Edna St. Vincent Millay By: Ashley Simons

The beginning of Edna St. Vincent Millay's poetry ● Edna was 14 years old when she entered one of her poems and won the gold badge of St, Nicholas magazine. ● By the time she was 20, Edna had finished her first long poem, “Renasence”. It attracted considerable attention, including a benefactor who enabled Millay to attend Vassar College.

Plays and Poetry ● Other plays of Edna's included “The lamp, and the bell.”, and “Two statterns and a king”. She also wrote the libretis for the opera, “The King's Henchman” for which Deems Taylor composed the music. ● In 1927, “The Kings Henchman” was first produced at the metropoliton Opera House.

A poet's life ● (1892 – 1950) In her career as a poet, Edna Millay wrote a verse in many different veins, abd of varying excellence. At her lightest she wrote almost flippontly, at her most intense, she produced some of the most loveliest sonnets and lyrics in American Poetry. ● Edna St. Vincent Millay was born on Feb. 22, 1892, in Rockland. As a child she began to write songs and poems with her two sisters.

Info about Millay's career ● Edna St. Vincent Millay was a jazz-age Poet who won a Pultizer Prize in ● After graduating from Vassar College, Edna St. Vincent Millay moved to Greenwich Village and became a lively figure of the avont grade artist scene, coining the term, “My candle burns at both ends”.

In Greenwich Village ● Short after Edna moved to Greenwich, she joined a experimental group known as “The Provina-town players” ● She acted in their theater in MacDagasstreed and also wrote plays for them, notably “Aris da Capol”, a satire on war.

In New York Millay got married to Eugen Jan Boissevain in They had no children, and lived on a farm in New York State. ● They spent their summers on an island off the Maine Coast.

Edna's feelings ● To illuminate the life and writings of Edna St. Vincent Millay and to preserve or interpret the character Steepto, her home and gardens, places why nature inspires the creative spirit.

Tradegy ● In the 1930's Millay's poetry reflects her growing social concern and her grip over her mother's death. ● A car accident in 1936 and general ill health slowed Edna's writing.

Millay's troubles ● The rise of Hitler disturbed Edna, and then the invasion of Holland by the Nazi's cut off her husband's income. ● She also lost many close friends to death in the 1930s and had a nervous breakdown in 1944.

Keyworks ● “Renascence” (1912) ● Renascence and the other poems (1917) ● A few figs from Thistles (1920) ● Second April (1921) ● The harp-weaver and the other poems (1923) ● The King's henchman (1927)

Quotes ● “Let us forget such words, and all they mean as hatred, bitterness and rancor, greed, intolerence, bigotty. Let us renew our faith and pledge to man has right to be himself, and free.” ● “Not truth, but faith it is that keeps the world alive.”

Education ● Conder High School, Conder, Maine. ● Barnard College. (1 Semester ) ● Vassar College, ( 1917 )

Family / Background ● Mother: Cora Buzzelle Millay ( Nurse ) ● Father: Henry Toleman Millay ( Teacher ) ● Edna: Eldest of three daughters. ● Parents divorced in 1900, daughters were raised by their mother.

Marriage / Children ● Husband: Eugen Jan Boissevan. ( Married in 1923, died in 1949 ) ● Edna and Eugen had no children.

R.I.P Edna and Eugen Millay ● After her husband died in 1949, Edna continues to write, but died herself the next year. ● A last volume of poetry was published posthemously after her death.

How did she die? ● Edna St. Vincent Millay died in Boston, 1949 from lung cancer. ● She was found dead at the bottom of the stairs in Steepletop.

Websites and links ● s/a/edna-st-millay.htm s/a/edna-st-millay.htm ● vincent-millay vincent-millay ● s ?query=edna%20vincent%20mill ay&ct s ?query=edna%20vincent%20mill ay&ct ● ● llay.htm llay.htm