--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Spring TO what purpose, April, do you…" description: "\"Spring TO what purpose, April, do you return again? Beauty is not enough. You can no longer quiet me with the redness Of little leaves opening stickily..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0f1/edna-st-vincent-millay-1291_april_spring-to-what-purpose-april-do-you-retu_3028306.jpg" --- # Spring TO what purpose, April, do you return again? Beauty… ![“Spring TO what purpose, April, do you return again? Beauty is not enough. You can no longer quiet me with the redness Of little leaves opening stickily. I know what I know. The sun is hot on my neck as I observe The spikes of the crocus. The smell of the earth is good. It is apparent that there is…” quote by Edna St. Vincent Millay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0f1/edna-st-vincent-millay-1291_april_spring-to-what-purpose-april-do-you-retu_3028306.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0f1/edna-st-vincent-millay-1291_april_spring-to-what-purpose-april-do-you-retu_3028306.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0f1/edna-st-vincent-millay-1291_april_spring-to-what-purpose-april-do-you-retu_3028306.jpg) > “Spring TO what purpose, April, do you return again? Beauty is not enough. You can no longer quiet me with the redness Of little leaves opening stickily. I know what I know. The sun is hot on my neck as I observe The spikes of the crocus. The smell of the earth is good. It is apparent that there is no death. But what does that signify? Not only under ground are the brains of men Eaten by maggots. Life in itself Is nothing, An empty cup, a flight of uncarpeted stairs. It is not enough that yearly, down this hill, April Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.” [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. Spring’s return questions beauty; it confronts mortality, prompting existential wonder about life’s meaning. **In simple terms:** Spring forces reflection on life and death. Key Takeaway Contemplate existence beyond surface beauty. Themes nature mortality existentialism beauty Mood reflective melancholic Type poetic philosophical When to use this quote - gardening - seasonal changes - creative writing Key Concepts impermanence philosophical inquiry Questions to Reflect On - What does spring symbolize for you? - How does beauty mask deeper truths? A Different Perspective Poetry can be abstract, limiting concrete action. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [April](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/april/) [Beauty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beauty/) [Brain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/brain/) [Crocuses](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crocuses/) [Earth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/earth/) [Empty cup](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/empty-cup/) [Flower](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flower/) [Hills](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hills/) [Idiot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/idiot/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Purpose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/purpose/) [Smell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/smell/) [Spring](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spring/) [Sun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sun/) ## Related quotes > [Life in itself / Is nothing, / An empty cup, a flight of uncarpeted stairs. / It is not enough that yearly, down this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edna-st-vincent-millay/life-in-itself-is-nothing-an-empty-cup-a-flight-of-uncarpeted-stairs/) [Edna St. Vincent Millay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edna-st-vincent-millay/) > [To what purpose, April, do you return again? Beauty is not enough.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edna-st-vincent-millay/to-what-purpose-april-do-you-return-again-beauty-is-not-enough/) [Edna St. Vincent Millay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edna-st-vincent-millay/) > [April comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edna-st-vincent-millay/april-comes-like-an-idiot-babbling-and-strewing-flowers/) [Edna St. Vincent Millay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edna-st-vincent-millay/) > [“April comes to us, with her showers sweet. I wake to the cries of little birds before the light comes across the heath. They…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ned-hayes/april-comes-to-us-with-her-showers-sweet-i-wake-to-the-cries-of/) [Ned Hayes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ned-hayes/) > [“At April' Toss your gay heads, Brown girl trees; Toss your gay lovely heads; Shake your brown slim bodies; Stretch your brown slim arms;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/at-april-toss-your-gay-heads-brown-girl-trees-toss-your-gay-lovely/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Life in itself Is nothing, An empty cup, a flight of uncarpeted stairs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edna-st-vincent-millay/life-in-itself-is-nothing-an-empty-cup-a-flight-of-uncarpeted-stairs-2/) [Edna St. Vincent Millay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edna-st-vincent-millay/) > [I don't suppose a writing man ever really gets rid of his old crocus-yellow neckties. Sooner or later, I think, they show up in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-d-salinger-2/i-don-t-suppose-a-writing-man-ever-really-gets-rid-of-his-old-crocus/) [J. D. Salinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-d-salinger-2/) > [Flower god, god of the spring, beautiful, bountiful, Cold-dyed shield in the sky, lover of versicles, Here I wander in April Cold, grey-headed; and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-louis-stevenson/flower-god-god-of-the-spring-beautiful-bountiful-cold-dyed-shield-in/) [Robert