Girl Called Vincent: The Life of Poet Edna St. Vincent Millay
ring poems One of her most well known poems sums up her approach to life My candle burns at both ends It will not last the night But ah my foes and oh my friends It gives a lovely light The life of Edna St Vincent Millay was filled with adventure art beauty love and sometimes pain I believe that her story teaches us to face life with eagerness and honesty to work for what we desire to be brave in small moments and big ones to live as we believe is right for us and to appreciate and exhil arate in the world's beauty When Vincent was 20 in a letter to a new friend who questioned whether her poem was about some thing she found in a book she wrote indignantly T1 slap your face I see things with my own eyes just as if they were the first eyes that ever saw and then I set about to tell as best I can just what I've seen In this book I try to look at Vincent s story with my own eyes both the eyes of the girl who discov ered her poetry and those of the woman who appreci ates what it took to live her life and to tell her story as best I can Page 13
A Girl Called Vincent 1892 1904 s the baby emerged she appeared to be wearing a thin translucent veil over her face The doctor attending the birth quickly reached out his hand to wipe away the transparent covering and the newborn gave her first lusty cry Her family instantly grasped the omen this was no ordinary child who had come into the world The red haired infant had been born with a caul a thin membrane covering her face a rarity and a sign for those who believe in such things that the person is destined for an extraordinary life For Edna St Vincent Millay the omen proved true Born to Cora Buzzell Millay and Henry Tollman Millay a few minutes after six o clock on the morning of February 22 1892 in the small coastal city of Rockland Maine Vincent as she quickly came to be called did lead an extraordinary life Passionate rebellious and hungry for experience of every kind she became renowned throughout the world as much for her zealous spirit as for her fervent poetry Page 14 9 pages left in this chapter
A baby photo of Edna St Vincent Millay Her mother chose the name Vincent to honor St Vincent's Hospi tal in New York City Edna St Vincent Millay Papers Man uscript Division Library of Congress Washington DC Cora's younger sister Clem who had witnessed Vincent's birth wrote to their beloved brother Char lie to announce the news and to share the baby's name Cora had chosen Vincent in gratitude to St Vincent s Hospital in New York City where Charlie had been nursed back to health after a traumatic physical ordeal just days before the baby's birth Not long after Vincent s arrival Cora Henry and Clem moved inland to Henry's hometown the village Page 15
of Union where his parents still lived They invited Charlie who remained weak to stay with them until he was completely well That summer Charlie came to live with the young family Surrounded by loving comfort Vincent rested in a low hammock in the yard as the adults sang away the warm days filling the baby's ears with melodic tunes and harmonious ballads Sometimes her babbling tones joined in Some of the first sounds Vincent heard that sum mer mixed with the voices making music would have been those of the natural world resonating around her sounds she later put into her poems the rising of the wind In the trees before the rain the woodcock's watery call the grey wood pecker taps and bores noisy and swift the small brooks run She was the only child for just a short time and couldn't remember life without her sisters Vincent wasn't even two when Norma Lounella was born in December 1893 and the youngest Kathleen Kalloch arrived in May 1896 The sisters looked very different from each other dark haired Kathleen was always called the prettiest Norma was blonde and sang beautifully while Vincent had hair the color of fire and a personality to match From her earliest years she was a girl of strong emotions exuberant laugh ter and intense rage There was never anything calm about Vincent her sisters used to say that she had a bee chasing her In her fury she could be terrifying Once Norma and Kathleen watched in horror as Vin cent overtaken by sudden anger ran outside with a Page 16 7 pages left in this chapter
