Primarily noted as a sonneteer, and poet of “Grown Up”, Edna St. Vincent Millay was noted for her unique poems as well as her dramatic works, including Aria da capo, The Lamp and the Bell, and the libretto composed for an opera, The King’s Henchman, and for her lyric verses as “Renascence” and the poems found in the collections A Few Figs From Thistles, Second April, and The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver. She won the Pulitzer Prize award in 1923.

Her poem “Grown Up” is very different and unique, almost a light-hearted attempt on Millay’s part. The short lines are amusing and it is perhaps among the shortest verses of Millay.

Edna St. Vincent Millay claims a permanent place in the history of American poetry. She belongs to an impressive company of artists who came to maturity and found their voices during the second quarter of this century.

Structure

‘Grown-up’ by Edna St. Vicent Millay follows a rhyme scheme of AABB. It is a four-line poem following the pattern of iambic tetrameter.

Grown Up Poem Analysis

Millay helplessly asks a question – if it was for this she had once uttered a prayer in her childhood, and sobbed and kicked the stairs like a child in despair. This sets the mood and tone of the poem as the speaker looks back on her days of youth and tries to reminiscence those childhood desires to be treated as an adult and have control over decision-making like over matters concerning when she went to bed, how she behaved, and the places she went to.

The words “Was it for this,” make it clear that she finds adulthood a vain enterprise. She recalls sobbing and cursing and kicking the stairs when she was dictated as a child – what to do or perhaps told she had to go to bed. She had “uttered prayers” which she now feels was all in vain.

Millay compares her life to dull and “domestic as a plate” which is because people still dictate to her and take precedence over her life, like telling her to retire to be at half-past eight. There is subtle humour in these lines. Rather than a life of freedom and excitement, she’s leading a dull life as “domestic as a plate” that is not remotely what she had considered adulthood to be.

The final line suggests that there’s nothing grand or wonderful about staying up later than one wants, and it is symbolic of the rebellious years of adulthood. Either by choice or necessity, she now retires at “half-past eight.” The underlying feelings of depression, solitude, and confinement are highlighted through these lines.

Grown Up Poem Themes

In “Grown-up”  Millay primarily addresses the theme of ageing combined with a contrasting approach to childhood and adulthood. It is surprising how the poet conveys it using just four lines. In the four lines, Millay sweeps us through a universal approach- that is our excitement as children to grow up and rule our own lives and the drabness of adulthood that strikes us and bears no similarity to our expectations.

What seemed like the best part of life as a child is not as wondrous as it appeared. She looks back on herself and contrasts these two takes on childhood and adulthood respectively.

FAQs

What is the theme of the poem ‘Grown up‘?

In “Grown-up”  Millay primarily addresses the theme of ageing combined with a contrasting approach to childhood and adulthood. It is surprising how the poet conveys it using just four lines.

What is Edna St Vincent Millay best known for?

Best known as a sonneteer, Vincent Millay was noted for her unique poems as well as her dramatic works, including Aria da capo, The Lamp and the Bell, and the libretto composed for an opera, The King’s Henchman, and for her lyric verses as “Renascence” and the poems found in the collections A Few Figs From Thistles, Second April, and The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver.