Thomas Hardy once said that America had two great attractions: the skyscraper and the poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay. The most famous poet of th...
read full description
reviews
Aug 29, 2007
Rosemary
rated it: 
This is one long book and I wanted more. Not more pages. More poetry. And way more salaciousness. Alas, Nancy Milford is a patient professional who carefully presents well-documented facts with little innuendo.
The story of Edna is beyond fascinating. This sort-of homely girl from Maine uses her mind and ability to pierce through people's facades to seduce her way through life. But there's so much more to the story. She works hard and deserves her successes. She loves to be loved, car More...
The story of Edna is beyond fascinating. This sort-of homely girl from Maine uses her mind and ability to pierce through people's facades to seduce her way through life. But there's so much more to the story. She works hard and deserves her successes. She loves to be loved, car More...
0 comments
like
(3 people liked it)
Dec 16, 2009
Leanna
rated it: 
I will admit that I didn't know of Edna St. Vincent Millay before starting on this book and so I greatly enjoyed the introduction to her poetry - certain poems are excerpted at length in this book and I found them to be lovely and insightful. Moreover, the portrait of Edna and her entire family was detailed, layered and complex. In fact, the entire description of Edna's life called out for psychological interpretation at nearly every turn. Although I never felt that I really liked any of the
More...
0 comments
like
(3 people liked it)
Jan 08, 2008
Smallen
rated it: 
This book made me hate Edna St. Vincent Millay. No joke. I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for some of her verses especially some from Conversations at Midnight, but she seems an awful, ugly, nasty person.
That aside, I wasn't really a tremendous fan of the book. I loved Milford's biography of Zelda Fitzgerald and expected a lot from the follow up that took 30 years to research and write. It was too choppy for me. There were so many letters and excerpts from letters that I More...
That aside, I wasn't really a tremendous fan of the book. I loved Milford's biography of Zelda Fitzgerald and expected a lot from the follow up that took 30 years to research and write. It was too choppy for me. There were so many letters and excerpts from letters that I More...
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Aug 01, 2007
Brekke
rated it: 
I'm biased because Edna St. Vincent Millay is my absolute favorite poet. So learning more about her was very interesting to me.
The book itself is incredibly well researched, really delving into the wild life of this amazing women.
She's not really someone you can idolize or look up to, but she is someone you can fall in love with, and that shines through beautifully in this biography.
I will warn that it is a bit heavy, and getting through the entire thing does More...
The book itself is incredibly well researched, really delving into the wild life of this amazing women.
She's not really someone you can idolize or look up to, but she is someone you can fall in love with, and that shines through beautifully in this biography.
I will warn that it is a bit heavy, and getting through the entire thing does More...
Apr 19, 2009
Julie
rated it:
What a riveting biography of a remarkable literary and feminist icon. It took Nancy Milford 30 years to write this biography of "Vincent" - and after you read it, you can understand why. Milford remains remarkably true to her sources - a vast treasure trove of at-that-point-unseen letters, journals, notebooks, unfinished works, and more from Edna St. Vincent Millay's estate. In the book, she lets the sources stretch their legs and breathe, allowing us readers to stew in Vincent's ri
More...
2 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Jul 25, 2008
Ned
rated it:
Just started this, but so far so good. Millay was a very "out there" character for her time. She was promiscuous and not choosy about which sex she slept with. She smoked and drank and partied. She was politically vocal and active. She hated the Lindberghs and publicly spoke out against them when they were advocating the Nazis. People adored her, but also hated and feared her. Thomas Hardy once said that there were only two good things about America--the skyscraper and the poetry
More...
2 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Jul 02, 2008
Maggie
rated it:
Review: Savage Beauty written by Nancy Milford
I began this book not having the slightest idea about Edna St. Vincent Millay other than a few poems of hers I remembered from a poetry collection, and came away from it enthralled as much with the story as I was with the care Nancy Milford took in every detail, every analysis, every description. A biography has twin hearts: the first being the story, the life itself, and the second being the biographers interpretations- of not only the happenin More...
I began this book not having the slightest idea about Edna St. Vincent Millay other than a few poems of hers I remembered from a poetry collection, and came away from it enthralled as much with the story as I was with the care Nancy Milford took in every detail, every analysis, every description. A biography has twin hearts: the first being the story, the life itself, and the second being the biographers interpretations- of not only the happenin More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jun 06, 2008
Chrissa
rated it:
This is the second time I've picked this up and begun reading only to become intimidated by the subject and lay it aside. Biographies in general are difficult for me to read, because they make me feel guilty for reading rather than doing.
In this particular case, the biographer is careful to draw parallels down through three generations, ending with Edna Vincent Millay. The beginning of the book reaches backward through the life of Vincent's mother and grandmother, setting up the lif More...
In this particular case, the biographer is careful to draw parallels down through three generations, ending with Edna Vincent Millay. The beginning of the book reaches backward through the life of Vincent's mother and grandmother, setting up the lif More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Feb 21, 2008
Taylor
rated it:
This is a remarkable biography, for a multitude of reasons.
