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Edna St. Vincent MillayNot In A Silver Casket Cool With Pearls
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1931A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
“Figs from Thistles” by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1918)
The first section of this work, “First Fig,” became a Bohemian anthem for its time: “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!”
“Renascence” by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1917)
This is the poem that brought Millay to the poetry-reading public’s attention. It is not a sonnet but a long series of rhyming couplets. The word renascence means the revival of something dormant. Metaphorically and in her personal history, it indicates the birth and/or awakening of Millay as a professional poet.
“Sonnet 130” by William Shakespeare (1609)
Millay’s work is in conversation with this sonnet by Shakespeare not only in form but in tone. Shakespeare’s poem resists traditional ideas of romantic devotion with what appears to be clear-eyed pragmatism while still adhering to an intensity of romantic feeling.
“Sonnets from the Portuguese 35: If I leave all for thee, wilt thou exchange” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1850)
This poem, written between 1845 and 1846, is an example of a Petrarchan sonnet, a fourteen-line poem composed of an eight-line stanza with the rhyming pattern abba abba followed by a six-line stanza with a rhyming pattern of cdcdcd or cdecde. In this series, Browning considers the joys and anxieties of committing oneself to romantic love.
“The Ballad of the Lonely Masturbator” by Anne Sexton (1981)
The speaker in this poem continues to be a sexual being after a relationship ends, continuing on Millay’s themes of sexual freedom, individual identity, and the nuance of relationships.
“American Sonnet 91” by Wanda Coleman (2001)
In a series of poems each entitled “American Sonnet,” Coleman uses the fourteen-line form to consider aspects of sexuality, urban life, and the self.
Further Literary Resources
“How Fame Fed on Edna St. Vincent Millay” by Maggie Doherty (2022)
In this article, Doherty considers the poet’s early life and poverty, as well as her blazing success and subsequent diminished reputation.
“Andromeda Unbound: Gender and Genre in Millay's Sonnets” by Debra Fried (1986)
This scholarly article considers reasons why Millay chose the sonnet form for much of her work, beyond the goal expressly stated in her poem, “I will put Chaos in fourteen lines.”
Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford (2002)
Published by Random House in 2001, this exhaustive biography chronicles Millay’s life from early childhood to her death. The biographer’s primary source was the poet’s sister, Norma Millay, who granted access to Millay’s personal papers.
“Learning the Sonnet” by Rachel Richardson (2013)
Poetry Foundation offers a concise guide for exploring the history and evolution of the sonnet form.
“Vivian Gornick on the Magnetism of Edna St. Vincent Millay” by Vivian Gornick (2021)
In this essay, Gornick contemplates the wild intensity that was the attraction and earmark of Millay’s work and personal life.
“Everything I Know About Sex I Learned from Edna St. Vincent Millay” by April Smith (2017)
In this essay, Smith recalls the effect of reading Millay’s work as a young woman. The poems continued to feel liberating and revolutionary for their proposed sexual autonomy and prioritization of female satisfaction, despite the difference in age between the poet and essayist.
This short podcast offers an overview of Millay’s life and accomplishments, including and beyond her poetry.
Related Titles
By Edna St. Vincent Millay
