“The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver” by Edna St. Vincent Millay first appeared in Vanity Fair in 1922. In this ballad poem, an adult narrator reflects on the poverty of his childhood and his mother's devotion to keeping her son alive. The mother and son suffer through a long, hard winter and slowly starve. During a cold winter night, the poem takes a dreamlike turn as the mother begins to play her harp. The playing of her fingers upon the harp strings melds with the fantastical idea that as she creates music, she is also weaving warm clothing for her son. In the morning, the boy discovers that his mother has passed away; beside her is a pile of warm clothes that will fit the boy perfectly.

Poet Biography

An American lyrical poet and playwright, Edna St. Vincent Millay was a rebellious voice in the literary world. She was born in Rockland, Maine, February 22, 1892. As a youngster, she read the classics at home, but her defiance made formalized education practically impossible for her. Millay, her mother, and her two sisters moved frequently after her mother divorced their father. The family lived in poverty until they finally settled on an aunt’s property where Millay would compose many of the poems that earned her fame. The outspoken nature of the Millay sisters did not settle well with many authority figures, which made their educational careers difficult.

At age 21, Millay entered the prestigious all-women's Vassar College. While there, she developed her literary talents and regularly flouted the rules, which conflicted with Vassar College’s strict, traditional expectations for its students. After her graduation from Vassar, Millay moved to New York City, where she had romantic relationships with both men and women. In New York City, Millay established her career: She worked with the Provincetown Players and the Theatre Guild. Millay eventually lived in Greenwich Village, and during her stay there, she began using her poetry as a means of feminist activism. Many of Millay’s friends were men, and while a few men proposed marriage, Millay rejected them, though a couple remained her loyal friends.

In 1920, Millay’s collection A Few Figs from Thistles drew controversy because of its exploration of female sexuality and other feminist themes. In 1923, Millay won the Pulitzer Prize for her collection The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver. Millay’s 1923 success made her the third woman to win the prize. She was preceded by Sarah Teasdale in 1918 and Margaret Widdemer in 1919. In the same year, Millay married 43-year-old Eugen Jon Boissevain, a self-proclaimed feminist who supported Millay’s career. Both Millay and Boissevain had other lovers during their marriage.

In 1936, Millay experienced a tragic and life-changing accident. As Millay was riding in a station wagon, the door flew open and Millay was hurled outside of the station wagon. The accident caused numerous and significant injuries to Millay’s spine. She required frequent surgeries and hospitalizations, and she lived the rest of her life in constant pain. As the world progressed into World War II, Millay became outspoken against fascism, and she advocated for the United States to enter the war. Her stances made her unpopular, but she later worked with Writers’ War Board to write propaganda in support of the war. Because of her anti-fascism work, she is considered the antithesis of Ezra Pound, who used his writing to support pro-fascist and antisemitic propaganda. In 1943, Millay became the sixth person and second woman awarded the Frost Medal. She received the medal for her lifetime contribution to American poetry.

During the war years, Millay frequently sought treatment for a morphine addiction that developed from her reliance on the medication. Her status and reputation slowly declined during these years as well. On October 19, 1950, she passed away at her home due to a heart attack.

Poem Text

Millay, Edna St. Vincent. “The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver.” 1922. Poetry Foundation.

Summary

The poem begins with a mother disclosing to her son that the son needs clothes, but the mother does not have the means to provide those clothes for him. The mother shares that in their menial home, she does not have the material to make him any clothes, nor does she even possess the thread with which to sew the material. The mother also shares that they do not even have bread to eat. The mother owns one item, but it is of no value: “a harp with a woman’s head / Nobody will buy” (Lines 11-12). The mother cries. The poem’s setting transitions to fall, and the son is thinner and weaker, a sight that “Makes [the] mother’s blood crawl–” (Line 17). The mother frets about where she will find her son a coat for the upcoming winter. The mother reveals that the boy’s father is dead; she is glad for this because she is ashamed at the family’s poverty and the boy’s disheveled condition.

Winter arrives, and the son has “not a pair of breeches / Nor a shirt to [his] name” (Lines 29-30). The boy is lonely because he cannot go to school and play with others. The mother pleads with the boy to take a nap, and the son reflects about a moment of brief happiness. The mother sings and rocks the boy, and the boy wonders what others would think if they heard the mother singing him to sleep for the entire day.

The speaker describes the winter, one in which “Fuel was scarce / And food was dear” (Lines 54-55). The speaker also describes the winter’s harshest elements, including the violent, cold wind. The mother and son burn their furniture to provide themselves with heat. They do not, however, burn the harp, which no one will take or buy from them. The speaker describes “the night before Christmas” (Line 65) as a night during which the boy “cried with cold / I cried myself to sleep” (Lines 66-67). The speaker recalls his mother, who rose in the night and stared at the boy “With love in her eyes” (Line 72). The mother sits in the one lone chair and starts to play the harp. The speaker drifts into a dreamlike state and imagines the mother making “a child’s jacket” (Line 93), “a red cloak” (Line 97), “a pair of boots” (Line 104), and “a pair of mittens” (Line 106). As she makes items for the son, the mother sings.

The speaker recalls waking and seeing his mother, sitting “With the harp against her shoulder” (Line 116). The mother is “Frozen dead” (Line 122). The speaker concludes the poem by reflecting on the gifts his mother made him before her death, which lie “piled up beside her” (Line 123). The gifts the mother left behind are clothes “of a king’s son” (Line 125) that the speaker says will fit him perfectly.