First, I must admit my own ignorance when it comes to much of Millay's work. I think I was surprised by how well-known she was in her day. I took advanced English courses in high school, studied English quite a bit in college, and yet my knowledge of her was so very limited, and the same went for my English nerd friends who I brought her up to. This either reflects poorly on the school systems, the way that fame of women is r More...
First, I must admit my own ignorance when it comes to much of Millay's work. I think I was surprised by how well-known she was in her day. I took advanced English courses in high school, studied English quite a bit in college, and yet my knowledge of her was so very limited, and the same went for my English nerd friends who I brought her up to. This either reflects poorly on the school systems, the way that fame of women is r More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Dec 20, 2011
Jee
rated it:
Savage Beauty does not dispel the impression that Edna St. Vincent Millay was a major life but a minor poet. This well-written biography quotes many poems in full, including "Renascence," which early won Millay warm admiration from poets and editors, and financial support for an education at Vassar. The biography occasionally grades the poems it quotes, saying of one "extraordinarily lovely" and of another "masterful." It is, however, more interested in identifying
More...
Jan 06, 2011
Sophia
rated it:
As a fan of her poetry I was naturally interested in her life, and to that extent this book is just amazing. Nancy Milford sort of hit the jack pot (for the second time) by having unprecedented access to Millay's journals, work books, estate papers, and of course, most importantly, reams and reams of personal correspondence. And so this book for the epistolary wealth alone is a knock out. I knew that Millay was something of a scandalous bohemian and a champion of free love, but I really had no
More...
Sep 18, 2010
Leslie
rated it:
I've been reading the poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay lately, so I was pleased to find this book in one of the boxes that my aunt sent at the beginning of the winter. I knew very little about the poet and her life, so this biography, thirty years in the writing, makes me want to take a new look at the poems. Although I feel that there are some faults in Milford's biography, seeing the poetry against the background of a life, often troubled but always adventurous, added a new dimension to my un
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Feb 27, 2011
Holly
rated it:
A linear treatment of Millay's life, structured by dates and settings, acquaintances, and correspondence. Little or no analysis or cultural context: this is not a cultural biography, which I generally prefer to read (two admittedly disparate titles: Gopnik's Angels and Ages or Chase's Harvard and the Unabomber) - and world events do not appear to impinge on Millay's consciousness until the advent of World War II in Europe (though Milford merely reports this and quotes documents, rather than expl
More...
Feb 16, 2010
Julie
rated it:
A few thoughts as I continue to reflect on this book and ESVM.
There was so little social/historical context until ESVM marched in protest for Sacco and Vanzetti- so little sense that the poet was aware of and engaged in a world beyond what gave her immediate pleasure. Little mention of WWI, the flu (except for ESVM's ode to a lost college mate), the women's suffrage movement- I felt a little lost in trying to place the poet's open sexuality, her college and young adult affairs in r More...
There was so little social/historical context until ESVM marched in protest for Sacco and Vanzetti- so little sense that the poet was aware of and engaged in a world beyond what gave her immediate pleasure. Little mention of WWI, the flu (except for ESVM's ode to a lost college mate), the women's suffrage movement- I felt a little lost in trying to place the poet's open sexuality, her college and young adult affairs in r More...
Dec 17, 2009
Jessi
rated it:
The thing about biographies is that I float around the house for days, pretending to be the dowdy best friend of the subject. Or alternatively the glamorous best friend, if my biofeedback is in alignment. And I floated on this one for WEEKS. Just a great combination of interesting circumstances, genius, weird personalities and all things fabulous. And a darn good poet.
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Dec 20, 2009
Emily
rated it:
Edna is, as always, seductive. Even the mundane details of her life were interesting, partly because I know all of the physical settings quite well: Maine, Vassar, Manhattan, upper Hudson River New York. Reading this was a sort of therapeutic visitation of my own life choices and of the importance of keeping ideals high. I was often disappointed with all of Millay's selfish choices, but her whole life is like an exaggerated fable of living primarily for oneself and for one's art. Sometimes, i
More...
Jun 23, 2010
Meghan
rated it:
As a third grader, I read every biography our school library held. They were all library-bound, olive drab or dull blue, stamped on the spine in white or black letters with a name and a subtitle. My favorites were Benjamin Franklin and Helen Keller; from then on, I wanted to get into publishing and Radcliffe College, and the astronaut dream was jettisoned. After I exhausted those two or three library shelves, though, I let the biographical form go, and only a few have passed through my hands sin
More...
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Sep 21, 2010
Tristy
rated it:
This is quite a tome, weighing in at 550 pages. I was doubtful that I could find the life of Edna St. Vincent Millay interesting enough to stick it out until the end, but surprisingly, I did. Nancy Milford has a way with sharing the facts and fictions of Millay's life in a lively and engrossing way. She obviously did her research and then some, and I love the connection she makes with Norma Millay, Edna Millay's sister, who was at the end of her life but still a delightful character. Milford's c
More...
