Product Description
Compiled by her sister after the poet's death and originally published in 1956, this is the definitive edition of Millay, right up through her last poem, Mine the Harvest. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

A Reading Of Sonnet XL
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1NHX5ABRX9XIH I don't think that many people would consider Millay a poet of the first water. And, sadly, after reading aloud all the poems in this 700+ page book, of essentially devoting a week of my life to her, I am more than inclined to agree.

Fortunately, she managed to discipline herself enough to write sonnets, wherein she does indeed shine at moments.It is from the best of these that I read in the video, with a brief prefatory comment on the poem and
on Millay's work as a whole.

Everything delicate but always strong
Over the years, I have worn the binding to pieces touching, flipping, - and don't hate me - earmarking the pages of this book when I wanted to remember something and couldn't find a spare scrap of paper for a marker. There is something so exposed and fragile about her work and, at the same time, she is very strong and beautifully resolved to her observations. She doesn't communicate in frilly riddles. She speaks to everyone. "Here in a Rocky Cup" on page 471 is one of her finest. It may break your heart! Enjoy.

Edna's poems for the next generation
how delightful to find a beautiful copy to introduce my granddaughter to Edna St. Vincent Millay.

The Greatest Female Poet Of Twentieth-Century America
"Time does not bring relief; you all have lied/ Who told me time would ease me of my pain!"

Old and wise beyond her years, Edna St. Vincent Millay wrote the majority of her most beautiful and famous works at a startlingly young age. One of few moments of comedy in Millay's otherwise (too) serious, brief life, was that as a published and award-winning poet while still in her teens, Millay entered college literature courses, taught by older teachers there to `instruct' her, even though they, themselves, had in most cases never published a line of verse or captureda single award!

"I burn my candle at both ends/ It will not last the night...."

This famous and oft quoted line about living the hectic life was Millay's, but many have forgotten that. A half-century after her passing, she is largely unremembered, lost among a crowd of later, lesser writers, ignored by subsequent ages that placed scant value on poetry. Hers was a life often lived invisibly behind her words. Though the events of her personal life, with her promiscuity and radical ideals, at times gained notoriety beyond even her professional achievements, Millay the poet is the force this book celebrates. Even the biographical section in this anthology is terse and respectful, which I found befitting. Edna St.Vincent Millay's poems, from the startlingly powerful Renascence, to her sonnets (the best composed in the English language in centuries) to her final experimental output at the time of World War Two, everything Millay achieved succeeds in taking the consciousness of an attentive reader into a higher realm, where the mind and soul are meditatively fused as at few other times in the human lifetime, and the voyage is one of utter transcendence.

A must for poetry lovers
There is so much to praise here, where do I start? How can I possibly communicate what these poems mean to me?"Renascence" alone takes my breath away - "The soul can split the sky in two, And let the face of God shine through."These words too, allow the divine to shine through."Interim" is, perhaps, as beutiful a poem as I have ever read.The author brilliantly captures the essence of loss, that grief and confusion, the mind's inability to accept the notion of a life alone: "...part of your heart aches in my breast; part of my heart lies chilled in the damp earth with you.I have been torn in two, and suffer for the rest of me..."There are still so many other passages that leap off these pages.Her phrases are like literary gem stones: Sonnet XXVII: "I know I am but summer to your heart, And not the full four seasons of the year" - could it be said any more succinctly?This collection is a must for anyone who cares at all about poetry - American or otherwise. ... Read more

Product Description
One of America’s most celebrated poets—and winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1923—Edna St. Vincent Millay defined a generation with her passionate lyrics and intoxicating voice of liberation. Edited by Millay biographer Nancy Milford, this Modern Library Paperback Classics collection captures the poet’s unique spirit in works like Renascence and Other Poems, A Few Figs from This-tles, and Second April, as well as in “The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver” and eight sonnets from the early twenties. As Milford writes in her Introduction, “These are the poems that made Edna St. Vincent Millay’s reputation when she was young. Saucy, insolent, flip, and defiant, her little verses sting the page.” ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

The best compilation of Edna I've found.
Includes all the best of Edna's poetry, with an excellent introductionoutlining the story of her inspired career. And then her poetry itself: Cutting brilliance. Sharp truths. Biting compassion. Bitter pains of love. Magnificent!

Worth it for the sonnets alone
Her shorter pieces are much better than her longer ones. Many of the sonnets are quite good.She may be unlucky or unhappy in love, but she is wry about it and not the least bit maudlin or self-indulgent.

The poems about the unbearable beauties of nature strike me as overwrought and do not work at all.

Her shortest bits sting the page. As an example, this two lines, the "Second Fig" from her collection A Few Figs From Thistles, describes quite neatly those whose ability to see facts are limited by their wishing them not so. She writes:

Safe upon the solid rock the ugly houses stand:
Come and see my shining palace built upon the sand!

Be Warned
Edna St. Vincent Millay is (in my opinion) one of the great 20th century poets, generally under-appreciated.Readers who buy this edition SHOULD BE WARNED that it's not a selection from her whole life's work, but only from her early poetry, which made her reputation but isn't necessarily her best.If you want a more comprehensive view of her work, including the later, more mature work, I think you'll have to get the Collected Poems and make your own 'selection'.

Millay--genius, Milford--idiot
Millay is one of those poets who can convey her passions succinctly.with detail, but a passionate brevity. a woman's perspective on love, friends, eternity, and humanity that can be read by any gender.The editor, however, mistakenly describes Millay's wellknown poem "Renescence" as a poem "about being buried alive".ridicuously misinterpreting Millay's theme of rebirth and reincarnation.I own this book and am happy to have the comfort of Millay's poetry.

that i love easily and pass the time
i will review this as a subset of her collected poems. millay was extremely talented, and had a resurgence in 2001 , she has
a memorial stamp from 1981. she is one of the best poets of american literature, this will be an excellent addition to your library, and an exciting opportunity to rediscover a very talented lady often neglected , i am comparing her sonnets to
shakespeares, since they are so well done ... Read more

Product Description
One of America’s most beloved poets, Edna St. Vincent Millay burst onto the literary scene at a very young age and won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1923. Her passionate lyrics and superbly crafted sonnets have thrilled generations of readers long after the notoriously bohemian lifestyle she led in Greenwich Village in the 1920s ceased to shock them. Millay’s refreshing frankness and cynicism and her ardent appetite for life still burn brightly on the page more than half a century after her death.

