Penitent

A sly, sharp little poem from one of the 20th century's most vital voices. Millay, who became the third woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, turns the concept of penitence on its head with wit and defiance. The speaker addresses a young woman with a 'guilt free conscience' - not a repentant sinner but someone who has done wrong and feels absolutely nothing about it. In just a few lines, Millay captures the particular pleasure of moral transgression without remorse, the thrill of wrongdoing unburdened by shame. This is feminist audacity dressed in verse: a woman who refuses to perform guilt, who owns her actions without crawling. Millay's voice here is playful but pointed, rejecting the expectation that female transgression must be accompanied by self-flagellation. For readers who love the Romantics but wish they had more spine, or anyone who delights in poetry that refuses to apologize for existing.