Edna St. Vincent Millay

Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950) was an American poet and playwright known for lyric poetry, sonnets, and the 1923 Pulitzer Prize-winning collection The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver, and Other Poems. She became a celebrated literary voice of the 1920s.

Sonnet: A fourteen-line poetic form governed by established patterns of rhyme and meter. Millay’s sonnets use inherited form to give structure to intimate, often defiant speech.
The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver: A narrative poem by Millay about a poor mother who weaves clothes for her son by playing a harp. This title poem helped earn Millay the 1923 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.
Norma Millay: An American nurse and educator who was Edna St. Vincent Millay’s mother. Norma raised Millay and her sisters in Maine while supporting her daughter’s literary ambitions.
Rockland, Maine: A coastal city in Knox County, Maine, on Penobscot Bay. Millay was born in nearby Rockland and spent her childhood in Maine.
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: An annual American literary award for distinguished poetry published in the United States. Millay won the 1923 prize for The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver, and Other Poems.
Lyric poetry: Poetry that presents a speaker’s thoughts or feelings, often in a musical or compressed form. The concentrated voice and emotional immediacy of lyric poetry mark much of Millay’s work.
Renascence: A poem by Millay in which a speaker confronts mortality, suffering, and spiritual renewal. Its publication brought Millay early recognition after she submitted it to a poetry competition.
Caroline B. Dow: An American educator and reformer associated with the YWCA and its National Training School. Dow helped fund Millay’s education at Vassar after hearing her recite “Renascence.”
Greenwich Village: A neighborhood in Lower Manhattan long associated with artistic and political movements. Millay moved there after college and became part of its bohemian literary scene.
American modernism: A diverse movement in American arts and literature that challenged inherited forms and conventions. Millay’s popularity shows how formal lyric poetry coexisted with modernist experimentation.

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