American Poets Project Millay: Selected Poems

Be the first to write a review

Want to read this on your NOOK? Request as NOOK Book from the publisher

Thank you for requesting this book as a NOOK book from the publisher.

Customers Who Bought This Also Bought

More About This Book

Overview
Editorial Reviews
Product Details
Meet the Author
Table of Contents

Advertising

Overview

A lively selection by J. D. McClatchy, the distinguished poet, critic, and editor, casts Millay's career in a new light. Here are familiar favorites alongside neglected gems: translations, a verse play, songs from her opera libretto The King's Henchman, and the complete sonnet sequence Fatal Interview.

To coincide with the publication of the long-awaited Nancy Milford biography and in celebration of the centenary of the birth of Edna St. Vincent Millay, here is a carefully chosen selection of the poet's finest works. Millau will be cherished for years to come through this magnificent anthology.

Editorial Reviews

Library Journal

These inaugural volumes in "The American Poets Project" series form a useful introduction to the evolution of modern American poetry in loose historical progression. The volume on Whitman, father of modern American poetry, restores the voice of a poet who initiated free verse to speak of a growing America and thus takes us into the 20th century and beyond. Fortunately, editor Bloom ignores all of the psycho-social-sexual labels doled out to Whitman and lauds him simply as "the principal writer that America...has brought to us." Selections include some of Whitman's best, e.g., "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking" and the spiritual bridge between Whitman and his future readers, "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry." Millay, one of America's strongest female poets, is similar in her metrics to 19th-century poets, but her flamelike intensity is pure 20th century. When she died in 1950, her poetry almost died with her; not until after the women's rights movements did her once acclaimed verse resurface. Editor McClatchy provides a generous sample of her poetry, highlighting her early years ("Renascence," "A Few Figs from Thistles"), the lesser-known poems never before published, and the posthumously published "Mine the Harvest." World War II sliced the 20th century in half and forever changed the American way of life as idealism and self-reliance ceded to franchising and instant gratification. The poets appearing in the World War II anthology-compiled by Harvey Shapiro, himself a poet of the war-portend this major mind shift by their tone, which questions rather than sanctions patriotism, valor, and the values of the 1940s. Arranged by the poets' birth dates, the poems include Robinson Jeffers's cynical nod to violence as a natural cause of earth events; Randall Jarrell's graphic depictions of airborne death; and John Ciardi's whimsical renditions of horror. Lastly, Karl Shapiro, one of the more influential voices of the late 20th century, displayed complex and contrary tendencies in both his life and his poetry. Editor Updike notes that Shapiro's experimentation with voices and forms alienated those who admired the metrical dexterity of his early poems. This commanding new series, which the Library of America will expand each spring and fall season by adding two or three titles, is a worthy addition to all libraries.-Nedra Crowe Evers, Sacramento P.L., CA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781931082358
Publisher: Library of America
Publication date: 7/28/2002
Pages: 231
Sales rank: 448,565
Series: American Poets Project
Product dimensions: 4.80 (w) x 7.82 (h) x 0.74 (d)

Meet the Author

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. She acted and wrote for the Provincetown Players theater group and in 1919 directed a production of her play Aria da Capo. 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. That same year she married Eugen Boissevain, and in 1925 they moved to a farm in upstate New York. 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.

