Edna St. Vincent Millay

Edna St. Vincent Millay was an American poet and playwright who became a prominent figure in New York City during the 1920s and beyond. She was known for her feminist views and social status. Millay often used the pen name Nancy Boyd to write her prose and less serious verse.

In 1923, Millay became the first woman and second person to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for her poem “Ballad of the Harp-Weaver.” She also received the Frost Medal in 1943, becoming the sixth person and second woman to receive the honor for her lifetime contribution to American poetry.

While highly respected during her lifetime, Millay’s critical reputation declined in the 1930s as modernist critics dismissed her work for its traditional poetic forms and subject matter. However, feminist literary criticism in the 1960s and 1970s renewed interest in Millay’s work. Noted literary critic Edmund Wilson hailed her as “one of the only poets writing in English in our time who have attained to anything like the stature of great literary figures.” Millay was openly bisexual.