"And life goes on forever like the gnawing of a mouse"

[icepixie]

Along with finishing Midnight's Children, I renewed my acquaintance with Edna St. Vincent Millay today. Although, yes, I'm writing my thesis on Boland, and I've always loved Yeats, Millay might actually be my favorite poet. Well, tied for first, anyway. I always think of the latter half of my teenage years when I think of her, because I discovered "Renascence" when I was perhaps sixteen and fell utterly in love with it. (Here, read it. Very melodramatic, yes? You can see why a teenager would love it.) Then my AP English teacher gave me a volume of her selected poetry as a graduation gift, and I discovered, oh, pretty much everything in A Few Figs from Thistles and Second April, and just...ah, I think it's wonderful. She wrote a lot about grief and mourning, which perhaps turns people off, but which I always thought was beautiful.

Now that I'm no longer a teenager, I find some of my old favorites even more nuanced. I think I've begun to better understand the aura of ephemerality that hangs around poems like "Recuerdo" and "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!"). "The Un-explorer" also makes more sense to me now that I am older.

However, I am dismayed to discover that she's not as well-known as I thought she was. (The MLA database has been shattering illusions right and left tonight.) Hence, a poll:

[Poll #1423068]

Comments

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

I have read her, but not at school or university, just in passing. But it's probably worth noting that I'm British!

(Read Boland at school, though, as part of a themed collection on culture and loss.)

[rowdycamels.livejournal.com]

I think I've only heard of her through you. : ) I never read her in high school or in college. Then again, my knowledge of poetry in general in pretty pathetic, since I have little interest in most of it. I like the ones you linked to, though - nice and... iambic? The kind that sounds really good read out loud.

[sleepingcbw.livejournal.com]

Millay was my mother's favorite poet. I think I read "Renascence" for the first time when I was seven (and have had it quoted at me all my life).

[icepixie]

I have read her, but not at school or university, just in passing. But it's probably worth noting that I'm British!

Hee. Yeah, she's definitely not someone I would've expected the average non-American to know. But I had figured she was more well-known and well-criticized over here than she apparently is.

(Read Boland at school, though, as part of a themed collection on culture and loss.)

Hooray! She's still not very well-known over here, sadly, but then again I've run into people who've never even heard of Yeats, so I can't say as I'm surprised.

[icepixie]

Then again, my knowledge of poetry in general in pretty pathetic, since I have little interest in most of it.

*despairs* ;)

I like the ones you linked to, though - nice and... iambic? The kind that sounds really good read out loud.

Yeees. She wrote mostly in blank verse, which is indeed iambic pentameter. Lots of sonnets, too. (Project Gutenburg has most of her stuff, BTW.)

[icepixie]

I think my mind would've blown up if I'd read "Renascence" at age seven. In the good way, though.

[alto2.livejournal.com]

Definitely heard of her, but WAY back the first time. High school for sure. And I think the only reason I've heard of her since then is that one of my friends uses An Ancient Gesture when she teaches The Odyssey and shared it with me this year.

[icepixie]

...I don't think I've ever read "An Ancient Gesture." OM NOM NOM! I got a book of her collected, rather than selected, poetry today from the library; there appear to be several I haven't run across yet. Hooray!

At least she appeared in someone's high school curriculum. I think we did one poem by her in my AP class--since that was the teacher who gave me the book I have, it's very likely--but now that I think about it, it may have merely been that I ran across her on my own. Hmm.

[rowdycamels.livejournal.com]

*despairs* ;)

*is heathen*

(Project Gutenburg has most of her stuff, BTW.)

Hmmmmmm....

[gamesiplay.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't say I'm surprised that lots of people don't know her, but I am saddened! She's awesome.

[icepixie]

I agree entirely!

[fiara.livejournal.com]

We read her in creative writing, if I'm not mistaken. And I thought it was Mr. Brown who gave you the collection, not...what was her name?? *forgets*

[icepixie]

Ah, reading it for creative writing would make sense. Her stuff does seem like something Mr. Brown would've exposed us to. Although I feel like the first poem we had to write an explication of was a sonnet by her, but it's been so long that I really can't recall.

My book definitely came from Ms. Harmon. It was the English prize senior year, I think. (Although...hmm. Might've been the creative writing prize. I can't remember.)