First Fig Themes
Change
Almost immediately after we learn about how stunning and original and unique and generally awesome our speaker's double-ended candle is, we learn, of course, that it's not going to last forever. An...
Language and Communication
Sure, "First Fig" is intended to announce the speaker's personal achievements, but it's also a message to the world—her world, that is. And that world divides into two categories: friends and foe...
Pride
There's no doubt about it—when the first poem in your first book of poems announces that you burn brightly and quickly, it's pretty easy to see that you think you're the cat's meow. And while Mil...
Gender
Edna St. Vincent Millay was a voracious lover of both women and men. Perhaps that's why many critics take "First Fig" as her attempt to proclaim upon her literary talent and her love life in one br...