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.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust theseries to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-datetranslations by award-winning translators.
By:
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Introduction by:
Diane Freedman
Volume editor:
Holly Peppe
Imprint: Penguin
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 193mm,
Width: 131mm,
Spine: 14mm
Weight: 184g
ISBN: 9780141180540
ISBN 10: 0141180544
Pages: 240
Publication Date: 01 December 1998
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Early PoemsAcknowledgments Introduction by Holly Peppe Suggestions for Further Reading A Note on the Text Renascence and Other Poems Renascence Interim The Suicide God's World Afternoon on a Hill Sorrow Tavern Ashes of Life The Little Ghost Kin to Sorrow Three Songs of Shattering The Shroud The Dream Indifference Witch-Wife Blight When the Year Grows Old Thou are not lovelier than lilacs, - no Time does not bring relief; you all have lied Mindful of you the sodden earth in spring Not in this chamber only at my birth If I should learn, in some quite casual way Bluebeard A Few Figs from Thistles First Fig Second Fig Recuerdo Thursday To the Not Impossible Him Macdougal Street The Singing-Woman from the Wood's Edge She Is Overheard Singing The Prisoner The Unexplorer Grown-up The Penitent Daphne Portrait by a Neighbour Midnight Oil The Merry Maid To Kathleen To S. M. The Philosopher I do but ask that you be always fair Love, though for this you riddle me with darts I think I should have loved you presently Oh, think not I am faithful to a vow I shall forget you presently, my dear Second April Spring City Trees The Blue-Flag in the Bog Journey Eel-Grass Elegy Before Death The Bean-Stalk Weeds Passer Mortuus Est Pastoral Assault Travel Low-Tide Song of a Second April Rosemary The Poet and His Book Alms Inland To a Poet that Died Young Wraith Ebb Elaine Burial Mariposa The Little Hill Doubt No More That Oberon Lament Exiled The Death of Autumn Ode to Silence Memorial to D. C. Wild Swans We talk of taxes, and I call you friend Into the golden vessel of great song Not with libations, but with shouts and laughter Only until this cigarette is ended Once more into my arid days like dew No rose that in a garden ever grew When I too long have looked upon your face And you as well must die, beloved dust Let you not say of me when I am old Oh, my beloved, have you thought of this As to some lovely temple, tenantless Cherish you then the hope I shall forget Explanatory Notes Index of Titles and First Lines
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); a prose collection under her pen name, Nancy Boyd, titled Distressing Dialogues (1924; its foreword carried Millay's byline); a translation, with George Dillon, of Baudelaire's Flowers of Evil (1936); the verse dramas Conversation at Midnight (1937) and The Murder of Lidice (1942); and several plays. Her final book was the posthumously published Mine the Harvest (1954), edited by her younger sister Norma. Edna St. Vincent Millay died in 1950. Holly Peppe, who holds a master of arts in teaching from Brown University and a Ph.D. in English from the University of New Hampshire, is a former professor and director of the English department at the American College of Rome and a National Endowment for the Humanities scholar. Dr. Peppe-whose doctoral dissertation focuses on Millay's critical reception and sonnet sequences, and who often lectures on Millay-has served as president of the Edna St. Vincent Millay Society since 1987. The Society is responsible for the preservation of Steepletop, the poet's home (designated a National Public Landmark) in Austerlitz, New York, and the placement of the poet's archives and family papers. Dr. Peppe is also involved with the Millay Colony for the Arts, an artists' retreat at Steepletop founded in 1973 by Norma Millay. Dr. Peppe's own poetry, translations, articles, and essays have appeared in numerous books and periodicals. She lives in New York City.
