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bowienerd_82's review against another edition
This was a gossipy mess of a book, and not a good biography.
shs111's review against another edition
4.0
If you're accustomed to Nancy Milford's writing, you won't have a problem with this. But at times it does get to be a bit of a long and complicated trudge. With that said, it was fascinating to better understand a poet whose name I'd always known, whose poetry I'd known, but whose life story I never knew.
brookamimi's review against another edition
5.0
Early on in reading this, I had to stop now and then and start writing my own letters and poetry. Millay's rise and fall is so compelling and Milford does such a good job making it feel like the letters and moments are happening in the moment and the reader is right there.
bev_reads_mysteries's review against another edition
4.0
I fell in love with Edna St. Vincent Millay when I was in high school. I borrowed every volume of poetry that the local library had and when I came across a volume of her work while in college, I naturally bought it. According to her biographer, Nancy Milford, falling in love with Millay was something that was very easy to do. She was tiny and luminous, filled with ambition and a sense of her power as a poet...and as a woman. When she read her poetry, she held the attention of the audience like no author had since Dickens had made his tours of America. She captivated and seduced; she entranced and captured hearts....through the written word and in every day life.
Thomas Hardy is credited with saying that America had two great attractions: the skyscraper and the poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay. The most famous poet of the Jazz Age, Millay took the nation by storm: She smoked in public, took many lovers (men and women, single and married), flouted convention sensationally, and became the embodiment of the New Woman. Her poetry became the voice of the young women and men of her time. Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay gives us a wonderful portrait of "this passionate, fearless woman who obsessed America even as she tormented herself."
This was a very good biography. There is so much material here that it is difficult to write a summary or even a review. I went into it knowing what a fine poet Millay was. I learned that she not only wrote fine poetry, but she sold prose as well...under a pseudonym...and plays and one highly acclaimed opera, The King's Henchmen. Her opera played at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City to sold-out houses night after night. It was great fun to read about how very dedicated and precise she was in this endeavor. Deems Taylor was her collaborator--he to do the music and she to write the libretto. She did so, providing him with an Anglo-Saxon themed piece. When it came to naming it, he had suggested The King's Messenger and she replied by telegram:
KINGS MESSENGER ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE FOR THIS REASON THE WORD MESSENGER WAS BROUGHT INTO ENGLISH BY THE NORMANS AND I AM WRITING MY ENTIRE LIBRETTO IN ANGLOSAXON THAT IS TO SAW THERE IS NOT A WORD IN THE LIBRETTO WHICH WAS NOT KNOWN IN ONE FORM OR ANOTHER IN ENGLISH A THOUSAND YEARS AGO.
When she had her work pictured a certain way, whether it was a poem or an opera, there was simply no interfering with her perfectionist's view. And she was generally right about what worked best.
If you have any interest in Millay, life during the Jazz Age, growing up in Maine, or American Poetry during this time period, then I highly recommend Milford's treatment of Millay's life. Four stars.
abbythompson's review against another edition
3.0
Fascinating biography of poet Edna St. Vincent Millay.
Why I Picked it up:
SAVAGE BEAUTY was recommended by Emily B, whose reading I very much respect. She loved this bio so I knew I had to give it a try. I knew almost nothing about Edna St. Vincent Millay besides her name. Couldn't even have told you which era she was from. Massive failure on part of my education? Perhaps, but it's all remedied now!
If you're like me and have never heard of EStVM or are a HUGE fan, this is a biography for you. EStvM is a compelling character of almost mythical proportions.
The one issue I had with this book was the sometimes the narrative fell into black holes. There would be gaps missing in the time line without any explanation as to why. I don't expect a biography to be complete since there's know way to know everything about a person, but the author should at least acknowledge a break in correspondence or records. There was never an acknowledgment in this text and that confused me.
Who Would I Recommend it to:
All my English major buds and biography lovers. It's a good one.
Why I Picked it up:
SAVAGE BEAUTY was recommended by Emily B, whose reading I very much respect. She loved this bio so I knew I had to give it a try. I knew almost nothing about Edna St. Vincent Millay besides her name. Couldn't even have told you which era she was from. Massive failure on part of my education? Perhaps, but it's all remedied now!
If you're like me and have never heard of EStVM or are a HUGE fan, this is a biography for you. EStvM is a compelling character of almost mythical proportions.
The one issue I had with this book was the sometimes the narrative fell into black holes. There would be gaps missing in the time line without any explanation as to why. I don't expect a biography to be complete since there's know way to know everything about a person, but the author should at least acknowledge a break in correspondence or records. There was never an acknowledgment in this text and that confused me.
Who Would I Recommend it to:
All my English major buds and biography lovers. It's a good one.
andipost's review against another edition
5.0
Millay is my favorite poet and I loved reading more about her life. This biography is so well written, I couldn't put it down. It was as easy as reading a novel. And at some points, it almost seemed like a novel. So much happened in Millay's life, and some if it is so bizarre that it might change the way you read her work.
cdarlington1's review against another edition
5.0
Probably the best literary biography I have ever read. Fascinating life beautiful poet, what else can I say.
devafagan's review against another edition
5.0
So many thoughts on this... The short version: Fascinating, sad, inspiring, disturbing. It took a while to get through, but I'm very glad I did.
cgcpoems's review against another edition
5.0
An absolutely brilliant, well-researched and well-written biography of Vincent Millay. I feel incredibly sad to be done with this book, & wish I could live in this world a little longer. Just wonderful.