Early Poems - Edna St Vincent Millay

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Résumé :
Weaving intellect, emotion and irony into unexpected combinations, Edna St. Vincent Millay gave voice through her poetry to her post-World War I generation's claim to personal freedom -- and earned a reputation as a sexually liberated free-thinker who followed her own moral code. Known for her progressive convictions about women's rights and social equality, as well as her free-spirited Bohemian lifestyle, Millay surrounded herself in the 1920s with other artists and writers in Greenwich Village, including Eugene O'Neill, Floyd Dell, Djuna Barnes and Edmund Wilson. Her finely crafted poetry found its form mainly in traditional rhyming sonnets and lyric pieces, but her message declared her independence from convention, as in the often-quoted 1918 quatrain: My candle burn's at both ends; It will not last the night; But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends --It gives a lovely light!This edition comprises Millay's first three books, Renascence, Second April, and A Few Figs as well as a biographical and critical Introduction, and indexes both by title and by first line.

Biographie:
Edna St. Vincent Millay was born in 1892 in Rockland, Maine, and grew up in the seaside town of Camden. She published her first poems as a teenager and, at twenty, her long poem Renascence appeared in the anthology The Lyric Year. At Vassar, she developed her talents and reputation as a dramatist and actor. After graduating in 1917, Millay moved to Greenwich Village in New York City where she gave poetry readings and became known for her freedom of thought and feminist views. Her poetry was published in several magazines, including Vanity Fair, Poetry, and Forum. Her first book, Renascence and Other Poems (1917), was followed in 1920 by A Few Figs from Thistles (an expanded edition appeared in 1922) and in 1921 by Second April.

In 1923, upon her return from two years of writing and traveling in Europe, Millay received the second annual Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and published a new collection, The Harp-Weaver and Other Poems. Millay published five more collections of poetry: The Buck in the Snow (1928), Fatal Interview (1931), Wine from These Grapes (1934), Huntsman, What Quarry? (1939), Make Bright the Arrows (1940)...

Sommaire:

Millay's first three books of lyrics and sonnets are collected here: Renascence, Second April, and A Few Figs from Thistles. With a balanced and appreciative introduction and useful annotations, this volume presents some of the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet's best work in which she weaves intellect, emotion, and irony.

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