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Three by Edna St. Vincent Millay · The Daily Poem

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to The Daily Poem, a podcast from Goldberry Studios.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Sean Johnson, and today is Thursday, February 22nd, 2024.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's the birthday of American poet Edna St.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Vincent Millay, and I'll be reading three poems from her 1923 Pulitzer Prize winning collection, A Few Figs from Thistles.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: The title is an allusion to the Gospel of Matthew in which Jesus says, men don't gather grapes from thorn bushes and they don't harvest figs from thistles.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: The fact that she has chosen this allusion for her title
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: Captures and Conveys the same thing that I think these three poems do, and that is a kind of cheerful self-deprecation, a frank candor, and a kind of wily joyfulness.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: I think you'll see what I mean.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: The first poem is entitled simply First Fig.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: And it goes like this My candle burns at both ends It will not last the night But ah, my foes And oh, my friends It gives a lovely light The second is entitled Second Fig
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: and it's even shorter.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: Another allusion to the gospels here.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: Safe upon the solid rock, the ugly houses stand.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: Come and see my shining palace built upon the sand.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: And lastly, Thursday, which seemed appropriate since our birthday this year and this episode fall upon a Thursday.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: And if I loved you Wednesday, well, what is that to you?
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: I do not love you Thursday, so much is true.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: And why you come complaining is more than I can see.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: I loved you Wednesday, yes, but what is that to me?
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: Arguably these poems are not the most representative of Edna St.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Vincent Millay's great skill and complexity as a poet, but as impressed as I always am by her skill and complexity,
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: I find that her tone and her general demeanor are what are always so winning to me and I think these shorter poems capture them really well.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: First Fig is a great little poem to keep in your back pocket that's easy to commit to memory and it's a fun one to whip out when you need something pithy but poetical.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: I'll read all three of these poems one more time, back to back, and then bid you all farewell for the day.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: This is first fig.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: My candle burns at both ends.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: It will not last the night, but ah, my foes and oh, my friends, it gives a lovely light.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: Second fig.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: Safe upon the solid rock the ugly houses stand Come and see my shining palace built upon the sand And Thursday And if I loved you Wednesday, well what is that to you?
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: I do not love you Thursday, so much is true
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: And why you come complaining is more than I can see.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: I loved you Wednesday, yes, but what is that to me?
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: This has been The Daily Poem.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for listening.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: We'll be back tomorrow with another poem for you.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: To listen to past episodes or to support this show, please visit dailypoempod.substack.com.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: On behalf of our whole team at Goldberry Studios, I'm Sean Johnson.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, happy reading.