Friends | Activity | Alix James | The Sex Experiment

americanorgy posted an update in the group Sex and Literature 10 years, 5 months ago

Just finished First Fig by Edna St. Vincent Milay:

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!

By at least one account, this poem was written about a threesome in which Milay was laid at both ends by a couple of male members. I\’m sure it was a lovely light . . .

Anais replied 10 years, 5 months ago

Okay, so Mr. Orgy, I fancy myself a bit of a poet…after looking through a myriad of dissections on this poem, I’ve yet to encounter anyone who agrees with you. That isn’t to say you’re wrong–poetry is open to interpretation, of course. So I’m interested–can you take me, line by line, down the delicious path of your mind and tell me how you see…[Read more]
- americanorgy replied 10 years, 5 months ago
  
  The timing of the poem corresponded with a well documented threesome between Ms. Millay, the future critic Edmund Wilson and John Pearle Bishop from Vanity Fair. One took the top and one took the bottom — Ms. Millay becomes the candle and the rest is history.
  - Anais replied 10 years, 5 months ago
    
    We’ll agree to disagree. It may very well be a reconstruction of the threesome, but even in metaphor, one can’t take things too literally, wouldn’t you agree? A bit “on the nose” for my taste.

@alix-james