Edna St. Vincent Millay

Edna St. Vincent Millay Facts:

Dates: February 22, 1892 - October 19, 1950
Occupation: poet, playwright, actress
Known for: popular poetry, Bohemian lifestyle
Also known as: Nancy Boyd, E. Vincent Millay, Edna St. Millay

Edna St. Vincent Millay Biography:

Edna St. Vincent Millay's parents divorced when she was eight, reportedly because of her father's gambling habits. She and her two younger sisters were raised by their mother in Maine, where she developed an interest in literature and began writing poetry.

By the age of 14, she was publishing poetry in the children's magazine, St. Nicholas, and read an original piece for her high school graduation.

Three years after graduation, she followed her mother's advice and submitted a long poem to a contest. When the anthology of selected poems was published, her poem, "Renascence," won critical praise.

On the basis of this poem, she won a scholarship to Vassar, spending a semester at Barnard in preparation. She continued to write and publish poetry while in college, and also enjoyed the experience of living among so many intelligent, spirited, and independent young women.

Soon after graduation, she published her first volume of poetry, including "Renascence." It was not particularly financially successful, though it won critical approval, and so she moved with one of her sisters to New York, hoping to become an actress. She moved to Greenwich Village, and soon became part of the literary and intellectual scene in the Village. She had many lovers, both female and male, while she struggled to make money with her writing.

After 1920, she began to publish mostly in Vanity Fair, thanks to editor Edmund Wilson who later proposed marriage to Millay. Publishing in Vanity Fair meant more public notice and a bit more financial success. A play and a poetry prize were accompanied by illness, but in 1921, another Vanity Fair editor arranged to pay her regularly for writing she would send from a trip to Europe.

In 1923, her poetry won the Pulitzer Prize, and she returned to New York, where she met and quickly married a wealthy Dutch businessman, Eugen Boissevant, who supported her writing and took care of her through many illnesses.

In following years, Edna St. Vincent Millay found that performances where she recited her poetry were sources of income. She also became more involved in social causes, including women's rights and defending Sacco and Vanzetti.

In the 1930s, her poetry reflects her growing social concern and her grief over her mother's death. A car accident in 1936 and general ill health slowed her writing. The rise of Hitler disturbed her, and then the invasion of Holland by the Nazis cut off her husband's income. She also lost many close friends to death in the 1930s and 1940s. She had a nervous breakdown in 1944.

After her husband died in 1949, she continued to write, but died herself the next year. A last volume of poetry was published posthumously.

Her poetry, rather traditional in form but adventurous in content, reflected her life in dealing forthrightly with sex and independence in women. A nature mysticism pervades much of her work.

Background, Family:

• Mother: Cora Buzzelle Millay (nurse)
• Father: Henry Tolman Millay (teacher)
• Eldest of three daughters
• Parents divorced in 1900, daughters were raised by their mother.

Education:

• Camden High School, Camden, Maine
• Barnard Collegee (1 semester)
• Vassar College, 1917

Marriage, Children:

• husband: Eugen Jan Boissevan (married 1923; died in 1949)
• they had no children

Key works:

• "Renascence" (1912)
• Renascence and Other Poems (1917)
• A Few Figs from Thistles (1920)
• Second April (1921)
• The Harp-Weaver and Other Poems (1923)
• The King's Henchman (1927)
• The Buck in the Snow and Other Poems (1928)
• Fatal Interview (1931)
• Wine from These Grapes (1934)
• Conversation at Midnight (1937)
• Huntsman, What Quarry? (1939)
• Make Bright the Arrows (1940)
• The Murder of Lidice (1942)
• Mine the Harvest (published 1954)

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