Edna St. Vincent Millay wrote "Pity Me Not Because the Light of Day" in 1921. Millay had been involved with a married man just before writing this poem. I believe that she wrote this poem when the man decides to return to his wife. Throughout the poem Millay's tone goes from forsaken and longing to significantly straight forward. This poem is essentially about how life goes on, even after a heartbreaking loss.

"Pity me not..." is written in traditional English verse. Although the poem was written in the 20th centaury, it's a Shakespearean sonnet: fourteen lines of iambic pentameter, with a rhyme scheme of ababcdcd efefgg. The first eight lines of the poem make up the octave. Here Millay talks about events that take place in nature. In the last four lines (part of the sestet) she explains...