First FigMy candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But, ah, my foes, and oh, my friends -
It gives a lovely light!
-Edna St. Vincent Millay
Second Fig
Safe upon the solid rock the ugly houses stand:
Come and see my shining palace built upon the sand!
-Edna St. Vincent Millay
When Edna St. Vincent Millay died in 1950 the English novelist Thomas Hardy said that America had two great attractions: the skyscraper and the poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay.
The New York Times described Millay as “an idol of the younger generation during the glorious early days of Greenwich Village and one of the greatest American poets of her time.”
Between Greenwich Village, her days at Vassar and her gypsy childhood, Millay found plenty to write about and her sonnets are thought to be some of the best from the past century.