This volume includes the early poems that many consider her best— “Renascence” and “The Ballad of the Harp Weaver” among them—as well as such often-memorized favorites as “What lips my lips have kissed” and “First Fig” (“My candle burns at both ends . . .”). The poet’s most famous verse drama, the one-act antiwar fable Aria da Capo, is included here as well. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Poetically Relevant
The poems of Edna St. Vincent Millay are as relevant today as they were in the past.This is a nice little collection of her work, ranging from sad verses attempting to capture the nightmare of a friend's death to the wonders of nature.Her descriptions are heartfelt and sincere, allowing the reader to pause and ponder for a moment the wonder of the world in which she lived.Even now, her work lingers on in my memory, at times leaving me giddy with sudden happiness, melancholy and downtrodden or so inspired that no mere words can capture the free essence of my being.This is a worthy collection for anyone's permanent library.

What should I be but a prophet and a liar?
The Everyman's Library Pocket Poets collection has a special place in my heart, and this collection "Edna St. Vincent Millay Poems" demonstrates all the reasons why.As the imprints name implies these are small sturdy volumes, uncluttered with essays, introductions, or annotations, instead offering readers the undiluted nectar of the poets own word.Thus one is spared lengthy biographical details of Millay (rich and ribald though it may be), and may focus on her work.Also included with the poems is one of her plays and though far from her complete works, those included are well chosen.

Millay's poetry, rhythmic, naturalistic, and enchantingly sparse continues to demonstrate why she stands as one of America's greatest poets, and this book for the right reader will surely be a treasured companion for years to come.

Beautiful
I am so happy with this lovely new book of poetry! Although it is a compact volume, it contains Edna St. Vincent Mallay's best loved poems. It is a wonderful edition to my growing collection of Everyman's Library. ... Read more

Product Description
A magnificent anthology of the finest works of Edna St. Vincent Millay, perhaps the premier American lyricist of the twentieth century. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Enchanting poems from an enchantress
The introduction to this collection of poetry says that Edna St. Vincent Millay has been criticized for not being sufficiently "modernist".He poems are too sentimental, too easy-to-read, and borrow too much from 18th century styles.Well the critics might be right but I love this poetry and plan to read more.

Her most famous lines are here "My candle burns at both ends...it gives a lovely light", her first famous poem is here "Renascance"--this spooky poem gained her a mentor and an education at Vassar--and also present are poems from "Fatal Interview" and "Epitath for the Race of Man".My favorite poems are the short ones that talk of love: these are the easy-to-read poems dismissed by the critics.

If you read this poem then you must read the potrait of Edna St. Vincent Millay in "The New Yorker" and the memoir "The Shores of Light" by Edmund Wilson, the later book reviewer for The New Yorker magazine.

Edmun Wilson was just one of ESVM many jilted suitors.But she let him down gently her said.His book describes how he found work for her at Vanity Fair magazine.ESVM evidently charmed all the men she came in touch with.The editor of Vanity Fair complained that he could not have both of his editors in love with the same contributor to the magazine.

Many of the ESVM poems here have to do with nature, like the poem "Spring".Perhaps this is because she moved out of Greenwich Village to the country and there she wrote collections such as "The Buck in Snow".When she got married and left the city she didn't lose touch with her circle of fans and hangers-on including Edmun Wilson.Wilson describes here there at her farm reciting her poetry--she knew all her poems by heart--to wide-eyed admirers.

Alot of her poems here have no title.I imagine she might have felt that the title could be a distraction to a poem.If you can't think of a good one then don't create one at all.

Finally, feminists certainly will be upset with lines like "I, being born a woman and distressed By all the needs and notions of my kind..."But this is good stuff and lets us peer inside the female heart.They are just like us men it appears "...feel a certain zest to bear your body's weight upon my breast".This stuff is just as erotic and passionate as Shakespeare's sonnets and lyric poems--well not quite but good enough.

Beautiful Poetry
I first became intrigued with the life and writing of Edna St. Vincent Millay when visiting the region of her birth while vacationing in Maine. I picked up this book as an introduction to her work and was very pleasantly surprised. "Renaissance" is her best known work and it seethes with life, hope and evinces the young Ms. Millay's gift for creating beautiful prose! Many of the other poems, which often center around death and rebirth or the loss of a lover, are equally penetrating and stunningly written in lucid language and unique metaphor. Highly recommended!

...makes you want to read more, more...
I have just finished this, my first reading of Millay's poetry and I must say I enjoyed it. This anthology makes me want to read more, not less. Her poems convince me that a biography of her life would probably be a worthwhile read also.The escape she is longing for and never quite leaps into, her obvious disdain for anything artificial or constrained combined with her love and respect for the naturally occurring (freedom)... these are dominant themes. And everywhere, TREES and other growing things! It is amazing how often the trees, fruit, grain, the forest, orchards, mushrooms, moss and even weeds are the things which Millay uses to convey her philosophical reflections. In my opinion, her finest poem (Renascence) written when she was 19 reveals early on this connection she felt between revealed nature and transcendence. "God, I can push the grass apart/And lay my finger on Thy heart!"

Colin Falck, in the Introduction comments that Millay was under-appreciated by those who considered her technique too traditional, and her content lacking in intellectual complexity. Did any of these critics read her sonnets I wonder? I agree with Falck's conclusion that "it is time we found a proper place for this intense, thoughtful, and magnificently literate poet." To the merciless critics I would send Millay's own words... "Cruel of heart, lay down my song./Your reading eyes have done me wrong./Not for you was the pen bitten,/And the mind wrung, and the song written."

