Edna St. Vincent Millay: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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'''Edna St. Vincent Millay''' ([[February 22]], [[1892]] – [[October 19]], [[1950]]) was an American [[lyric poetry|lyrical poet]] and playwright and the first woman to receive the [[Pulitzer Prize for Poetry]]. She was also known for her unconventional, [[Bohemianism|bohemian]] lifestyle and her many love affairs. She used the pseudonym '''Nancy Boyd''' for her prose work.

== Early life ==

Millay was born in [[Rockland, Maine]], to Cora Lounella, a nurse, and Henry Tollman Millay, a schoolteacher who would later become superintendent of schools. Her middle name is derived from [[St. Vincent's Hospital (Manhattan)|St. Vincent's Hospital]] in [[New York]], where her uncle's life had been saved just prior to her birth.

In [[1904]], Cora officially divorced Millay's father for financial irresponsibility, but they had been separated for some years prior. Struggling financially, Cora and her three daughters, Edna (who would later insist on being called "Vincent"), Norma and Kathleen, moved from town to town, counting on the kindness of friends and relatives. Though poor, Cora never traveled without her trunk full of classic literature — including [[William Shakespeare]], [[John Milton]], and more — which she enthusiastically read to her children in her [[Ireland|Irish]] brogue. Finally the family settled in [[Camden, Maine]], moving into a small house on the property of Cora's well-heeled aunt. It was in this modest house in the middle of a field that Millay wrote the first of the poems that would catapult her to literary fame.

Cora taught her daughters to be independent and to speak their minds, which did not always sit well with the authority figures in Millay's life. Millay preferred to be called "Vincent" rather than Edna, which she found plain — her grade school principal, offended by her frank attitudes, refused to call her Vincent — instead, he called her by any woman's name that started with a V. <ref name="epstein">{{cite book | last = Epstein | first = Daniel Mark | year = 2001 | title = What Lips my Lips Have Kissed: The Loves and Love Poems of Edna St. Vincent Millay | location = New York | publisher = Henry Holt | id = ISBN 0-8050-6727-2 }}</ref>

At Camden High School, Millay began nurturing her budding literary talents, starting at the school's literary magazine, ''The Megunticook,'' and eventually having some of her poetry published in the popular children's magazine ''St. Nicholas'', the [[Camden Herald]] and, significantly, the anthology [[Current Literature]], all by the age of 15.

Millay’s career and celebrity began in 1912 when she entered her poem “Renascence” into a poetry contest in ''The Lyric Year''. The poem was so widely considered the best submission, that when it was ultimately placed fourth, it was quite the scandal for which Millay received much publicity. The first place winner, [[Orrick Johns]], was among those who felt that “Renascence” was the best poem in the volume, and stated that “the award was as much an embarrassment to me as a triumph."

One of the second prize winners even offered her his $250 prize money.<ref name="Dash">{{cite book

| first = Joan | last = Dash

| author-link = Joan Dash

| title = ''A Life of One’s Own: Three Gifted Women and the Men They Married''

| place = New York

| publisher = Harper and Row, Publishers

| year = 1973}}</ref> In the immediate aftermath of ''The Lyric Year'' controversy, a wealthy woman named Caroline B. Dow heard Millay reciting her poetry and playing the piano and was so impressed that she offered to pay for Millay’s education at Vassar College. After her graduation in [[1917]], she moved to [[New York City]].

== Writing career ==

[[Image:Millay magn.jpg|thumb|right|Edna St. Vincent Millay in 1914, photographed by [[Arnold Genthe]].]]

In New York, she lived in [[Greenwich Village]]. It was at this time that she first attained great popularity in America. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in [[1923]], for ''The Harp-Weaver, and Other Poems''. She was the first woman to be so honored for poetry. Her reputation was damaged by poetry she wrote in support of the [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] war effort during [[World War II]]. Merle Rubin noted: "She seems to have caught more flak from the [[Literary criticism|literary critics]] for supporting [[democracy]] than [[Ezra Pound]] did for championing [[fascism]]."

In 1943 she was awarded the [[Frost Medal]] for her lifetime contribution to American poetry. She was the sixth recipient of that honor, and the second woman.

==Personal life==

Millay, who was [[bisexual]], had relationships with several other students during her time at [[Vassar College|Vassar]], then a [[women's college]].<ref name="epstein" /> In January 1921 she went to [[Paris]], where she met sculptor [[Thelma Wood]], with whom she had a romantic relationship.<ref>{{cite book | last = Herring | first = Phillip | year = 1995 | title = Djuna: The Life and Work of Djuna Barnes | location = New York | publisher = Penguin Books | id = ISBN 0-14-017842-2 | pages = 158 }}</ref> During her years in Greenwich Village and Paris she also had many relationships with men, including the literary critic [[Edmund Wilson]], who unsuccessfully proposed marriage to her in 1920.<ref>{{cite book | last = Milford | first = Nancy | year = 2001 | title = Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay | location = New York | publisher = Random House | id = ISBN 0-375-76081-4 | pages = 191-192 }}</ref>

In 1923, she married Eugen Jan Boissevain (Born: 20 May 1880, Amsterdam;

Died: 29 August 1949, Boston, Mass.), then the 43-year-old widower of labor [[lawyer]] and war correspondent [[Inez Milholland]]. Boissevain greatly supported her career and took primary care of domestic responsibilities. They lived near [[Austerlitz, New York]], at a farmhouse they named [[Steepletop]].

