American Literature Web Resources: Edna St. Vincent Millay

Edna St. Vincent Millay was characterized as one of the greatest (women) lyricists of the Twentieth Century.  She is known as one of the greatest sonnet writers of all time, with her soft style and striking connotations.  Millay has been described as a tease and a tomboy.  Her mother urged her and her two younger sisters, Norma and Kathleen to be independent and ambitious.  It is rumored that her mother taught her to write verse by the age four, and her first poem that was published she wrote at fourteen.  She studied as a child to become a concert pianist, and became successful with music and literature composition, and was a playwright.  Millay was a flamboyant twenties feminist, who didn't care to follow the rules set by a society of men, but rather create her own.  She was described as "only five feet tall, with red hair, changeable green eyes, and a melodious voice." It was also said that she had an, "intoxicating affect on people." (Edmund Wilson)

Chronology
1892-Edna St. Vincent Millay was born to Henry Tolman Millay and Cora Lounella (Buzelle) Millay, in Rockland, Maine on February 22nd.
1899-Her father leaves at her mother's request.
1900-Her parents divorced. Her mother and sisters, along with Millay moved about Maine until they settled in Camden in 1904.
1905-(1909)She attended high school in Camden, where she became editor in chief of a school magazine.
1906-In October her poem "Forest Trees" was published by St. Nicholas Magazine.  She continued to have work published by them through 1910.
1912-Her first national attention was attracted when she published "Renascence" in The Lyric Year, in November. She also gained the attention of Caroline B. Dow who enabled her to enroll in college.
1913-Early in the year she attended Barnard College to prepare for entrance exams to Vassar. Late fall she begins attending Vassar.
1917-Graduated with B.A. from Vassar.
1918-Moved to Greenwhich Village.
1919-Published series of sketches under pseudonym Nancy Boyd.
1920-Started writing for Vanity Fair and published in Reedy's Mirror.  Also left for Europe to write for Vanity Fair.
1922-Brought her mother to Europe with an advance from a novel. Her health was poor in her time of traveling Europe.
1923-She returned to the States in February and received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Her health continued to be poor.  She married Eugen Jan Bossevain, on July 18.
1924-She begins reading tours with her husband and also tours the Orient.
1925-She continues reading tours and she and Bossevain buy a farm at Austerlitz. (Steepletop) Receives an honorary Litt.D. degree from Tufts College.
1927-February 17th the Metropolitan Opera premieres The King's Henchman; and in August protests in Boston against execution of Sacco-Vanzetti.
1929-Elected to National Institute of Arts and Letters.
1931-Helen Haire Levinson Prize for sonnets in Poetry.
1932-December 25 of this year was the first of a series of eight readings, nationally broadcasted by radio, where Millay reads her poetry.
1933-Laureate of General Federation of Women's Clubs, May 22nd. Litt.D. degrees from University of Wisconsin and Russell Sage College.
1937-June, Honorary L.H.D. from New York University, honorary Litt.D. from Colby College.
1940-Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
1943-Receives the Gold Medal of the Poetry Society of America.
1944-Millay endures a nervous breakdown and is not able to write for two years.
1949-Bossevain dies in Boston of a stroke after having an operation.
1950-Millay dies at Steepleton, on October 19th

Works
Renascence and Other Poems 1917
A Few Figs From Thistles 1920
Second April 1921
The Lamp and the Bell 1921
Aria da Copo 1921
Two Slatterns and a King 1921
The Harp-Weaver and Other Poems 1923
Poems 1923
Distressing Dialogues 1924
Three Plays 1926
The King's Henchman 1927
The Buck in the Snow 1928
Fatal Interview 1931
The Princess Marries the Page 1932
Wine from These Grapes 1934
Conversations at Midnight 1937
Huntsman, What Quarry? 1939
Make Bright the Arrows 1940
There Are No Islands Any More 1940
Collected Sonnets 1941
Invocation of the Muses 1941
The Murder of Lidice 1942
Collected Lyrics 1943
Poem and Prayer for an Invading Army 1944
Collected Poems 1949
Letters of Edna St. Vincent Millay 1952
Mine the Harvest 1954
Collected Poems 1956
 

Sources
Edna St. Vincent Millay, Selected Poems. The Centenary Edition. Edited by Colin Falck. Harper Collins Publishers. 1991

Edna St. Vincent Millay. Twayne's United States Authors Series. Norman A. Brittin. Twayne Publishers, Inc. 1967

Links
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/LeftBank/6865/millaybio.html

http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/m_r/millay/about.htm

http://members.aol.com/MillayGirl/bio.htm

http://www.poets.org/poets/poets.cfm?prmID=161

http://www.sappho.com/poetry/historical/e_millay.html