Millay
Millay's poetry are so touching and inspiring to the soul.You can't experience poetry until you read "Rennaisance", and so many of her other poems that give you such a love for the human body and the nature around us.R.A.E. ... Read more

Product Description
More than 180 sonnets selected from Millay's books of poems -- including 20 sonnets from Mine the Harvest not contained in previous editions of her Collected Sonnets -- are brought together in this new, expanded edition.

An introduction by Norma Millay, written expressly for this volume, focuses on examples of the poet's variations in sonnet structure. Here is the voice of Millay, whose prophetic vision, devotion to freedom, and intellectual daring combine with her mastery of the sonnet form to speak eloquently for the human spirit. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Sonnets Galore
I needed the book Fatal Interview for a paper, so finding this volume of Millay's Collected Sonnets was a life saver.Plus, for those who love sonnets, here is one of the best sonnet collections since Shakespeare.

beautiful poetry
I've seen some collections of the "best" poetry and among others, Edna St. Vincent Millay's work is not featured. Perhaps her work is regarded as too "light weight" or perhaps structure and an ear for how a poem sounds is not as important as it once was - I don't know. But I recommend this book to help correct the lack of Edna St. Vincent Millay's poetry.

I think that Edna St. Vincent Millay is one of the best poets ever, male or female, of any time period. So of course it would follow that I think this book is great, too.

Treat your senses to her wonderful lyrics and you will see what I mean. The sonnet form is a strict one, one that few poets master yet M's Millay makes it work so wonderfully for her.
There are love sonnets, of course - but there are just as many that have nothing to do with love. All of these sonnets are great, of course I have my favorites - read throught the book and you'll probably have your own picks, too.

Beautifully Crafted Work by a Major Poet
Millay was a master of prosody, and her gifts are on brilliant display in this collection of her sonnets.Form and diction that have sometimes been dismissed as out-moded or affected were tools that Millay was able to use deftly and in service of deeply felt and considered experience.Her work hasn't really been given its due yet, but why wait for the academy to catch up?This is wonderful, unforgettable work.

A great collection from America's greatest 20th-century poet
In this work of sonnets, selected for inclusion in this volume by Millay herself, the reader will find genius with heart and soul.Millay wrote many more kinds of poems than just sonnets, of course, but even when restricted to the old, old pattern of 14 lines and strict meter, she manages to convey profound and intimate thoughts on a wide variety of subjects:love, life, death, injustice, war, beauty, and the nature of humankind as a race of beings, to name a few.In this work one finds that some of the poems carry a dedication.There is a pair of sonnets written in memory of Sacco and Vanzetti who were executed in 1927; Millay records the tragedy of that injustice as she experienced it then, long before the more recent pronouncements of justice gone awry that we have heard during the past 25 years.Another sonnet of hers was read in the U.S. capitol in 1923 at the dedication of a statue of three feminist leaders who crusaded for equal rights. That same statue made the news in recent years, having been relegated to the Capitol basement on account of its weight and because of a proposal to hollow out its base so it can be replaced on the main floor.I was suprised -- and gratified -- to learn that Millay was part of its inauguration.Vincent, as her family and friends called her, held issues of justice close to her heart.Her greatest gift, I think, was the ability to write about intensely personal experiences and disclose them to the reader as common to everyone who is willing to look inward to the self.I've read other poets who have lived and worked since Millay's death in 1950 and I venture to say that we have not seen the like of her since.I wholeheartedly recommend her words to everyone because, having read them, I find myself more of a human being and more deeply committed to those things that really matter, given my ultimate mortality. --Todd Victor Leone ... Read more

Product Description
Thomas Hardy once said that America had two great attractions: the skyscraper and the poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay. The most famous poet of the Jazz Age, Millay captivated the nation: She smoked in public, took many lovers (men and women, single and married), flouted convention sensationally, and became the embodiment of the New Woman.

Thirty years after her landmark biography of Zelda Fitzgerald, Nancy Milford returns with an iconic portrait of this passionate, fearless woman who obsessed America even as she tormented herself. Chosen by USA Today as one of the top ten books of the year, Savage Beauty is a triumph in the art of biography. Millay was an American original—one of those rare characters, like Sylvia Plath and Ernest Hemingway, whose lives were even more dramatic than their art.Amazon.com Review
Fans of Zelda, Nancy Milford's groundbreaking (and bestselling) biography of F. Scott Fitzgerald's tortured wife and muse, have been waiting impatiently since 1970 for Milford's promised follow-up about poet Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950). It's finally here, and they will not be disappointed. Milford's vivid narrative limns an electric personality with psychological acuity while capturing the freewheeling atmosphere of America in the turbulent years following World War I. After "Renascence" was published (when she was only 20) and she moved to Greenwich Village, Millay was the queen of bohemia, taking lovers with zest and voicing the reckless gaiety of a generation in her famous lyric, "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." With her flame-red hair, milk-white skin, and a voice that thrilled audiences (making her poetry readings a welcome source of income), Millay was the archetypal "new woman": powerful, passionate, and not to be ignored. But Milford makes it clear that her first loyalty was to her mother and sisters, and her deepest commitment to her writing. This juicy chronicle has famous names aplenty--critic Edmund Wilson and Masses editor Floyd Dell were among the men devastated by her refusal to be faithful--and lots of dissipation: Millay drank heavily and became addicted to morphine. It also takes a perceptive look at how an artist draws material from her life and at the strategies she uses to protect the wellsprings of creativity. Brief passages interspersed throughout delineating Milford's interactions with Norma Millay, the poet's younger sister and literary executor, might have been self-indulgent and self-aggrandizing; instead they offer intriguing snapshots of the complex process by which biography is made. The resulting book is a tour de force, and wildly entertaining as well. --Wendy Smith ... Read more

Customer Reviews (49)

Wonderful Poetry
I'm enjoying the book, although, at times, it seems to go a bit slow for me.Edna St. Vincent Millay lived quite an unconventional life but I suppose that happens when you possess such talents.

