Edna St. Vincent Millay

Edna St. Vincent Millay was an American poet of the early twentieth century, associated with the bohemian culture of Greenwich Village. Her poetry is known for its lyrical intensity, formal mastery of the sonnet, and candid exploration of love, sexuality, and feminist themes. Biography ↓More ↓

Most common moods

Most common topics

Poems

The Death of Autumn

When reeds are dead and a straw to thatch the marshes, And feathered pampas-grass rides into the wind Like aged warriors westward, tragic, thinned Of half their tribe, and over the flattened rushes, Stripped of its secret, open, stark and bleak, Blackens afar the half-forgotten creek,-- Then leans on me the weight of the year, and crushes My heart. I know that Beauty must ail and die, And will be born again,--but ah, to see Beauty stiffened, staring up at the sky! Oh, Autumn! Autumn!--What is the Spring to me?

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Three Songs of Shattering 1

The first rose on my rose-tree Budded, bloomed, and shattered, During sad days when to me Nothing mattered. Grief of grief has drained me clean; Still it seems a pity No one saw,--it must have been Very pretty.

Show more poems32Show fewer poems

The first poems in full

Read them hereShow fewer poems

Eel-Grass

No matter what I say, All that I really love Is the rain that flattens on the bay, And the eel-grass in the cove; The jingle-shells that lie and bleach At the tide-line, and the trace Of higher tides along the beach: Nothing in this place.

First Fig

My candle burns at both ends; It will not last the night; But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends-- It gives a lovely light!

Second Fig

Safe upon the solid rock the ugly houses stand: Come and see my shining palace built upon the sand!

The Penitent

I had a little Sorrow, Born of a little Sin, I found a room all damp with gloom And shut us all within; And, "Little Sorrow, weep," said I, "And, Little Sin, pray God to die, And I upon the floor will lie And think how bad I've been!"

Alas for pious planning-- It mattered not a whit! As far as gloom went in that room, The lamp might have been lit! My little Sorrow would not weep, My little Sin would go to sleep-- To save my soul I could not keep My graceless mind on it!

So up I got in anger, And took a book I had, And put a ribbon on my hair To please a passing lad, And, "One thing there's no getting by-- I've been a wicked girl," said I; "But if I can't be sorry, why, I might as well be glad!"

Daphne

Why do you follow me?-- Any moment I can be Nothing but a laurel-tree.

Any moment of the chase I can leave you in my place A pink bough for your embrace.

Yet if over hill and hollow Still it is your will to follow, I am off;--to heel, Apollo!

Portrait by a Neighbor

Before she has her floor swept Or her dishes done, Any day you'll find her A-sunning in the sun!

It's long after midnight Her key's in the lock, And you never see her chimney smoke Till past ten o'clock!

She digs in her garden With a shovel and a spoon, She weeds her lazy lettuce By the light of the moon,

She walks up the walk Like a woman in a dream, She forgets she borrowed butter And pays you back cream!

Her lawn looks like a meadow, And if she mows the place She leaves the clover standing And the Queen Anne's lace!

Midnight Oil

Cut if you will, with Sleep's dull knife, Each day to half its length, my friend,-- The years that Time takes off my life, He'll take from off the other end!

The Merry Maid

Oh, I am grown so free from care Since my heart broke! I set my throat against the air, I laugh at simple folk!

There's little kind and little fair Is worth its weight in smoke To me, that's grown so free from care Since my heart broke!

Lass, if to sleep you would repair As peaceful as you woke, Best not besiege your lover there For just the words he spoke To me, that's grown so free from care Since my heart broke!

Biography

Edna St. Vincent Millay was an American poet born in 1892 and died in 1950. She first gained widespread attention with the poem 'Renascence' and became a central figure in the literary life of New York City's Greenwich Village. Her poetry often combines traditional forms such as the sonnet with a modern, rebellious sensibility. Themes of romantic love, female independence, nature, and mortality recur throughout her work. She wrote with both emotional directness and technical precision. Millay received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for 'The Harp-Weaver and Other Poems'. Her collections include 'A Few Figs from Thistles' and 'Second April'. She was one of the most celebrated poets in America during the 1920s and 1930s. Her work influenced later generations of poets, particularly women writers. Millay remains significant for her contributions to lyric poetry and for embodying the spirit of early twentieth-century feminism.

Learn Poems app

Pick a short Millay poem and learn it today.

Step-by-step learning, voice recordings you can share, and review reminders.