Oct 12, 2009
Jeff
rated it:
I loved this account of an extraordinary -- and extraordinarily driven -- poet. Her story is riveting if you can forgive her refusal to be born in a more accessible age. Had she been a beat poet of the 1960s, for instance, these stories of free love and a dazzling stage presence (she sold out audiences to her poetry readings wherever she went) would have long ago been made into a Major Motion Picture.
Instead, she wrote in an unpopular form: careful, often classical rhyme. And she too i More...
Instead, she wrote in an unpopular form: careful, often classical rhyme. And she too i More...
Jun 11, 2008
Cheryl S.
rated it:
Although I am not a big fan of poetry this was a fascinating read. Millay's life is more intriguing than most fiction.
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Sep 23, 2010
Wynene
rated it:
I picked this bio gem up in the Village this summer at a flea market....never was i stopped, interrupted, questioned or picked up on than when I was reading this (or Rumi) around the city. New Yorkers have a sharp eye for poetry lovers. The author, Nancy Milford, has some great opening lines of imagery that paint her quest to get her sticky writer's fingers on this bio of Millay. Not only was Millay's childhood one raucous Anne of Green Gables inspired event after another, this author's lean is
More...
Sep 07, 2011
Lisa
rated it:
I love biographies so much and a well researched and very well written one is hard to come by. Edna St Vincent was such a fascinating woman, albeit totally self obsessed...but no more than, say, Picasso. Thank god for these brave artistic geniuses that dare to live so extreme and live for their art. That being said, the unromantic parts of this brilliant life are sad to peak into. The author has received a lot of first hand information from Vincent's sister and the interviews are inter-weave
More...
Dec 15, 2008
Courtney
rated it:
Im actually starting a big report on ESVM and found this book as one of my resources. I got it at first just because it had her name in it and i wanted to know more about her. However, I came to find, in reading through the intro and much of the first three chapters, Millay wasn't the person I had thought. Many other writers had commented on her outward behavior and so wrote of such. However, the author of Savage Beauty (which seems to have escaped me at the moment), did an excellent job in rese
More...
Oct 10, 2011
Lisa
rated it:
First of all, this was a REALLY LONG book. Secondly, you have to really like Edna St. Vincent Millay to get through the book. Having studied her poetry and even having stayed at the Whitehall Inn in Maine where she did her poetry readings, I was really interested in learning more about this poet. And boy did I learn more about her! I found her to be immature, self-centered, and very promiscuous. I often felt bogged down by repetitive and unrelenting information. Or maybe it was just the personal
More...
Jan 10, 2011
Lisa
rated it:
It's funny to me that I was not familiar with her poetry before I read her biography. Secondhand knowledge of her work was enough of a draw for me to read Nancy Milford's book. I like how Milford balanced the content: interviews from people who knew Millay, letters of correspondence to and from the poet, and (where it made sense) samples of her poetry. I believe the book has made me a more mindful reader of Edna St. Vincent Millay's poetry and I know her biography has helped me to more deepl
More...
Nov 19, 2011
Bev
rated it:
I fell in love with Edna St. Vincent Millay when I was in high school. I borrowed every volume of poetry that the local library had and when I came across a volume of her work while in college, I naturally bought it. According to her biographer, Nancy Milford, falling in love with Millay was something that was very easy to do. She was tiny and luminous, filled with ambition and a sense of her power as a poet...and as a woman. When she read her poetry, she held the attention of the audience More...
Feb 03, 2011
Jimmy
rated it:
Milford was lucky to get access to the sister of Edna St Vincent Millay. She hung on to Edna's letters to write a book some day but never got around to it. She gave up and gave the material to Milford. The sister did destroy some sexually explicit material, I guess to protect Edna. Personally I wish she just let everything go: the truth is the truth. Adults should be able to handle such material. Milford calls Edna a modern day Byron, personality was part of her appeal.
Here's my favor More...
Here's my favor More...
Oct 31, 2009
Lene
rated it:
This book is far too long for the subject matter at hand. I could certainly have stood 100 fewer pages of ESVM's whining. In hindsight, it was a poor choice for my first biography. It has left a horrible taste in my mouth for the entire genre.
I found the author's insertion of herself into the story irritating. The flow (or lack thereof) was not well served by the constant excerpts from letters to and from Millay. I realize that these are the documents upon which the biography is found More...
I found the author's insertion of herself into the story irritating. The flow (or lack thereof) was not well served by the constant excerpts from letters to and from Millay. I realize that these are the documents upon which the biography is found More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Sep 10, 2009
Kate
rated it:
The life & times of Millay never cease to fascinate me! She possessed true bohemian independence, & true artistic spirit. She also faced the true anguish of a genius, perpetually fighting for the sake of her voice. Her marriage to Eugene could be held up as a study on modern gender equality.
After reading this book, I actually felt compelled to go to her house, Steepletop, up in Austerlitz, NY, to see it for myself. I found the little post-office, and followed the gravel road up th More...
After reading this book, I actually felt compelled to go to her house, Steepletop, up in Austerlitz, NY, to see it for myself. I found the little post-office, and followed the gravel road up th More...
