Essay Database

As the oldest child of divorced parents who were never home, Millay was forced to act as a surrogate mother for her two younger sisters. It was an heavy burden placed on a young child. One particular passage, written when Millay was nineteen, resonates particularly: "I'm getting old and ugly. My hands are stiff and rough and stained and blistered. I can feel my face dragging down. I can feel the lines coming underneath my …

…depleted his own reserves of strength and died in 1949 of lung cancer followed by surgery and a stroke. Millay evidently grew more dependent on alcohol during her brief, widowhood. She died sitting at the foot of her staircase, alone, at Steepletop. Despite her addictions, Millay's memory as a great American poet will forever be remembered. Thomas Hardy once said that American had two great attractions: the skyscraper and the poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay.