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[–><!–>(Just beginning for you? It’s not too late to join our Poetry Challenge. Start on Day 1, and continue at your own pace.)–><!–>
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[–><!–>Bliss and loss go together. This is an old idea in poetry. “Recuerdo” can be classified as an aubade — from “aube,” the French word for “dawn,” it rhymes with “Oh, God” and denotes a song whose singer ruefully greets the new day after a night of passion. The three stanzas track the arrival of morning. We see the first light:–><!–>
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Andthewhistleskeptblowing,andthedawncamesoon.
Claudia Rankine, poet
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Andthesunrosedripping,abucketfulofgold.
Lauren Groff, novelist
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Andwegaveherallourmoneybutoursubwayfares.
R. L. Stine, novelist
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[–><!–>The aubade flourishes wherever lovers try to cling to a few more moments together before the sweet sorrow of parting. Romeo and Juliet, at the end of Act III in Shakespeare’s play, recite an aubade for two voices as the sky pales and the lark sings at the end of what will be their only night together. Romeo says, as he prepares to depart:–><!–>
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[–><!–>The 17th-century English poet John Donne — one of Millay’s favorites — was a master of the aubade. Poems like “The Good-Morrow,” “The Sun Rising” and “Break of Day” are full of ardor, disappointment and unabashed horniness:–><!–>
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[–><!–>He asks these questions in “Break of Day,” which happens to be made up of three six-line stanzas of couplets, just like “Recuerdo.” This is not a very common form in English; the best-known examples come from the Renaissance — from Donne, the Elizabethan sonneteer Sir Philip Sidney and the poet and composer Thomas Campion.–><!–>
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Wehailed,“Goodmorrow,mother!”toashawl–coveredhead,
Emma Straub, novelist
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[–><!–>Poetry is not the only form to reckon with the passage of time in this way. Movies love a ticking clock, and every generation has its own cherished all-nighter. The baby boom remembers “American Graffiti”; millennials love “Superbad.” But the perfect cinematic aubade is the Gen-X touchstone “Before Sunrise,” in which Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy meet on a train leaving Budapest and wander through Vienna until the sky goes wan. (To see Hawke’s reading of “Recuerdo,” click here).–><!–>
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[–><!–>The flip side of the aubade’s desire to stop time in its tracks is the urge to rush toward the future, to grab hold of time before it passes. The aubade finds its counterpart, its anticipated answer, in the carpe diem poem. That’s Latin for “seize the day” — YOLO, you might also say — and it’s the oldest pickup line in the book. In 17th-century English poetry, lustful swains (often shepherds, for some reason) are always beseeching their beloveds to “make much of time” and get busy.–><!–>
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[–><!–>Andrew Marvell, whose couplets we glanced at earlier this week, sums up the argument: Let’s be merry now; we’ll be too tired later.–><!–>
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Today’s task: The final stanza
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Question 1/3
Fill in the blanks of the final stanza. The first couplet should be easy!
Wewereverytired,wewereverymerry,
Wehadgonebackandforthallnightontheferry.
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Tap a word above to fill in the highlighted blank. Need help? Click “See Full Poem
& Readings” at the top of the page.
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Edited by Gregory Cowles, Alicia DeSantis, Nick Donofrio and Joumana Khatib. Additional editing by
Emily Eakin, Tina Jordan, Laura Thompson and Emma Lumeij. Design and development by Umi Syam and
Eden Weingart. Additional design by Victoria Pandeirada. Video production by Caroline Kim.
Additional video production by McKinnon de Kuyper. Photo editing by Erica Ackerberg. Illustration
art direction by Tala Safie.
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson.
Audio of “Recuerdo” from “Edna St. Vincent Millay in Readings From Her Poems” (1941, RCA); accompanying
photograph from Associated Press.
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Source: Elections - nytimes.com
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NYT Crossword Answers for May 1, 2025
