apropos of very little

[redbird]

a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay:

My candle burns at both ends
It will not last the night
But ah! my foes and oh! my friends
It makes a lovely light.

Comments

[carbonel]

That really is the correct quote; I had to look it up elsewhere to check. The version of the poem that's in my brain has the first line "My candle burns at both its ends." Probably doesn't add anything, but makes it scan properly when I read it. The question is, if I were writing a paper on the subject of the poem, would it be reasonable for me to infer any meaning into the broken rhythm when it could have easily been fixed? Or am I trying to read too much into it?

(It turns out that I've been singing "Rimini" wrong for years and years because I'd put the emPHAsis on the wrong sylLAble. RImini, and LAlage. In my defense, I sang it the same way Leslie Fish did, and I believe she wrote the tune I use.)

[redbird]

Thank you for checking. I was too lazy to walk across the room and look it up.