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Article: Last the night: the abiding genius of Edna St. Vincent Millay.
- Article from:
- Harper's Magazine
- Article date:
- July 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Harper's Magazine Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Discussed in this essay:
Savage Beauty: the Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay, by Nancy Milford. Random House, 2001. 550 pages. $29.95.
What Lips My Lips Have Kissed: The Loves and Love Poems of Edna St. Vincent Millay, by Daniel Mark Epstein. Henry Holt and Company, 2001. 300 pages. $26.
She was nineteen when she began--quickly, systematically, sexually, and metaphorically--to seduce the world of American poetry. Her rhythms were catchy; her voice, bold. Thomas Hardy called her the best thing in the nation besides skyscrapers. She won a Pulitzer in 1922; her books flew off shelves like saucers in an earthquake. Her "imperial line" struck awe ...