Girl Called Vincent: The Life of Poet Edna St. Vincent Millay
This book is dedicated to the memory of Jack Scaparro 1935 2012 fellow writer fierce champi on longtime friend In your day this moment is the sun Upon a hill after the sun has set Edna St Vincent Millay Page 8
Introduction G W hen I was about 12 years old I found these words in a poetry book All I could see from where I stood Was three long mountains and a wood I turned and looked another way And saw three islands in a bay The words were simple and they made me want to be in that beautiful place where I could see three islands in a bay three long mountains and a wood I kept reading Over these things I could not see These were the things that bounded me Hmm Now I wasn t poem was't sure what the really about It was a very long one more than 200 lines but the rhythm of the words the very clear images and the stirring emotions kept me reading By the time I had finished it I was puzzled moved and intrigued all at once I started reading it again That poem was Edna St Vincent Millay's Re Page 11
nascence and I have never forgotten the experience of reading it in my attic bedroom over and over again feeling chills and heat and fascination I was a young girl who believed herself a poet and this poem was deeply inspiring I started to learn more about Edna St Vincent Millay and found out that she was only 19 years old when she wrote this poem Her life seemed amazing to me It sounded romantic and exciting Known to her family and friends as Vincent she was a tiny red haired high spirited girl who loved to write poems plays and music and to perform She grew up to be a tiny red haired high spirited woman who became known as one of America's greatest poets When she appeared onstage to recite her poetry audiences went wild at the sight of the slight figure in the long silk gown Men and women sent her flowers and love notes Can you imagine an audience going wild for a poet That was how people reacted to Vincent How did that little girl become such a sensation who bewitched audiences with her words her voice and her appearance How did a girl raised in poverty in rural Maine grow into an international celebrity And how did she come to write poems that still make us tingle when we read them today There is one word that captures the essence of Edna St Vincent Millay and her writing passion She was a girl who from her earliest years threw herself at the world taking everything she wanted from it and turning her life and all its experiences into stir Page 12 1 page left in this chapter
