem?

I do think this poem is applicable to both gals and guys...


Oh, here is the poem!

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Never, never may the fruit be plucked from the bough
And gathered into barrels.
He that would eat of love must eat it where it hangs.
Though the branches bend like reeds,
Though the ripe fruit splash in the grass or wrinkle on the tree,
He that would eat of love may bear away with him
Only what his belly can hold,
Nothing in the apron,
Nothing in the pockets.
Never, never may the fruit be gathered from the bough
And harvested in barrels.
The winter of love is a cellar of empty bins,
In an orchard soft with rot.
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Comments

  1. kathycf's Avatar
    Hmm, interesting. I agree with you about the carpe diem aspect. I also think there is an admonition about taking more than we need...

    he that would eat of love may bear away with him
    only what his belly can hold
    As if to say "Look, you can't store love, you can't pack it away, you can't be greedy. Live in the now and enjoy what you have". Well, at least that is what it made me think of.
  2. WriterAtTheSea's Avatar
    Hey Kathycf...

    Excellent point, and of course I completely agree with you. Millay I believe is suggesting that you do need to enjoy love while it is present, perhaps don't even look to the future, but take pleasure in the moment.

    She further suggests that love doesn't last forever, and during its absence there is emptiness.

    "The winter of love is a cellar of empty bins,
    In an orchard soft with rot."