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Rating: - The best compilation of Edna I've found.
Includes all the best of Edna's poetry, with an excellent introduction outlining the story of her inspired career. And then her poetry itself: Cutting brilliance. Sharp truths. Biting compassion. Bitter pains of love. Magnificent!
Rating: - Worth it for the sonnets alone
Her shorter pieces are much better than her longer ones. Many of the sonnets are quite good. She may be unlucky or unhappy in love, but she is wry about it and not the least bit maudlin or self-indulgent.
The poems about the unbearable beauties of nature strike me as overwrought and do not work at all.
Her shortest bits sting the page. As an example, this two lines, the "Second Fig" from her collection A Few Figs From Thistles, describes quite neatly those whose ability to see facts are limited by their wishing them not so. She writes:
Safe upon the solid rock the ugly houses stand:
Come and see my shining palace built upon the sand!
Rating: - Be Warned
Edna St. Vincent Millay is (in my opinion) one of the great 20th century poets, generally under-appreciated. Readers who buy this edition SHOULD BE WARNED that it's not a selection from her whole life's work, but only from her early poetry, which made her reputation but isn't necessarily her best. If you want a more comprehensive view of her work, including the later, more mature work, I think you'll have to get the Collected Poems and make your own 'selection'.
Rating: - Millay--genius, Milford--idiot
Millay is one of those poets who can convey her passions succinctly. with detail, but a passionate brevity. a woman's perspective on love, friends, eternity, and humanity that can be read by any gender. The editor, however, mistakenly describes Millay's wellknown poem "Renescence" as a poem "about being buried alive". ridicuously misinterpreting Millay's theme of rebirth and reincarnation. I own this book and am happy to have the comfort of Millay's poetry.
Rating: - that i love easily and pass the time
i will review this as a subset of her collected poems. millay was extremely talented, and had a resurgence in 2001 , she has a memorial stamp from 1981. she is one of the best poets of american literature, this will be an excellent addition to your library, and an exciting opportunity to rediscover a very talented lady often neglected , i am comparing her sonnets to shakespeares, since they are so well done
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