"Pity Me Not (Sonnet 29)" is a 1923 poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay in which a speaker attempts to come to terms with a recent heartbreak.
Millay's speaker repeats the phrase "Pity me not" in an attempt to reframe romantic troubles as natural, inevitable events. She references natural imagery, focusing on cyclical processes such as changing tides in order to stress her view that love is by nature inconstant. The speaker seeks to depict herself as jaded and rational. However, throughout the work, it becomes increasingly clear that she is suffering despite her attempts to rationalize her feelings. The work explores themes of love and heartbreak while also subtly engaging with questions of gender norms and impermanence.
Like many of Millay's best-known works, this poem is a Shakespearian sonnet. It follows an ABAB CDCD EFEF GG rhyme scheme, its volta preempting an explicit revelation of the speaker's internal conflict and sadness. Its meter is iambic pentameter, as is traditional for the sonnet form. By using a form associated with love poetry to explore heartbreak, Millay playfully overturns poetic norms regarding formal convention and romantic themes.
