Need help with poertry? What is the significance of the poem what is the author trying to say?

Question

Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink
Nor slumber nor a roof against the rain;
Nor yet a floating spar to men that sink
And rise and sink and rise and sink again;
Love can not fill the thickened lung with breath,
Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone;
Yet many a man is making friends with death
Even as I speak, for lack of love alone.
It well may be that in a difficult hour,
Pinned down by pain and moaning for release,
Or nagged by want past resolution's power,
I might be driven to sell your love for peace,
Or trade the memory of this night for food.
It well may be. I do not think I would.

What is the significance of the poem? what is the author trying to say? What can you say about the poem

Answer 1

After listing all the things love is not, the author goes on to say that even if he needed release from pain or trade the memory of love for food or sell love for peace, he thinks he would not. In this way, he is saying love is everything.

Answer 2

Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 – 1950)

"Love Is Not All"

This poem is a sonnet. A common characteristic of the classic 14-line sonnet is a break between the first eight lines (octet) and the last six (sestet).

If we simply read the last sestet of the poem, the message seems trivial and mundane. The "narrator" wouldn’t trade her love for anything. So what. It has no emphasis, and lacks voice. The reader is left with no lasting impression.

However, when read with the first octet included, the poem takes on a new importance. The sudden contrast in mood and theme catches the reader’s attention. Contrast is used in all forms of art and imagery. Visual artists use contrasting colors and light and dark to make an image more independent and defined. When held to a dark backdrop, a white object appears much more vivid than it would against a light backdrop. A soft melody proceeding a loud crescendo is often used by musicians to make the latter even more impressive and overwhelming. Millay’s use of contrast in this poem punctuates the message in a similar manner. The last line jumps upon the reader with emphasis.

Answer 3

It's a poem between lovers. It's saying where you should make love a prioity. For example, you shouldn't give up food for love or your house, or life, etc. etc. Then the poet says even though this is the logical thing to do, he wouldn't do it to keep their love intact.