Not the author's best work
Edna St. Vincent Millay was an interesting lady, but I didn't think this book was up to the same level as the author's previous biography of Zelda Fitzgerald, despite being thoroughly researched.The book recounts the major events of Millay's life, including her very early promise as a writer, her relationship with her mother and sister, her many romantic affairs, and her fame.Yet, I didn't get a real sense of the person behind the persona of Millay. What drove her to flit from man to man and eventually commit to one?How did she end up as a chronically ill drug addict?Was she really in some kind of physical pain or was this hypochondria run amok?I also thought that the last section of the book dealing with Millay's health problems and addiction just dragged on for an interminably long time without providing much insight.Occasionally the author will mention some telling detail, like the reminders of her husband that Millay kept in her room, but not really explore why it is there or what it might mean.In the end I just thought the book was something of a hodgepodge without a point. It was still informative to read but it's not the kind of biography that stays with you.

Intriging, sad, very well done
I was engulfed by the book in a profound sense. I like how Milford allows the reader to see exactly what the "players" wrote themselves. I don't like having things spelled out. Her method allows you to evaluate not only Mallay, but her siblings and mother, husband.
The only reason Norma is so highlighted is that she gave over her own intention (probably not very strong) to write about her sister's life herself by letting Milford have all the papers. And Norma was, at the time, the only one left in the family.
I came to some conclusions from the gathered details. It was a tale of women without men through the generations. I felt more sympathy for the mother, Cora, than for Millay herself.Cora's disire to be an established poet was completely thwarted, but she passed it on (or infected) her daughters with an overwhelmning desire for attention and recognition. Millay was the one chosen (or self-chosen) to carry on the literary hopes of the female line. She was cossetted and extolled, her mother and siblings made sure to elaborate her sense of destiny as privelged treatment.But the story isn't that simple either. Millay had a long lonely period in High School where she created an imaginary boyfriend whom she would regale with her stories, and she served him as a perfect wife, this boyfriend. It wasn't hard to see that she was longing for the return of the exiled father. The pitiful letters he would send, never able to send any money, the various excuses, would not make it easy for her to trust relationship in general.
There is so much to this book. So many odd turns of fate. It was Norma who was directly responsible for Edna getting into Vassar. Norma was working for a hotel and insisted Edna come to a party there, where Edna read her poem: Rennaisance.A wealthy woman heard her and decided to pay her way to Vassar. This would not have happened without Norma.
The Vassar years served to further deform Millay's sense of herself as special because she was older and more experienced than her peers. The other girls followed Millay around, lavished their love-lorn wishes on her and Millary developed a fine-tuned ability to manipulate and be the love-object without herself being moved. This did not work out as intended, but a reader can see many layers in this book, and draw many final conclusions from it.
I recommend it highly as a psychologically profound study of a complex family.

Too heavy on the research to be a good read
I was looking forward to this book, having enjoyed Milford's "Zelda" very much. But boy, you have to plow your way through seemingly every letter Millay ever wrote or received. Some details are relentlessly spelled out while other, more salient points don't get the attention they deserve. (What physical or mental problems were really at the root of her most serious breakdown? When, exactly, and why did her morphine addiction take root?) And I don't know what anyone else thought about it, but I felt Milford paid far, far too much attention to Millay's anatomy. It was off-putting to me. I also find it annoying when photographs are described in detail in the text but do not appear in the picture sections.

Edna St. Vincent Millay's life certainly mirrored that of her most famous poem, "First Fig"; she did burn the candle at both ends. Her personal life was largely a sad one, but she brought a lot of her personal woes upon herself. Better to read the poems. . . they remain fresh as ever, revealing and possessed of a remarkable clarity and gift for the turn of phrase.

Enlightening
Surprised to find out she had a very active and interesting life. Would not know it by the writings she composed. ... Read more

Product Description
The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Juvenile Nonfiction / Poetry / General; Literary Criticism / Poetry; Poetry / General; Poetry / Anthologies; Poetry / American / General; ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Kindle Edition --Renascence and Other Poems
I have loved poetry since I was a child.One of my dreams as an adult in a technical world is to have the ability to have poetry with me all the time --Kindle has the ability to fulfill this wish.

As a start, I began browsing Amazon's list of available poetry.I was leery, because I was certain some of these probably had been converted without consideration for indexing or making sure the poems looked as the authors intended.So,I requested samples of many books, and found that I was correct. For all of the "classics" that I sampled, the formatting was abysmal and there was no index.I sampled one "self published" volume which was beautifully formatted -- but the content was abysmal. It did prove it could be done, though.

When I came upon this edition in the list, I found this statement: "This kindle digital edition of Renascence and Other Poems has been professionally designed and maintains the quality of the original classic publication.""Hooray!" I thought, and purchased it immediately, without bothering with a sample.As you have probably surmised, I was so disappointed.

There is no index or table of contents.Long poems (Renascence in particular) are formatted more like paragraphs for a novel than lines of poetry.There is no break between the poems -- titles are not in bold or italics or in any other way set apart from the content of the poem itself.If you were a reader who is not familiar with the works, you might not be able to tell where one poem ended and another began.

I still am looking forward to being able to easily carry around electronic editions of my favorites, because I am certain someday someone will publish e-versions of poetry volumes that are equal to the print versions.Maybe there are some already out there that I have yet to find.

I did give this two stars rather than just one, because the content still is the searing work that spoke to my heart when I first discovered it on my Mother's bookshelf when I was a teenager.

Oh -- as a side note -- there is no category of "poetry" in the list of Kindle book. I search for poetry to find it.

