Poetry Review - Renascence and Other Poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay

[4.5 / 5.0] 

A slender volume that contains Millay's "Renascence", which was her first grand step into the limelight. There's definitely some lovely verse contained within.  

She ponders all the big stuff--mortality, love, how to live a best life. From "The Suicide"

Ah, Life, I would have been a pleasant thing

To have about the house when I was grown

If thou hadst left my little joys alone!

And there are many a dark metaphor, such as referring to grief as an 'incorporeal bulk', that really hit their mark. 

The collection also speaks of the smaller and larger joys of life, of being awake and alive in the world. "O world, I cannot hold thee close enough!". 

Though at times in her life, and perhaps even after, she was eclipsed by her sexuality and life choices, I came to this collection through another work and only learned of her persona later. She had a reputation as a breaker of hearts for both sexes...