In Edna St. Vincent Millay’s poem, she uses metaphors to display her reliance on her fiance. In the lines, “Were you not still my hunger’s rarest food, / and water ever to my wildest thirst, / I would desert you,” the speaker notes that she doesn’t leave her fiance only because she’s dependent on him. She points out two key needs of survival: food and water. When a man is full of hunger, the reason he is starving is because he has limited access to food, or in other words, food is rare. By comparing her fiance to “hunger’s rarest food,” she emphasizes how important he is to her survival. Similarly, she also describes him as “water ever to my wildest thirst,” characterising him as another necessity for survival. Humans can live without food for over several weeks, but the body cannot support itself over a couple days without water. Since water is held at a higher demand for survival than food, having this line written immediately after the food metaphor, further signifies his importance to her survival. Although it’s not specified how he benefits her survival, whether that be financial stability, or elevated status of class, it’s clear that without him, she wouldn’t live a comfortable life through the metaphors she uses.