Renascence and Other Poems

a must read to fill out your knowledge of american poets in last century
the more i read her work i am impressed with the talent of esv millay, i also notice a taste of dickinson lying among the twigs of her works, i esp like the sonnets she is in several volumes but not in many collections other than one by aiken and another by untermeyer , so buy it and enjoy some lyric masterpieces ( esp the sonnets)

When the year grows old...
"These were the things that bounded me/And I could touch them with my hand/Almost, I thought, from where I stand/And all at once things seemed so small/My breath came short, and scarce at all..."

Edna St. Vincent Millay made her fame with the publication of her very first poem, in "Renascence and Other Poems." While the poet has a few awkward moments here, her vibrant imagery and nature descriptions are enough to make even the lesser poetry absolutely lovely.

It opens with her enchanting "Renascence," in which Millay explores the "Universe, cleft to the core." She wanders through the eternity of the universe -- God, death, the suffering living, and the exquisite beauties of the world. "The heart can push the sea and land/Farther away on either hand/The soul can split the sky in two/And let the face of God shine through..."

From there on, Millay explores the same themes -- she writes with the beauty of nature, and describes love and loss (sometimes at the same time -- "I had you and I have you now no more"). She describes the beauties of a perfect autumn and flowered fields, wishes to start a tavern for grey-eyed people, ethereal witch-wives, coping with a broken heart, and haiku-like poems of "shattering."

One of the most striking poems is "The Suicide," in which a disillusioned person cries out ""Curse thee, Life, I will live with thee no more!" But then the person comes to "my father's house" and speaks to God about the suicide -- receiving a surprising answer.

At first glance, Millay's poetry seems very simplistic. Her lines tend to be short more often than not, her themes are simple. She doesn't strain for elaborate rhyming scenes or ultracomplex structure. Instead of more complex, self-conscious poetry, her work resembles songs.

But the beauty of Millay's poetry is in the language -- the simplicity of the poems allows her exquisite word usage to come through. Metaphors are subtle (committing suicide is described as unlocking a latch). And it's loaded with descriptions of plants and rural beauty. "All the dog-wood blossoms are underneath the tree/Browned at the edges, turned in a day..."

But it isn't only about pretty words. Millay knows how to tug at people's emotions. One poem describes a woman wandering after her lover's death, looking at books and flowers he left behind. In another, she laments, "Love has gone and left me,--and the neighbors knock and borrow/And life goes on forever like the gnawing of a mouse."

"Renascence and Other Poems" is a beautiful piece of work, and a wonderful debut for this legendary poet."I cannot but remember, when the year grows old..."

First poetry book of Edna St. Vincent Millay
From high school American Literature I remember four writers that impressed myself and my friends: Edith Wharton, O. Henry, Edgar Lee Masters and Edna St. Vincent Millay.Therefore, I reread Renascence as part of a reading stroll down memory lane - and found again the elegence that impressed us many years ago.

Many of these poems deal with grief and death including suicide.But beginning with the near-mystical Renascence there is a confidence in something more.Her skill is best shown in the sonnets, a form she used extensively as it is a near perfect fit for her sensibilities.

She is very much a traditional in form and rhyme with much of her imagery being garden and flower.However, there are few times that the syntax becomes awkward or forced in order for her thoughts to fit the form.In short, this is a poetry book worth reading.

Renascence (actually a collection of hers)
I was captured with the first lines. Never have I read more captivating words about life and losing someone of importance.I have looked for these words, the ones that expressed what I was feeling for many years and foundthem waiting in Edna's book. . .just incredible. ... Read more

Product Description
Originally published in 1922.This volume from the Cornell University Library's print collections was scanned on an APT BookScan and converted to JPG 2000 format by Kirtas Technologies.All titles scanned cover to cover and pages may include marks notations and other marginalia present in the original volume. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

My candle burns at both ends
"My candle bums at both ends/It will not last the night/But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends--/It gives a lovely light!"

That famous poem is a suitable opening to the whimsical, quirky volume of Edna St. Vincent Millay's poetry, "A Few Figs From Thistles." These poems capture Millay at her most charming, full of lyrical poetry and enchanting imagery, though she also dips into darker, more fey territory.

After Millay's ode to her candle, she begins exploring the beauties of nighttime wanderings and eating fruit, disliking Thursdays, love ballads, beautiful roads, mythic beauties like Daphne, and the woes of being a poet ("Still must the poet as of old,/In barren attic bleak and cold,/Starve, freeze, and fashion verses to/Such things as flowers and song and you...").

The book ends with four superb little sonnets, which show that the basic lyrical poem is not the only kind that Millay could do well. The poems seem to explore different stages of love: the first is passionate and adoring, the second is loving but more aware of both lovers' flaws, and the third fiercely announces that she isn't in love and "were you not lovely I would leave you now."

The last one dismisses the ex-lover completely, with "I shall forget you presently, my dear,/So make the most of this, your little day,/Your little month, your little half a year,/Ere I forget, or die, or move away." Ouch.

Edna St. Vincent Millay is perhaps at her most relaxed in "A Few Figs From Thistles," which is less self-conscious about her flowery language. Many of the songs are reminiscent of old ballads ("MacDougal Street") or mischievous nursery rhymes ("What should I be but a prophet and a liar/Whose mother was a leprechaun, whose father was a friar?").

But though "A Few Figs From Thistles" is less self-conscious about its language, Millay hadn't lost her knack for spinning beauiful webs of words. And she hadn't lost her exquisite knack for nature descriptions ("And the sky went wan, and the wind came cold/And the sun rose dripping, a bucketful of gold").

"A Few Figs from Thistles" is an great collection of Edna St. Vincent Millay's exquisite poetry. Full of mischief, play, and enchanting imagery, this is Millay at her peak. ... Read more

Product Description
One of America’s most beloved poets, Edna St. Vincent Millay burst onto the literary scene at a very young age and won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1923. Her passionate lyrics and superbly crafted sonnets have thrilled generations of readers long after the notoriously bohemian lifestyle she led in Greenwich Village in the 1920s ceased to shock them. Millay’s refreshing frankness and cynicism and her ardent appetite for life still burn brightly on the page more than half a century after her death.

