"Renascence" Revisited
by Beetle Samuel Rooke-Dutton
Edna St. Vincent Millay started one of the most monumental poems of her career quite plainly: “All I could see from where I stood / Was three long mountains and a wood.” And yet, this plainness serves to be all the more impactful. She looks around her and can see everything in sight, as simple as it may be, but later discovers that beyond this view, beyond this initial gaze, is where her soul lies. The life of this poem, one of the first of her career, beautiful but doomed to a fourth-place fate, reflects this. While it was fairly unsuccessful in the contest itself, it made way for Millay to rise to popularity in the poetry world.
As a poet myself, it seems extraordinary to have a poem as beautiful as this one damned, then given a new life and chance. Reflecting further, I believe that many poets and writers have their own “fourth-place” experiences, something that may not directly lead to success but instead lends itself to a determination to try again. A few years ago, when I was much younger than Millay at the time of writing “Renascence,” I also submitted quite a lengthy poem to a school contest. The first poem I had written for it, one that I had been extremely proud of, was removed due to imagery deemed unsuitable for the contest. When it was removed, I used the frustration I felt to craft a new poem, over 10 pages long and around 1,000 words. It was, and continues to be, one of the longest poems I’ve ever written. It reflected on my frustrations, my identity, and the growth I had experienced at that point, poetically and culturally. Ultimately, I did not win. But the competition had given me a passion for poetry I continued to carry with me, joining writing workshops to continue the development of my poetry and eventually submitting to contests, then being chosen to publish a book of my poetry by the Telling Room. That was two years ago, and since then I have gotten a lifetime of experiences being part of Maine’s vibrant poet community.
“And he whose soul is flat—the sky / Will cave in on him by and by”: Millay ends “Renascence,” giving warning to those who have no passion for growth and understanding of the world, and suggesting the likelihood of being suffocated by the life they have chosen to live. At some points, I worry that this will be me. I worry that I will have looked around the world, seen what there is to see, and, unlike Millay, not looked beyond. Hopefully, however, I will continue to look past the mountains and the wood, the sky as shallow as what my eyes can see, and be aware of all that the world has to offer.
Beetle Rooke-Dutton is a poet and author whose debut collection of poetry, Deer, Silent and Open-Eyed, was published by the Telling Room in 2025. His work focuses around reflections on the natural world, growth and change, and transness and queerness.