Louis Stevenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-louis-stevenson/) > [Nature is none other than God in all things. Animals and plants are living effects of Nature; Whence all of God is in all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giordano-bruno/nature-is-none-other-than-god-in-all-things-animals-and-plants-are/) [Giordano Bruno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giordano-bruno/) > [Late February, and the air's so balmy snowdrops and crocuses might be fooled into early blooming. Then, the inevitable blizzard will come, blighting our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gail-mazur/late-february-and-the-air-s-so-balmy-snowdrops-and-crocuses-might-be/) Gail Mazur > [The bed of flowers Loosens amain, The beauteous snowdrops Droop o'er the plain. The crocus opens Its glowing bud, Like emeralds others, Others, like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/the-bed-of-flowers-loosens-amain-the-beauteous-snowdrops-droop-o-er/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [We get richer and richer in filthier and filthier communities until we reach a final state of affluent misery - crocus on a garbage…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-w-gardner/we-get-richer-and-richer-in-filthier-and-filthier-communities-until/) [John W. Gardner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-w-gardner/) > [Lowly, with a broken neck, The crocus lays her cheek to mire.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-meredith/lowly-with-a-broken-neck-the-crocus-lays-her-cheek-to-mire/) [George Meredith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-meredith/) > [“Every Easter she and her mother planted those crocuses near the fence beside the driveway, and soon enough a whole cluster of them, white…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christina-baker-kline/every-easter-she-and-her-mother-planted-those-crocuses-near-the-fence/) [Christina Baker Kline](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christina-baker-kline/) > [You might think that after thousands of years of coming up too soon and getting frozen, the crocus family would have had a little…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-benchley/you-might-think-that-after-thousands-of-years-of-coming-up-too-soon/) [Robert Benchley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-benchley/) ## More by Edna St. Vincent Millay > [Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edna-st-vincent-millay/into-the-darkness-they-go-the-wise-and-the-lovely/) [Edna St. Vincent Millay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edna-st-vincent-millay/) > [There are a hundred places where I fear To go, --so with his memory they brim! 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. Grief or grief has drained me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edna-st-vincent-millay/the-first-rose-on-my-rose-tree-budded-bloomed-and-shattered-during/) [Edna St. Vincent Millay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edna-st-vincent-millay/) > [A Poem from Edna St. Vincent Millay: Grown-up Was it for this I uttered prayers, And sobbed and cursed and kicked the stairs, That…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edna-st-vincent-millay/a-poem-from-edna-st-vincent-millay-grown-up-was-it-for-this-i-uttered/) [Edna St. Vincent Millay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edna-st-vincent-millay/) > [She is happy where she lies With the dust upon her eyes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edna-st-vincent-millay/she-is-happy-where-she-lies-with-the-dust-upon-her-eyes/) [Edna St. Vincent Millay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edna-st-vincent-millay/) > [And reaching up my hand to try, I screamed to feel it touch the sky.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edna-st-vincent-millay/and-reaching-up-my-hand-to-try-i-screamed-to-feel-it-touch-the-sky/) [Edna St. Vincent Millay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edna-st-vincent-millay/) > [“And you as well must die, beloved dust, And all your beauty stand you in no stead; This flawless, vital hand, this perfect head,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edna-st-vincent-millay/and-you-as-well-must-die-beloved-dust-and-all-your-beauty-stand-you/) [Edna St. Vincent Millay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edna-st-vincent-millay/) > [Oh, children, growing up to be Adventurers into sophistry, Forbear, forbear to be of those That read the rood to learn the rose.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edna-st-vincent-millay/oh-children-growing-up-to-be-adventurers-into-sophistry-forbear/) [Edna St. Vincent Millay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edna-st-vincent-millay/) > [After the feet of beauty fly my own.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edna-st-vincent-millay/after-the-feet-of-beauty-fly-my-own/) [Edna St. Vincent Millay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edna-st-vincent-millay/) > [Some of us have been thinking and talking too long without doing anything. Poems are perfect; picketing, sometimes, is better.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edna-st-vincent-millay/some-of-us-have-been-thinking-and-talking-too-long-without-doing/) [Edna St. Vincent Millay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edna-st-vincent-millay/) > [“But, sure, the sky is big, I said; Miles and miles above my head; So here upon my back I'll lie And look my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edna-st-vincent-millay/but-sure-the-sky-is-big-i-said-miles-and-miles-above-my-head-so-here/) [Edna St. Vincent Millay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edna-st-vincent-millay/) > [pity me that the heart is slow to learn what the swift mind beholds at every turn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edna-st-vincent-millay/pity-me-that-the-heart-is-slow-to-learn-what-the-swift-mind-beholds/) [Edna St. Vincent Millay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edna-st-vincent-millay/) > [Youth, have no pity; leave no farthing here For age to invest in compromise and fear.