This volume includes the early poems that many consider her best— “Renascence” and “The Ballad of the Harp Weaver” among them—as well as such often-memorized favorites as “What lips my lips have kissed” and “First Fig” (“My candle burns at both ends . . .”). The poet’s most famous verse drama, the one-act antiwar fable Aria da Capo, is included here as well. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Poetically Relevant
The poems of Edna St. Vincent Millay are as relevant today as they were in the past.This is a nice little collection of her work, ranging from sad verses attempting to capture the nightmare of a friend's death to the wonders of nature.Her descriptions are heartfelt and sincere, allowing the reader to pause and ponder for a moment the wonder of the world in which she lived.Even now, her work lingers on in my memory, at times leaving me giddy with sudden happiness, melancholy and downtrodden or so inspired that no mere words can capture the free essence of my being.This is a worthy collection for anyone's permanent library.

What should I be but a prophet and a liar?
The Everyman's Library Pocket Poets collection has a special place in my heart, and this collection "Edna St. Vincent Millay Poems" demonstrates all the reasons why.As the imprints name implies these are small sturdy volumes, uncluttered with essays, introductions, or annotations, instead offering readers the undiluted nectar of the poets own word.Thus one is spared lengthy biographical details of Millay (rich and ribald though it may be), and may focus on her work.Also included with the poems is one of her plays and though far from her complete works, those included are well chosen.

Millay's poetry, rhythmic, naturalistic, and enchantingly sparse continues to demonstrate why she stands as one of America's greatest poets, and this book for the right reader will surely be a treasured companion for years to come.

Beautiful
I am so happy with this lovely new book of poetry! Although it is a compact volume, it contains Edna St. Vincent Mallay's best loved poems. It is a wonderful edition to my growing collection of Everyman's Library. ... Read more

Product Description
This is the story of a rare sort of American genius, who grew up in grinding poverty in Camden, Maine. Nothing could save the sensitive child but her talent for words, music, and drama, and an inexorable desire to be loved. When she was twenty, her poetry would make her famous; at thirty she would be loved by readers the world over.Edna St. Vincent Millay was widely considered to be the most seductive woman of her age. Few men could resist her, and many women also fell under her spell. From the publication of her first poems until the scandal over Fatal Interview twenty years later, gossip about the poets liberated lifestyle prompted speculation about who might be the real subject of her verses.Using letters, diaries, and journals of the poet and her lovers that have only recently become available, Daniel Mark Epstein tells the astonishing story of the life, dedicated to art and love, that inspired the sublime lyrics of Edna St. Vincent Millay.Amazon.com Review
Poet, playwright, and translator Daniel Mark Epstein certainly has the right background to understand and evaluate poet, playwright, and translator Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950)--though Millay didn't write biographies. Readers of Epstein's Sister Aimee and Nat King Cole will recognize the intense personal engagement the author brings to his task. He's not afraid to express an almost physical fascination for his subjects, which is especially appropriate for the flamboyant Millay, who insisted on the right to take as many lovers as she pleased and to write about them in some of the greatest erotic poetry in American verse. Epstein focuses on that poetry, deciphering the affairs that fueled it and elucidating the boldly iconoclastic, almost cynical acceptance of love's fleeting nature that informs it. (Of the last sonnet in A Few Figs from Thistles, with its notorious putdown, "I shall forget you presently, my dear / So make the most of this, your little day," he remarks: "For a woman, not yet thirty, to compose and market such a poem... was a scandal, an alarm, and a red flag to censors.") While the Edna St. Vincent Millay who emerges in Nancy Milford's Savage Beauty is indelibly shaped by her upbringing, particularly her relationship with her mother and sisters, Epstein's Millay is a self-created goddess of love and literature. It's fascinating to compare these two biographies, published nearly simultaneously and each with considerable merits. Milford's lengthy book, the product of three decades of research, is lavish with details and comprehensive in scope. Epstein's more selective work excels in cogent summaries and forcefully stated opinions. Either book will satisfy readers with an interest in Millay or American literature; really passionate aficionados of the art of biography will want to read both. --Wendy Smith ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

I only know that summer sang in me a little while......
A well written, passionate story about a complicated , passionate woman.
Full of love, lust, and poetry that grabs your heart. Yes, the author of this book was in love with his subject.

Pure Poetry
Catching up on my Amazon reviews (only about 300 books behind)---been a big fan of Millay since my first reading of Renascence (a favorite poem). Millay was a personality before there were magazines and 24/7 coverage of a celebrities every move---no doubt she would have been good fodder for these purveyors of the lives of others. Ms. Millay lived on the edge and her talent was equalled by a life lived large. Mr. Epstein captured this exceptionally woman beautifully in his well-written biography.
Highly recommended.

Edna St. Vincent Millay
This is an intimate portrait of Millay that I cherish.It is also a valuble historical account of many aspects of Maine life.The location and circumstances of Millay's estranged father and the inhabitants of the small town of Kingman in Northern Penobscot County are invaluable in my research of the area.Henry Millay lived in my house in Kingman and no doubt some of Vincent's work was conceived, if not written from my house.It is this connection which has led to my current collection of Millay's work and life.Thank you for this offering on your invaluable site.