Millay's marriage with Boissevain was an [[open marriage|open]] one, with both taking other lovers. Millay's most significant other relationship during this time was with the poet [[George Dillon]], fourteen years her junior, for whom a number of her [[sonnet]]s were written. Millay also collaborated with Dillon on ''Flowers of Evil'', a translation of [[Charles Baudelaire]]'s ''[[Les Fleurs du mal]]''.

Boissevain died in 1949 of [[lung cancer]]. Millay was found dead at the bottom of the stairs in her house on [[October 19]], [[1950]], having had a serious heart attack..<ref>Milford, 508; Epstein, 273.</ref>

In 2006, the state of [[New York (state)|New York]] paid $1.69 million to acquire 230 acres of Steepletop. The land will be added to a nearby state forest preserve. Proceeds from the sale are being used to restore the farmhouse with plans to turn it into a museum.

Parts of the grounds of Steepletop, including a Poet's Walk that leads to her grave, are now open to the public. Millay bought Steepletop with her husband in 1925, two years after winning the [[Pulitzer Prize for Poetry]].

==Works==

[[Image:few figsg.jpg|thumb|works]]

Her best-known poem might be "First Fig" from ''A Few Figs from Thistles'' (first published in [[1920]]):

:My candle burns at both ends;

::It will not last the night;

:But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends--

::It gives a lovely light!

Millay wrote the poem, which she first called "My Candle,"<ref name="Herald">{{cite web |url= http://www.tropicfan.com/The%20Eternal%20Flame%20by%20Michael%20Browning.htm |title= The Eternal Flame |author= Michael Browning |work= [[The Miami Herald]] |date= [[18 August]] [[1996]] }}</ref> at [[Romany Marie]]'s [[café]] in [[Greenwich Village]].

Mathematicians recognize her poem "[[Euclid]] Alone Has Looked on Beauty Bare" ([[1922]]) as an expression of [[mathematical beauty]], or an homage to the [[Geometry|geometer]] Euclid.

However, many consider "Renascence" and "The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver" to be her finest poems.

[[Thomas Hardy]] once said that America had two great attractions: the [[skyscraper]] and the poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay.

Also, she wrote five [[verse drama]]s early in her career, including ''Two Slatterns and a King'', ''The Lamp and the Bell'' (written for [[Vassar College]]), and ''The King's Henchman'' (originally an [[opera]]). Her most famous verse drama is the often anthologized One Act play ''Aria da Capo'', written for the [[Provincetown Players]].

==References==

==External links==

*{{gutenberg author|id=Edna_St._Vincent_Millay|name=Edna St. Vincent Millay}}

*[http://www.bartleby.com/131/1.html "Renascence" at Bartleby]

*[http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/millay/ballad/ballad.html "The Ballad Of The Harp-Weaver" at A Celebration of Women Writers]

*[http://andrejkoymasky.com/liv/fam/biom4/mill02.html Biography of Millay]

*[http://andrejkoymasky.com/liv/fam/biow3/wood05.html Biography of Wood]

*[http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=713 Edna Millay's Gravesite]

*[http://www.cnn.com/2006/TRAVEL/DESTINATIONS/09/15/literary.new.york.ap/index.html Literary pilgrimage in upstate New York] Steepletop, opens its grounds to the public.

*[http://www.mith2.umd.edu/WomensStudies/Bibliographies/Millay/intro.html Edna St. Vincent Millay Bibliography by Judith Nierman]

[[Category:1892 births|Millay, Edna St. Vincent]]

[[Category:1950 deaths|Millay, Edna St. Vincent]]

[[Category:Maine writers|Millay, Edna St. Vincent]]

[[Category:American poets|Millay, Edna Vincent]]

[[Category:Pulitzer Prize for Poetry winners|Millay, Edna St. Vincent]]

[[Category:Bisexual writers from the United States|Millay, Edna St. Vincent]]

[[Category:LGBT writers from the United States|Millay, Edna St. Vincent]]

[[Category:Vassar College alumni|Millay, Edna St. Vincent]]

[[Category:People from Greenwich Village, New York]]

[[Category:People from Knox County, Maine|Millay, Edna St. Vincent]]

[[Category:Sonneteers|Millay, Edna St. Vincent]]

[[Category:Accidental deaths from falls|Millay, Edna St. Vincent]]

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