Not In A Silver Casket Cool With Pearls

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1931

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Themes

Open & Closed

Millay weaves imagery throughout her poem, “Not In A Silver Casket Cool With Pearls” that, directly or indirectly, indicates two states of being—that of being shut tight and inaccessible, and that of remaining loose and open and available. While a burial casket may be open for viewing before it is lowered into the ground, its ultimate purpose is to enclose—entomb—a body, and not a living body, but a dead one. The coffin transforms, then, into a sort of hope chest that is devoid of hope, as it is “(l)ocked and the key withheld” (Line 3). If it is a hope chest, it is a receptacle for the trousseau, or the linens and clothing a bride collects prior to and in anticipation of her marriage. This closed casket/hope chest is a strong metaphor for a woman’s virginity, something a girl of the day was encouraged to safeguard until marriage, as proof of her moral worthiness. The speaker in this poem will not withhold her love “in a lovers’-knot” (Line 5), a thing pulled tight, nor “in a ring” (Line 5), which encloses. Instead, she will offer herself “in the open hand” (Line 9), “unhidden” (Line 10). The image of “cowslips in a hat” (Line 11) illustrates an open bowl, as an upside-down hat without a head in it becomes. It swings, loosely, “from the hand” (Line 12). The “apples in her skirt” will only remain held for as long as the skirt is lifted to form a vessel; when the hands drop, they will roll away across the meadow, uncontained.

Love Estranged from Fidelity

When speaking of the affections of “other girls” (Line 3) as well as that of the speaker herself, the speaker says, “their loves” (Line 4) and “my love” (Line 4). It well may be that the speaker is referring to mere romantic attention, but there are ample grounds to assume that love, here, is a euphemism for sex. The speaker resists the notion that her sexual consent is a precious something, a personal asset with which to bargain. She will not make her desire and sexuality a dead thing to be stowed away in a box, no matter how opulent and bejeweled that box may be. She will not pay keep-away with her sexuality.

The speaker suggests that traditional commitment—marriage—is a construct. It is “a lovers’-knot” (Line 5), a wedding band, a made thing intended to inspire faithfulness. The speaker believes, however, that for her, such commitment leads to disaster, “a secret spring” (Line 7) by which a seed of dissent will find its way to “the brain” (Line 8), perhaps inducing a kind of madness, a madness that would endorse “(l)ove in the open hand” (Line 9). For the speaker, love—and sex—are as natural and cyclical as wildflowers and apples, and may best be enjoyed in the moment of bloom and ripeness. For the speaker, her love and desire are a delight, wild and innocent and naturally occurring, a gift to be given and received freely without tethers and covenants.

Girls and Children

Edna St. Vincent Millay was 38 or so when she wrote this poem, a fact that, perhaps, for the contemporary reader, makes the use of the word “girls” (Line 3) curious. One might speculate that at this time in history, women were routinely infantilized. If so, the idea that a girl could actually be a woman with sexual desire and agency would have been disruptive, if not revolutionary. The use of the word girl suggests that the young women in question are yet immature, and perhaps sexually innocent, or wish to present themselves as such. The poem suggests that girls (who will someday become women) are conditioned to treat their sexuality as a prize to be won or earned, an asset in a future transaction geared toward ensuring their security. In so safeguarding their “assets,” the “other girls” (Line 3) bury something of themselves.

The “children” (Line 13) at the end of the poem, in contrast, represent pure delight. They are boisterous, “calling out” (Line 13) as if across a field, bearing whatever gifts they’ve harvested from nature and are eager to share. Their generosity is spontaneous and complete, as they expect as much delight from their intended recipient as they themselves feel. They take for granted that they are worthy, and in that knowledge, giving is not only easy, it is its own reward.