A Poet's Life Unfurled
It's not easy being a poet, and Daniel Mark Epstein's biography of Edna St.Vincent Millay in What Lips My Lips Have Kissed, confirms this.From love affairs with men and women to excessive drinking, this book has it all.
However, there were some things in the book that could have been elaborated on.For example, Epstein had my attention from the very first chapters about Millay's young life as a poet.He mentions how she would conduct candlelight seances in her rooms at night, and would use them as inspiration to write her poetry.He also mentions how close she was with her mother, Cora.I think Epstein should have gone into further detail on both Millay's life as a young poet, and her relationship to her mother.Instead, the book focuses on her love affairs with many men (and a few with some of the women she met at Vassar), as well as the ups and downs she experienced within these relationships and within her life as a poet.Now granted, the book might not be successful if it tried to incorporate the points I would have liked to have seen, but I think especially concerning Millay's feelings of great love for her mother, it might make the book a stronger one.
What I admired about the book was the feeling I got of Epstein's concern as a present-day writer looking into Millay's steady decline as poet throughout.As a reader, I sensed a certain kind of admiration and esteem for her in the tone of the book, especially at the start of her career as a writer.I was saddened at the end of the book to learn that Millay died from an intake of too much alcohol as well as a fall from her steps. Epstein's concern at the end, too, only strengthened my view that poets do not lead the kinds of high-roller lives that people would like to believe they do.
When I finished the book, I found myself wanting to know more of the sensitive and acclaimed poet.I wanted to know what drew her so much to alcohol and morphine that she was so wont to abuse.I wanted to know why exactly her husband Eugen's reasoning was in briefly trying morphine in an attempt to make her realize that morphine was indeed not the solution to her problems.I wanted to know what Millay's reasoning was in having extra-marital affairs with other men while being married to Eugen.And I wanted to know more about Millay's sisters; why Kathleen went mad, and why she seemed to stay more in touch with her other sister, Norma, more than Kathleen.I wanted more answers than I got from reading this book.
In short, while this book is interesting and well-organized, it does not offer a complete look into Millay's psyche and way of perceiving her world.It is most probably a book that would support research done on the poet's life, rather than being a book that can stand on its own.If you want to read a book about Millay's love affairs, read this book.If you want to read about her life as a whole, look elsewhere.

The best so far
This is simply a great biography.

Apparently Epstein was able to gain access to a vast Library of Congress collection of documents on Millay that won't be released to the public until 2010. And he seems to have done an unusually good job of sorting through all this information and putting it in order.

Perhaps it's due to Epstein being a poet himself, but he's able to give a wonderfully sensitive and intelligent account of Millay's life. He's done lots of detective work, and it seems to all hold together.

It's an unbelievable story -- so American in some ways: the gilded age to ragtime to the Jazz Age, the World Wars, anti-war and women's rights, passion, poetry, Greenwich Village and the Left Bank, genius, narcissism, money, fame, sex, alcohol, drugs, a skyrocket ride from poverty to success to destruction.

And yet so un-American in its calm, well-behaved, almost English manner: no shooting, no fist-fights, no one calling the cops, a time when books of poetry sold 50,000 copies and folks jam-packed auditoriums to hear poetry readings -- think Bloomsbury secretly on meth and Virginia Woolf quietly dedicating herself to nymphomania.

Really a well-written book, and surely the best biography of Millay so far. ... Read more

Product Description
This collection includes: Aria da Capo, A Few Figs from Thistles, Second April, Renascence and Other Poems ... Read more

Product Description
With an active table of contents, 5 books of poetry and drama by Edna St. Vincent Millay:

ARIA DA CAPO
A Few Figs from Thistles
The Lamp and the Bell
Renascence and Other Poems
Second April ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Essential Reading for Poets

Her lyrical works are among her best.
Great depth of passion. You enter her world!

Sun came up, bigger than all my sorrow...
I feel that anyone who gives this collection less than 5 stars hasn't given it a chance. This is the only book of poetry out of the many that I own that I have read cover-to-cover several times. My copy is dog-eared, sun-tanned, spilled-on, underlined... showing all of the signs of a book extremely well-loved. Why? Because Millay says things like the phrase I used for the title of this review, as well as:

"Above these cares my spirit in calm abiding
Floats like a swimmer at sunrise, facing the pale sky."
-- from ABOVE THESE CARES

"My heart is warm with the friends I make,
And better friends I'll not be knowing;
Yet there isn't a train I wouldn't take,
No matter where it's going."-- from TRAVEL

"Ashes am I of all that once I seemed.
In me all's sunk that leapt, and all that dreamed."
-- from THE SUICIDE

"Oh little leaves that are so dumb
Against the shrieking city air,
I watch you when the wind has come,--
I know what sound is there." -- from CITY TREES

Those are just the first few that sprung out at me from the several phrases I marked in my own copy - there are so many more that I wish I had the room to share here, but since I do not, I will close with this fitting lyric from THE POET and HIS BOOK:

"Stranger, pause and look;
From the dust of ages
Lift this little book,
Turn the tattered pages,
Read me, do not let me die!
Search the fading letters, finding
Steadfast in the broken binding
All that once was I!"

I sincerely hope you "pause and look" at Millay's COLLECTED LYRICS - it is like a script of wonderful lines describing life.

Nobel Poetry
Stay with this for my review on the Collected Lyrics

The suject of one of our summer book group meetings is the poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay. It was my good fortune to take home "Fatal Interview, Sonnets" from among the books offered. Never having read Ms. Millay's poetry, I was unfamiliar with even "Renascence," the first stanza of which is so well known.Having some difficulty relating to the sonnets, I persevered because she was a Nobel prize recipient.At length, the connection was made and resulted in a poem of my own, "Bravo, Ms Millay."Her search for love and especially for Source reminded me of "The Hound of Heaven."

Enter rescue in the form of Edna St. Vincent Millay Colleted Lyrics.I found the poetry enchanting.Oddly, none of the sonnets from"Fatal Interview" were included.From the very beginning, her poetryis indeed a search for God.She is very good at rhyme and meter and excells at unusual points of view that in themselves make evident what she is sharing with her readers.Bravo, Ms. Millay
Oh wondrous weaver of words given wings,
A dove soaring in the sky.
Mine, too, a heart that sings
Heaving a gentle sigh.
'Tis true we are our own being
We can only sing our song.
As true to show our seeing
All for which we long.
Your gracious exposition of love
This ordinary mortal gleans
Comes to earth from above
Astride sun and moonbeams.
Searching for your very source
Skyward soaring
Never boring force.

