Ebb

Millay’s poem is a lyric, as it’s short and centers on personal expression. What propels the speaker to write the poem is a subjective experience with love. Having dealt with an “ebb” of love, the speaker feels diminished and confronts her feelings through the lyrical form. Although the poem features no gendered pronouns, Millay's romantic strife regularly served as a source for her poems on the difficulties of love. Whether the speaker is specifically Millay isn’t too important because a deep understanding of the poem is possible without tying the speaker directly to Millay.

The poem begins in a declarative tone. The speaker is sure about something, and she will announce what she’s certain of: “I know what my heart is like / Since your love died” (Lines 1-2). The speaker is conscious of what’s happened to her heart since the love from her romantic partner vanished. As her heart has not fared well, the speaker's tone is not positive or cheerful. She knows her heart has been far from great since she broke up with her partner.

The word “died” (Line 2) also establishes the tone of the poem. The speaker isn’t writing a poem about a flourishing love. She’s composing a poem about a love that’s departed, so she's rather forlorn. Of course, “love” can’t literally “die” because it’s not a living, breathing creature, so the speaker’s language is figurative. The word "died" represents something else, which, in this case, is the loss of love. The term “died” is somewhat hyperbolic, so it bolsters the speaker’s melancholy, dramatic tone. It’s like the poem is a performance, and the speaker is showing her departed lover what this ebbing love has done to her heart.

Indeed, the “your” furthers the intimate tone of the poem. It’s as if the speaker has an audience of one: the former lover. The speaker wants to tell her ex-partner what her heart is like now that they’re not together. To communicate the condition of her heart, the speaker uses a literary device known as a simile, which is when a poet compares two things using the words “like” or “as.”

The simile in “Ebb” comprises five of the poem's seven lines. In the first line of the simile, the speaker compares her heart to “a hollow ledge” (Line 3). The term “hollow” furthers the melancholy tone of the poem as “hollow” suggests emptiness. The speaker’s heart lacks something—she’s missing her partner’s love. The term “ledge” adds to the dramatic tone of the poem because a ledge can be quite dangerous. If someone falls off a ledge, they could hurt themselves or die.

Yet the speaker fills in the “hollow ledge” with “a little pool” (Line 4). Then again, the “little pool” doesn’t really fill up the heart but indicates the emptiness of the speaker’s heart. All that’s left is a tiny body of water, so the second line of the simile advances the melancholy tone of the poem as the speaker mourns the shrunken size of her heart.

Line 5 continues the sad, desolate tone of the poem when the speaker states the “little pool” was “Left there by the tide.” What remains of her heart isn’t due to the speaker’s actions. The “little pool” derives from the indifferent tide, which comes and goes regardless of the speaker. Here, the speaker comes across as deprived of power, and her helpless tone manifests through her relationship with the tide. The latter determines the shape and condition of the heart, so the tide is in command.

What the tide leaves the speaker is a heart that’s a “little tepid pool” (Line 6). The speaker cannot do anything about the feeble water that represents her heart; it’s turned cold because of events beyond her control. The speaker can’t direct the tide, and she can’t bring her love back to life.

The last line crystallizes the fatal, unstable tone of the poem. Millay’s speaker ends her simile by saying that the tiny, listless puddle is “Drying inward from the edge” (Line 7). The woman’s heart is shriveling, and she’s not happy about this, but there’s nothing she can do. She’s in a fragile place—she’s on “the edge” (Line 7) and must try and survive the sad, deep ebb of this particular love.