--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: After all my erstwhile dear, my no longer…" description: "\"After all my erstwhile dear, my no longer cherished; Need we say it was not love, just because it perished?\" — Edna St. Vincent Millay" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bef/edna-st-vincent-millay-1291_dear_after-all-my-erstwhile-dear-my-no-longer_1719100.jpg" --- # After all my erstwhile dear, my no longer cherished; Need… ![“After all my erstwhile dear, my no longer cherished; Need we say it was not love, just because it perished?” quote by Edna St. Vincent Millay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bef/edna-st-vincent-millay-1291_dear_after-all-my-erstwhile-dear-my-no-longer_1719100.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bef/edna-st-vincent-millay-1291_dear_after-all-my-erstwhile-dear-my-no-longer_1719100.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bef/edna-st-vincent-millay-1291_dear_after-all-my-erstwhile-dear-my-no-longer_1719100.jpg) > “After all my erstwhile dear, my no longer cherished; Need we say it was not love, just because it perished?” [Edna St. Vincent Millay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edna-st-vincent-millay/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The speaker questions whether a failed relationship was ever truly love, reflecting on loss and the difficulty of labeling it. **In simple terms:** Lost love may not have been love at all. Key Takeaway Accept ambiguity in past relationships. Themes love loss reflection Mood melancholic contemplative Type poetic philosophical When to use this quote - breakups - grief counseling - self‑reflection Key Concepts romanticism existential doubt Questions to Reflect On - Did you ever truly love, or was it something else? - How does naming loss affect healing? A Different Perspective Love can be misidentified, leading to lingering regret. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Heartbreak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heartbreak/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) ## Related quotes > [Need we say it was not love, Now that love is perished?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edna-st-vincent-millay/need-we-say-it-was-not-love-now-that-love-is-perished/) [Edna St. Vincent Millay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edna-st-vincent-millay/) > [When the last red man shall have perished from the earth and his memory among the white men shall have become a myth, these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chief-seattle/when-the-last-red-man-shall-have-perished-from-the-earth-and-his/) [Chief Seattle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chief-seattle/) > [“My great thought is in himself. 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And entering with relief some quiet place Where…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edna-st-vincent-millay/there-are-a-hundred-places-where-i-fear-to-go-so-with-his-memory-they/) [Edna St. Vincent Millay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edna-st-vincent-millay/) > [The first rose on my rose-tree Budded, bloomed, and shattered, During sad days when to me Nothing mattered. 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When I see a beautiful sunset, I worship the god of Nature; when I see a hidden…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edna-st-vincent-millay/my-god-is-all-gods-in-one-when-i-see-a-beautiful-sunset-i-worship-the/) [Edna St. Vincent Millay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edna-st-vincent-millay/) > [“Tea was sucha comfort.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edna-st-vincent-millay/tea-was-sucha-comfort/) [Edna St. Vincent Millay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edna-st-vincent-millay/) [Explore all 260 Edna St. Vincent Millay quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edna-st-vincent-millay/) ## More Cherished quotes > [“She'd forgotten how the gentle glide of lips could make her entire body feel wanted. Needed. 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