Millay is a poet of the first order
I own an earlier edition of this book (published by Harper & Row) and it is through this single volume that Ms. Millay has become one of my favorite poets. Her masterful use of meter and rhyme produce sentences and line breaks that are profoundly satisfying. By way of example I offer the opening stanza from the beautiful poem of spiritual awakening, "Renascence":

"All I could see from where I stood
Was three long mountains and a wood;
I turned and looked another way,
And saw three islands in a bay.
So with my eyes I traced the line
Of the horizon, thin and fine,
Straight around till I was come
Back to where I'd started from;
And all I saw from where I stood
Was three long mountains and a wood."

The pieces included in this collection are taken from seven different sources, originally published between 1917 and the 1940's respectively. The themes of love, sorrow, nature and the human condition in general - coupled with Ms. Millay's intelligence, insight and sharp wit - make all of the pieces in this book timeless and perfect poetry.

from her reputation, i expected better
millay's collection of poems was not, in my opinion, a very good one. there were a dozen or so good poems (most of them from her collection _A Few Figs From Thistles_), but most were just not very good. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (8)

AN IMPORTANT ADDITION TO THIS SERIES.THE ART IS ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL!
I cannot think of a better way to introduce the poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay than this small volume.The selection is excellent and of interest you the young reader.The commentary is quite relevant as are the pictures which accompany it which by the way are worth the price of the book alone.I find that often now, our young people go all the way through the early grades in school and many of them have never heard of Millay much less read her poetry.This was the sort of stuff my generation and the generation before it grew up on and cut our teeth on.I do not feel I am any worse for the wear.I am fearful that we are bringing up an entire generation (rightfully or wrong, although I feel it is the later) of young folks who will have no appreciation to this great art form and will miss a lot.This book helps.This entire series helps, as a matter of fact and I certainly recommend you add this one and the others to your library.Actually, it is rather fun reading these with the young folk and then talking about them.Not only do you get to enjoy the work your self and perhaps bring back some great memories, but you have the opportunity to interact with your child or student.It is actually rather surprising what some of the kids come up with.I read these to my grandchildren and to the kids in my classes at school.For the most part, when I really get to discussing the work with them, they enjoy it.Recommend this one highly.

Beautiful.
The illustrations and the poetry create feelings and emotions which go beyond the pages. Mike Bryces illustrations pull you into the poetry with a style that is breath taking. The poetry will linger in your mind the illustrations in your heart. You will find yourself going to it time and time again.

Great... but not the best for a young reader...
This will be a reallly personal review.
I first discovered Edna in my senior high school humanities class.When I first read it I thought, "That's so real! That's me! I can relate to that!"She so eloquently put what I wanted to say but was not capable of in my late teens and early 20's into words.
Now that I am past the dating years and finally read a short bio on the author I realize that all I really liked about her writing was that she was a modern day "fast girl" (if you catch my drift).I really feel betrayed because I thought I was so literate and now I wonder what liking her poetry so much said about me.
So now I feel for the author beacause she chose to live in the fast lane and then dull the pain and escape into drugs and alcohol... which maybe was the better choice for her if infamous was on her list of things to become.
Though I do recommend her reading strongly in general because it's romantic and interesting and delightful, I don't think it's appropriate for "young people" with lines like "What lips my lips have kissed"... Unless ofcourse instilling Catholic schoolgirl guilt into your child is at the top of your priority list... or you want to give her poems to read to her boyfriend... or something... use your discretion...

Poetry, Art and a Life all in One
I opened this book at weekly Storytime...my son likes to play with the trains while my daughters listen to the story.. I thought, "I'll just look at this for a moment" and I was transfixed for the entirety of storytime.

Yes, as the other reviewers have stated the illustrations are amazing, the poetry.... mind opening.Another facet of this book is the brief and compelling biography of Edna St. Vincent Millay.

I knew very little about her... now that I know the little that I know from this book, I am hungry for more of her work as well as more of her life.

Excellent book -- I am going to look into other titles in this series as well (The Poetry for Young People ) to see if the others are as above average as this one.

Each illustration could be the focus of additional conversation: I see myself reading these poems repeatedly with my children. They are simple, elegant and timeless.

Touching poetry accented with gorgeous illustrations
Picked up this up recently while browsing my local bookstore and was taken aback by the beautiful artwork found in this collection of Edna St. Vincent Millay's poems. I bought it on the spot! Not only are poem's heart-wrenchingly personal and affecting, the watercolor's are a feast for the eyes. I've shown this book to many of my peers who share my enthusiasmand have consequently picked it up as well. Strongly recommended! ... Read more

Product Description
Dual-Language edition, first paperback printing of the 1936 hardcover. Translated into English and presented on pages facing the original French text. With an Introduction and an unusual Biographical Note by Miss Millay. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (2)

The Best of EdnaMillay - with wonderful commentary!
A very fine presentation of the early work of Edna St. Vincent Millay, one of our finest American poets. I find her work to
be in a class of its own, reaching out to the human spirit.

The presentation in this book of her first three published works really exposes the reader to Millay at the top of her form.

For me, the notes and commentary of Editor Holly Peppe helped greatly.Dr. Peppe's analysis is extremely readable and shows
a wonderful understanding of her subject.In her introduction
Holly Peppe gives an excellent overview of Ms. Millay's life as well as her art. And I found her notes in this book on Millay's
writing to be interesting and insightful. HIGHLY recommended!

It's an important and lovely book.
This book is a lovely way to return to Edna St. Vincent Millay's early radiant poetry or to read it for the first time. Editor Holly Peppe'simportant and knowlegable introduction answers many lingering questionsabout Millay's place as a poet, her experience as a woman, and heroriginality as an artist. Highly recommended! ... Read more