Lyric Poem · Life

First Fig

by Edna St. Vincent Millay · 1920

Reading room

1My candle burns at both ends;

2It will not last the night;

3But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends—

4It gives a lovely light!

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“First Fig” by Edna St. Vincent Millay — quilloak.com/poems/first-fig

Quick facts

Poem: First Fig
Poet: Edna St. Vincent Millay
Published: 1920
Length: 4 lines
Form: Lyric Poem, Short Poems
Themes: Life, Funny, Short

Craft notes

How this poem works

Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.

Shape: 4 lines · one 4-line stanza
End rhyme: ABAB — alternate rhyme.
Line length: Consistent with short metre. Two short lines, one longer, one short (6.6.8.6) — the short hymn stanza.

The poem’s silhouette — approximate syllables per line, measured from the text above. Even bars mean a measured line; ragged bars mean the poem sets its own widths.

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Text, source & rights

A traceable edition

Full-text display is based on the cited edition and a United States term-expiry review.

Author record: Edna St. Vincent Millay1892–1950
Source record: WikisourceFirst Fig by edna-st-vincent-millay, Wikisource transcription
Display decision: Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record: 1920
Text fingerprint: SHA-256 8e5782307854d264…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Short Poems Life Funny Short

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