Edna St. Vincent Millay was born in Rockland, Maine, in 1892, as the eldest of three daughters raised by a single mother who encouraged her daughters to read broadly and pursue their ambitions seriously. This early environment—filled with books, a mother who worked as a practical nurse, and no father around—influenced Millay to reject the notion that women should aim lower.
At nineteen, she caught national attention with "Renascence," a lengthy poem she entered into a literary contest. Although it didn’t win, it left readers in awe, and the excitement it sparked helped her secure a scholarship to Vassar College. Millay graduated in 1917 and quickly made her way to Greenwich Village, immersing herself in the bohemian lifestyle with the same passion she applied to everything she did.
“In the Village, she acted, penned plays for the Provincetown Players, engaged in numerous love affairs with both men and women, and continued to produce poetry at a rapid pace.”
In 1923, she became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, awarded for *The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver* and a collection of sonnets. Her win was no shock to those following her work—she had already established herself as one of the most talented sonnet writers in English.
Millay became a true celebrity in the 1920s, the type of poet whose readings filled auditoriums and whose insights on love, freedom, and women’s lives appeared in newspapers. She was openly bisexual during a time when that required considerable courage, and she wrote candidly about desire and independence. Additionally, she published prose under the pseudonym Nancy Boyd, primarily satirical pieces for magazines.
