I Will Put Chaos Into Fourteen Lines

“I Will Put Chaos Into Fourteen Lines” appeared in publication in 1954 in Millay’s posthumous collection Mine the Harvest. While the exact date of its composition is unknown, there are numerous national and world events that could have impacted and inspired Millay’s work. The Second World War commenced in September 1939 when Nazi Germany invaded Poland; Great Britain and France declared war in retaliation. The war lasted until May 8, 1945, and pitted the Axis powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan against the Allied forces of France, Great Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union, and China (Royde-Smith, John Graham. “World War II.” Britannica, 28 Feb. 2022). Millay cast aside her pacifist beliefs to write propaganda in support of the Allies, and one of these works was the poem “The Murder of Lidice,” published in 1942. Millay wrote a number of other patriotic poems around this time as well. In fact, Millay’s support of the war and the Allied forces was frowned upon by other writers, artistic friends, and acquaintances. Merle Rubin, a renowned book critic, commented, “[Millay] seems to have caught more flak from the literary critics for supporting democracy than Ezra Pound did for championing fascism” (“