The Outsiders

A Report on "The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver"

By: Kelcie Roberts

Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) wrote the "Ballad of the Harp-Weaver" published by Flying Cloud Press and has a copyright date of 1922. "The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver" is known as a Narrative Poem. Millay won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1923. However, since Millay lived until 1950, her work is still under copyright in Canada and England. For "The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver" and several other works published in the early twenties, Millay won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1923. Millay was born in Rockland, Maine and had lived in Greenwich Village, New York her whole life. "The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver" has exactly three pages and one hundred twenty six lines. Check out other Edna St. Vincent Millay poems, such as "First Fig" and "Renascence".

"The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver" is a good example of a Narrative Poem because a Narrative Poem tells a story, except in poetic form.

In "The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver" the story described has a meaning. In my own eyes the meaning of this poem is a message of hope, mothers love, and giving. The mother of the son has no cloth or thread to make clothing for her son. She does not have any money to go out and buy such materials. The cold weather is making it hard on the boy to even show up at school because of his lack of clothing. One night as the boy lye awake, he watched his mother as she wove children's jackets, a red cloak, a pair of pants, a pair of boots, a hat, a pair of mittens, and a little blouse. As she wove all through the night, it was as if nothing could stop her. The son was thankful for his mother's affection towards him and took the pieces of clothing as he cherished it with his heart and more.

The following various elements of a poem help put together "The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver". The form, or lines and stanzas, of which the poem is in helps it to make it look organized

...