Edna Millay

Short Biography

Edna St. Vincent Millay, twentieth-century poet and playwright, was best known for her lyrical poetry. She wrote many poems in traditional sonnet form, on topics such as love, fidelity, erotic desire, and feminist issues. What isn`t as widely publicized is that she also acknowledged herself as bisexual and had many affairs with women before her marriage. It`s not clear if she continued sexual involvements with women after marriage (though it is quite possible), nor is it clear which of her poems are written about women rather than men.She grew up in a different sort of family--past the age of seven, her father wasn`t present, as her mother (Cora) asked him to leave. Cora was a nurse who encouraged Millay (called Vincent by her close friends) and her sisters in musical and literary pursuits. Millay was brought up to be self-sufficient and was taught that ambition was good, an upbringing reflected in her accomplishments of later years.At her mother`s encouragement, Millay entered her poem "Renascence" into a poetry contest and won fourth placed. When the poem was published, she gained literary recognition and earned a scholarship to Vassar. At Vassar, she continued to write poetry and became involved in theater. In 1922 one of her plays--The Harp Weaver--was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.Throughout her years at Vassar, Millay shared her affection with women. At one point, she was approached by Wynne Matthison, a British actress who kissed Millay and invited her to her summer home. They exchanged letters, and in one Millay wrote: "You wrote me a beautiful letter, --I wonder if you meant it to be as beautiful as it was.--I think you did; for somehow I know that your feeling for me, however slight it is, is of the nature of love...When you tell me to come, I will come, by the next train, just as I am. This is not meekness, be assured; I do not come naturally by meekness; know that it is a proud surrender to You." She was involved with other women during this time, and years later, continued writing affectionate letters to some of them.In 1922, Millay published a book of poetry called A Few Figs from Thistles In this volume, she described female sexuality in a way that gained her much attention, as she put forth the idea that a woman has every right to sexual pleasure and no obligation to fidelity.Vassar commissioned her to write a verse play, and so she wrote The Lamp and the Bell, a story of two devoted stepsisters (Bianca and Beatrice) who are separated by a male suitor. This play, more than any of her others, has a strong undercurrent of lesbian love. In fact, Millay modeled Bianca after Charlotte Babc*ck, a woman she was infatuated with. She includes a line in the play where a character, remarking on the stepsisters, says, "I vow I never knew a pair of lovers/ More constant than these two."After college, Millay went to Greenwich Village, continuing her involvement with poetry and the theater. She began to take men as lovers, as well. Floyd Dell was her first male lover, and according to his memoirs, he felt it was his duty to rescue her from her homosexuality. He was disappointed when she continued affairs with women after her relationship with him. In an interview he commented, "It was impossible to understand [Millay]....I`ve often thought she may have been fonder of women than of men." He proposed marriage; she refused.In Great Companions, Max Eastman relates an interesting story about Millay that, if true, reveals her something of her attitude about own sexuality. According to Eastman, while at a c*cktail party Millay discussed her recurrent headaches with a psychologist. He asked her, "I wonder if it has ever occurred to you that you might perhaps, although you are hardly conscious of it, have an occasional impulse toward a person of your own sex?" She responded, "Oh, you mean I`m homosexual! Of course I am, and heterosexual, too, but what`s that got to do with my headache?"In 1923, Millay married Eugen Boissevain, a self-proclaimed feminist. Their marriage was agreed to be sexually open, though little is known about how she conducted her personal life once they married. She claimed he allowed her personal freedom and that they lived like "two bachelors." She wrote a great deal while married. Eugen managed her literary career, setting up readings and public appearances. The were together until his death in 1949. Millay died the following year of heart failure.