Ryan McGee

A Mathematical Jesus:

An Explication of Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “Euclid Alone Has Looked on Beauty Bare”

In Edna St. Vincent Millay’s poem “Euclid Alone Has Looked on Beauty Bare,” we are given a new acuity to the meaning of true or “bare” beauty in the sense that the onset of Euclid’s beautiful mathematical work is parallel to the second coming of Christ.

We must begin our anatomization of this poem by asking ourselves exactly, “Who is Euclid?” and “What is beauty?” Besides assuming that most people will recognize him as one of the most brilliant mathematicians of all time, Millay’s poem commences by explicitly setting Euclid on a level of intellectual insight above the rest of mankind. It is simply stated that he “alone” has looked on “Beauty bare” – conceivably the core phrase of the poem. We as readers first notice the capitalization of the word “Beauty,” and immediately realize that the author has for some reason intended to set that word as a proper noun. Further reading of the poem reveals the initially mysterious word “her”- mysterious because we do not absolutely know to whom “her” refers. We can then conclude that it must refer to “Beauty” and then that the author has capitalized “Beauty” because she wishes for the reader to view beauty as a name, and therefore a being. Yet, we remember that Beauty has been viewed by “Euclid alone,” so we can further deduce that Beauty is something or someone that must be somewhat mysterious or noble to have only been truly “looked on” by one other individual.

In contrast to Euclid, the author speaks of those who “prate” of Beauty. Lines three through six divulge that those who prate of beauty have not seen beauty bare because the beauty they see is “in shapes of shifting lineage,” meaning it can be perceived differently by everyone, whereas bare Beauty is undeniably beautiful because it has been precisely and accurately crafted and therefore can only be seen as the one beautiful thing that it truly is- not as a “shape” that alters or “shifts” with perception. Herein lies the Millay’s central philosophy behind the poem: just as in math you can only have definite answers that are the same no matter how the problem is perceived, likewise, in bare Beauty, there is only one way of interpreting the Beauty. Euclid was known for his many beautiful mathematical proofs, which are indeed examples of “Beauty bare.” Depending on how one interprets beauty is what makes one either a Euclid or one that this paper shall refer to as a Prater. While the Praters are stuck in a “dusty bondage” to their unenlightened state, the Euclids, referred to in the poem as “heroes”, are the ones who “seek release… into luminous air”.

Now that we know how Euclid, Beauty, and the Praters are viewed in the poem, we can discover to what precisely they allude. The principal key to the poem’s connection with the second coming of Christ can be found in the phrase- “O holy, terrible day,” which undoubtedly refers to The Great and Terrible Day of the Lord. This is the day prophesized in the Bible (Isaiah 2: 11-21) as the day when Jesus shall return to earth. This will be a great (or “holy”) day for the followers of Jesus and a terrible day for those who do not believe in him. This is the day when Euclid first saw true or bare Beauty, which puts him in the position of Jesus in terms of the poem’s biblical allusion. Euclid, just as Jesus did, opened the doors to a new way of thinking for the entire world, the difference being that Euclid was somewhat of a mathematical savior, using his book entitled The Elements to bring a new light to people instead of being a religious savior such as Jesus was and using the Bible to spread his ideas. Now, analytically, we can say the Praters are as to the doomed, as the Euclids or “heroes” are to the biblically saved. In other words those brave enough to follow Euclid and “seek release From dusty bondage” will be saved, just as Jesus’ followers were.

Perhaps the most mysterious phrase of the entire poem is the last phrase: “Have heard her massive sandal set on stone.” While it remains unclear to what sound precisely this refers, we can tell from lines twelve and thirteen that it is the sound that has “released” the “heroes” from their unenlightened state. The best conjecture for this phrase is that the “massive sandal set on stone” is Beauty bare, and while the heroes are fortunate enough to have once heard its sound, Euclid is the only one that has actually looked upon it.

An underlying symbol in the poem is that of light. It first appears as a way to describe the freethinking new world the “heroes” enter- a world of “luminous air.” So luminous in fact, that the moment of entrance to this new cognitive state is referred to as a “blinding hour.” Furthermore, there is no doubt that the deliberate definition for the use of the word “shaft” was as a ray of light that shone into Euclid’s vision during the “blinding hour”. Then as if it could not be any clearer, Millay does indeed directly refer to the “shaft” as “light anatomized!”

The word, “anatomized,” when it is used in reference to how Euclid saw the “light” of Beauty, is an excellent example of clever diction. The ingenuity lies in the definition of anatomize: to remove or dissect in order to study the internal structural elements. So when Beauty has been anatomized, all of the Prater’s coverings have been removed, therefore leaving us with bare Beauty or, in other words, “Beauty bare.”

Millay gives us a uniquely heavy, yet efficiently flowing poem that conveys its purpose as neither to caution, nor persuade, but to suggest to us that true beauty has only been seen in the eyes of one man, yet is still heard by many others. The poem is a sonnet, which adheres strictly to its Petrarchan form by having ten syllables in almost every line as well as five stressed syllables per line. For the most part, the poem follows iambic pentameter except for the strategically placed occurrences of dactylic meter, which successfully slow down the poem where new ideas begin or old ones end. This dactylic meter is apparent in the initially ironic statement: “O holy, terrible day.” After we realize that the “holy, terrible day” is a biblical allusion, we can then clearly see why the author intended for the meter to slow down in order for the phrase to stand out. Extremely frequent, almost excessive alliteration: “Beauty bare”, “shapes of shifting lineage”, “Have heard her” most definitely gives the poem a heavier feel in order to reinforce the poems meaning, but at the same time keeps the poem’s iambic rhythm flowing to relieve us of some of the heaviness. One line in particular seems to stand out as conveniently and no doubt purposely having good flow because it is placed in the center of the poem: “let geese Gabble and hiss, her heroes seek release.” The first thing noticed is the perfect rhyme between “geese” and “release,” but there is much more to be seen between the rhymes. For instance, to somewhat slow down the sudden burst of alliteration, the author breaks the iambic meter that has been dominant so far with a single dactylic foot: “Gabble and,” which also emphasizes the onomatopoeia in “Gabble” and flows right into the two instances of alliteration: “geese,” “Gabble,” and “hiss, her heroes” which complement Millay’s uniquely burdensome, yet smooth tone. Another example that adds to the heaviness of the poem includes the repetition seen with the phrase “Euclid alone has looked on Beauty bare,” which is seen twice in the poem and acts as the title as well. All in all, there is a perfect, almost mathematical balance of heaviness and flow to make the poem serve its purpose while still appeasing the reader.