Selected Poems of Edna St. Vincent Millay

Book excerpt: More than sixty years after her death, the Pulitzer Prizewinning poet Edna St. Vincent Millay continues to captivate new generations of readers. The twentieth-century American author was catapulted to fame after the publication of Renascence, her first major work and a poem written while she was still a teenager. Millays frank attitude toward sexualityalong with immortal lines such as "My candle burns at both ends"solidified her reputation as the quintessential liberated woman of the Jazz Age. In this authoritative volume, Timothy F. Jackson has compiled and annotated a new selection that represents the full range of her published work alongside previously unpublished manuscript excerpts, poems, prose, and correspondence. The poems, appearing as they were printed in their first editions, are complemented by Jacksons extensive, illuminating notes, which draw on archival sources and help situate her work in its historical and literary context. Two introductory essaysone by Jackson and the other by Millays literary executor, Holly Peppealso help critically frame the poets work.