Renascence and Other Poems

The poems of Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) have been long admired for the lyric beauty that is especially characteristic of her early works. "Renascence," the first of her poems to bring her public acclaim, was written when she was nineteen. Now one of the best-known American poems, it is a fervent and moving account of spiritual rebirth.
In 1917, "Renascence" was incorporated into her first volume of poetry, which is reprinted here, complete and unabridged, from the original edition. The 23 works in this first volume are fired with the romantic and independent spirit of youth that Edna St. Vincent Millay came to personify. In addition to "Renascence," this volume includes 16 other early lyric poems -- "Interim," "Sorrow," "Ashes of Life," "Three Songs of Shattering," "The Dream," "When the Year Grows Old," and others, including six sonnets, to which Millay brought great distinction throughout her career.

Edna St. Vincent Millay found her voice in a national poetry contest at the age of 20. In 1912, she won a prize for Renascence, just the first of many poems to win critical acclaim. The most famous poet of the Jazz Age, her passionate lyrics center on themes of spiritual awakening, love and personal freedom. In 1923, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her fourth volume of poems, The Harp Weaver.