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edna-st-vincent-millay/youth-have-no-pity-leave-no-farthing-here-for-age-to-invest-in/) [Edna St. Vincent Millay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edna-st-vincent-millay/) > [My god is all gods in one. 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 April quotes > [“I had a chat with May and I had a sweet talk with April but the lovely conversation that left me to ponder was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-agyemang-yeboah/i-had-a-chat-with-may-and-i-had-a-sweet-talk-with-april-but-the/) [Ernest Agyemang Yeboah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-agyemang-yeboah/) > [It might interest you that just as the U.S. was ramping up its involvement in Vietnam, LBJ launched an illegal invasion of the Dominican…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/junot-diaz/it-might-interest-you-that-just-as-the-u-s-was-ramping-up-its/) [Junot Diaz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/junot-diaz/) > [Two things you need to know about taxes. They've extended the deadline to April 18, and when you write your check, just make it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-letterman/two-things-you-need-to-know-about-taxes-they-ve-extended-the-deadline/) [David Letterman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-letterman/) > [Why should I deem myself to be a chisel, when I could be the artist?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-schiller/why-should-i-deem-myself-to-be-a-chisel-when-i-could-be-the-artist/) [Friedrich Schiller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-schiller/) > [The air soft as that of Seville in April, and so fragrant that it was delicious to breathe it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-columbus/the-air-soft-as-that-of-seville-in-april-and-so-fragrant-that-it-was/) [Christopher Columbus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-columbus/) > [Our opponents see an America in which every day is April 15, tax day. Well, we see an America in which every day is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronald-reagan/our-opponents-see-an-america-in-which-every-day-is-april-15-tax-day/) [Ronald Reagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronald-reagan/) > [Here cometh April again, and as far as I can see the world hath more fools in it than ever.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/here-cometh-april-again-and-as-far-as-i-can-see-the-world-hath-more/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [It felt like 10 years, but I was actually in treatment for three-and-a-half years. I finally finished in April. Two years ago, I had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suleika-jaouad/it-felt-like-10-years-but-i-was-actually-in-treatment-for-three-and-a/) [Suleika Jaouad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suleika-jaouad/) > [The air is like a butterfly With frail blue wings. The happy earth looks at the sky And sings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-kilmer/the-air-is-like-a-butterfly-with-frail-blue-wings-the-happy-earth/) [Joyce Kilmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-kilmer/) > [At 1.24 am on 26 April 1986 Chernobyl’s Unit 4 reactor exploded after staff disabled safety systems and performed an ill-advised experiment to check…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-lynas/at-1-24-am-on-26-april-1986-chernobyl-s-unit-4-reactor-exploded-after/) [Mark Lynas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-lynas/) > [People born in April are very loving and caring people. They are the ones who have the best memories.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/people-born-in-april-are-very-loving-and-caring-people-they-are-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Ah, March! we know thou art Kind-hearted, spite of ugly looks and threats, And, out of sight, art nursing April's violets!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-hunt-jackson/ah-march-we-know-thou-art-kind-hearted-spite-of-ugly-looks-and/) [Helen Hunt Jackson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-hunt-jackson/) > [I know April, May and June are a few unbearable months, and working out in a gym and sweating in such dirty hot, sticky,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ashish-sharma/i-know-april-may-and-june-are-a-few-unbearable-months-and-working-out/) [Ashish Sharma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ashish-sharma/) > [Men are April when they woo, December when they wed...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/men-are-april-when-they-woo-december-when-they-wed/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [Oh, to be in England Now that April's there, And whoever wakes in England Sees, some morning, unaware.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-browning/oh-to-be-in-england-now-that-april-s-there-and-whoever-wakes-in/) [Robert Browning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-browning/) [Browse all 567 April quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/april/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Spring TO what purpose, April, do you return again? Beauty is not enough. You can no longer quiet me with the redness Of little leaves opening stickily. I know what I know. The sun is hot on my neck as I observe The spikes of the crocus. The smell of the earth is good. It is apparent that there is no death. But what does that signify? Not only under ground are the brains of men Eaten by maggots. Life in itself Is nothing, An empty cup, a flight of uncarpeted stairs. 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