	Introduction
	Renascence	3
	Interim	10
	Afternoon on a Hill	18
	Witch-Wife	18
	When the Year Grows Old	19
	"Time does not bring relief; you all have lied"	20
	"If I should learn, in some quite casual way"	21
	Bluebeard	22
	First Fig	23
	Second Fig	23
	Recuerdo	23
	To the Not Impossible Him	24
	Grown-up	25
	Daphne	25
	Midnight Oil	25
	The Philosopher	26
	"I think I should have loved you presently"	26
	"I shall forget you presently, my dear"	27
	Eel-Grass	28
	Elegy Before Death	28
	Weeds	29
	Passer Mortuus Est	30
	Alms	30
	Inland	31
	Ebb	32
	from Memorial to D. C.: I. Epitaph	33
	from Memorial to D. C.: IV. Dirge	33
	from Memorial to D. C.: V. Elegy	34
	"Only until this cigarette is ended"	35
	"Once more into my arid days like dew"	36
	"When I too long have looked upon your face"	36
	"And you as well must die, beloved dust"	37
	"As to some lovely temple, tenantless"	38
	Wild Swans	38
	Autumn Chant	39
	Feast	40
	The Betrothal	40
	The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver	41
	Never May the Fruit Be Plucked	46
	Hyacinth	47
	To One Who Might Have Borne a Message	47
	"Love is not blind. I see with single eye"	48
	"Pity me not because the light of day"	48
	"Here is a wound that never will heal, I know"	49
	"Your face is like a chamber where a king"	50
	"I, being born a woman and distressed"	50
	"What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why"	51
	"How healthily their feet upon the floor"	51
	"Euclid alone has looked on Beauty bare"	52
	Sonnets from an Ungrafted Tree	53
	To the Wife of a Sick Friend	63
	To a Friend Estranged from Me	64
	The Buck in the Snow	65
	Evening on Lesbos	65
	Dirge Without Music	66
	Lethe	67
	To Inez Milholland	68
	To Jesus on His Birthday	68
	"Not that it matters, not that my heart's cry"	69
	Aria da Capo (1927)	73
	AElfrida's Song	97
	Love Scene	99
	The Fang	105
	Parisian Dream	106
	Invitation to the Voyage	108
	The Old Servant	110
	Late January	111
	The King of the Rainy Country	111
	Mists and Rains	112
	A Memory	113
	Fatal Interview (1931)	117
	Valentine	147
	In the Grave No Flower	147
	Childhood Is the Kingdom Where Nobody Dies	148
	The Solid Sprite Who Stands Alone	150
	Spring in the Garden	151
	Sonnet ("Time, that renews the tissues of this frame")	152
	Desolation Dreamed Of	152
	On the Wide Heath	153
	Two Sonnets in Memory	154
	Conscientious Objector	155
	Epitaph for the Race of Man	156
	"Thus are our altars polluted; nor may we flee ..."	166
	"The mind thrust out of doors"	172
	The Snow Storm	174
	Not So Far as the Forest	174
	"Fontaine, Je Ne Boirai Pas De Ton Eau!"	177
	The True Encounter	178
	Czecho-Slovakia	178
	Underground System	179
	Two Voices	180
	This Dusky Faith	181
	To a Young Poet	182
	To Elinor Wylie	182
	"Now that the west is washed of clouds and clear"	186
	"I too beneath your moon, almighty Sex"	187
	"Thou famished grave, I will not fill thee yet"	187
	"Not only love plus awful grief"	188
	"Make bright the arrows"	189
	An Eclipse of the Sun Is Predicted	189
	"Gentlemen Cry, Peace!"	190
	"I must not die of pity; I must live"	191
	"They marched them out to the public square"	192
	Small Hands, Relinquish All	195
	Ragged Island	196
	"To whom the house of Montagu"	197
	"The courage that my mother had"	199
	Armenonville	199
	Dream of Saba	200
	For Warmth Alone, for Shelter Only	204
	"Black hair you'd say she had, or rather"	204
	Steepletop	206
	"Look how the bittersweet with lazy muscle move aside"	207
	"Those hours when happy hours were my estate"	209
	"Not to me, less lavish - though my dreams have been splendid"	209
	"Tranquility at length, when autumn comes"	210
	Sonnet in Dialectic	210
	"It is the fashion now to wave aside"	211
	"Admetus, from my marrow's core I do"	212
	"I will put Chaos into fourteen lines"	212
	"And must I then, indeed, Pain, live with you"	213
	"Felicity of Grief! - even Death being kind"	213
	"If I die solvent - die, that is to say"	214
	Biographical Note	217
	Note on the Texts	218
	Notes	220
	Index of Titles and First Lines	223

Customer Reviews

Be the first to write a review

( 0 )

Rating Distribution

5 Star

(0)

4 Star

(0)

3 Star

(0)

2 Star

(0)

1 Star

(0)

Your Rating:

Review Guidelines

Tell the world what you think of this product.

Add Recommendations

Your Name: Create a Pen Name or Leave Anonymously

Barnes & Noble.com Review Rules

Our reader reviews allow you to share your comments on titles you liked, or didn't, with others. By submitting an online review, you are representing to Barnes & Noble.com that all information contained in your review is original and accurate in all respects, and that the submission of such content by you and the posting of such content by Barnes & Noble.com does not and will not violate the rights of any third party. Please follow the rules below to help ensure that your review can be posted.

Reviews by Our Customers Under the Age of 13

We highly value and respect everyone's opinion concerning the titles we offer. However, we cannot allow persons under the age of 13 to have accounts at BN.com or to post customer reviews. Please see our Terms of Use for more details.

What to exclude from your review:

Please do not write about reviews, commentary, or information posted on the product page. If you see any errors in the information on the product page, please send us an email.

Reviews should not contain any of the following:

- HTML tags, profanity, obscenities, vulgarities, or comments that defame anyone
- Time-sensitive information such as tour dates, signings, lectures, etc.
- Single-word reviews. Other people will read your review to discover why you liked or didn't like the title. Be descriptive.
- Comments focusing on the author or that may ruin the ending for others
- Phone numbers, addresses, URLs
- Pricing and availability information or alternative ordering information
- Advertisements or commercial solicitation

Reminder:

- By submitting a review, you grant to Barnes & Noble.com and its sublicensees the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to use the review in accordance with the Barnes & Noble.com Terms of Use.
- Barnes & Noble.com reserves the right not to post any review -- particularly those that do not follow the terms and conditions of these Rules. Barnes & Noble.com also reserves the right to remove any review at any time without notice.
- See Terms of Use for other conditions and disclaimers.

If you find inappropriate content, please report it to Barnes & Noble

American Poets Project Millay: Selected Poems

Pick Up in Store

Overview

Customers Who Bought This Also Bought

More About This Book

Overview

Related Subjects

Editorial Reviews

Library Journal

Product Details

Meet the Author

Table of Contents

Customer Reviews

Rating Distribution

5 Star

4 Star

3 Star

2 Star

1 Star

Your Rating:

Your Recommendations:

Barnes & Noble.com Review Rules

Reviews by Our Customers Under the Age of 13

What to exclude from your review:

Reviews should not contain any of the following:

Reminder:

Recommend other products that relate to your review. Just search for them below and share!