25 Edna St. Vincent Millay Quotes for a Poetic Life

By Clifton Sankofa | Published July 7, 2023

Let your inner poet get expressive with our Edna St. Vincent Millay quotes.

Edna St. Vincent Millay is remembered as a master poet who inspired people to question the world around them.

Find out more with our Edna St. Vincent Millay quotes below.

Who was Edna St. Vincent Millay?

Edna St. Vincent Millay was an American poet and social figure.

She is one of the most influential poets of the twentieth century.

Check out these interesting Edna St. Vincent Millay facts below:

She wrote under the pseudonym Nancy Boyd
Edna won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1923
Millay is the second woman to be awarded the Frost Medal

What is Edna St. Vincent Millay known for?

Aside from being a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, Millay is remembered for progressive politics, courage, and honest portrayals of hetero and homosexuality.

Her work allowed for new paradigms of women’s experiences to be explored.

Millay was a passionate feminist who used her platform to impact the world positively.

Her work was popular during the early twentieth century.

She regained popularity in the sixties and seventies with the rise of feminist theory at universities.

What are Edna St. Vincent Millay’s poems about?

People flocked to Millay’s work because it authentically reflects reality.

Her catalog covers everything from heartbreak, nature, death, sexuality, and the human experience.

She was celebrated during her time for her ability to blend traditional techniques with modern subject matter and aesthetics.

What is Edna St. Vincent Millay’s most famous poem?

Her most well-known poem is Renascence.

This 214-line lyric poem is comprised of rhymed couplets and explores the connections between individuals and nature.

She was only nineteen when this poem was published, but fans and critics alike rate Renascence as one of her most compelling pieces.

The poem is from the perspective of the narrator, who is writing from the top of a mountain, observing beautiful scenery.

The observation becomes a mystical experience.

Learn more with our Edna St. Vincent Millay quotes below.

Short Edna St. Vincent Millay quotes about living in the present

Check out these short and sweet quotes from the poet extraordinaire.

1. “Night falls fast. Today is in the past.” — Edna St. Vincent Millay, Not So Far as the Forest

2. “She is happy where she lies with the dust upon her eyes.” — Edna St. Vincent Millay, Epitaph

3. “That is my being, the madness of an unaccustomed mood.” — Edna St. Vincent Millay, Ode To Silence

4. “Still must the poet as of old, in barren attic bleak and cold.” — Edna St. Vincent Millay, A Few Figs From Thistles

5. “The heart can push the sea and land farther away on either hand.” — Edna St. Vincent Millay, Renascence

The top Edna St. Vincent Millay quotes about letting go

Kick back with these awesome Edna St. Vincent Millay quotes.

6. “I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.” — Edna St. Vincent Millay, Dierge Without Music

7. “The soul can split the sky in two, and let the face of God shine through.” — Edna St. Vincent Millay, Renascence

8. “A ghost in marble of a girl you knew who would have loved you in a day or two.” — Edna St. Vincent Millay, A Few Figs From Thistles

9. “Starve, freeze, and fashion verses to such things as flowers and song and you.” — Edna St. Vincent Millay, A Few Figs From Thistles

10. “But the roaring of the fire, and the warmth of fur, and the boiling of the kettle were beautiful to her!” — Edna St. Vincent Millay, When the Year Grows Old

The best Enda St. Vincent Millay quotes about beauty and death

These touching words from Millay are sure to speak to the heart.

11. “Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind.”— Edna St. Vincent Millay, Dierge Without Music

12. “Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.” — Edna St. Vincent Millay, Dierge Without Music

13. “This book, when I am dead, will be a little faint perfume of me.” — Edna St. Vincent Millay, Collected Poems

14. “People who knew me well will say, she really used to think that way.” — Edna St. Vincent Millay, Collected Poems

15. “No one but Night, with tears on her dark face, watches beside me in this windy place.” — Edna St. Vincent Millay, Sonnet 76

Famous Edna St. Vincent Millay quotes about finding peace of mind

These quotes remind us of the importance of aligning with our inner selves.

16. “Pity me that the heart is slow to learn what the swift mind beholds at every turn.” — Edna St. Vincent Millay, The Harp-Weaver And Other Poems

17. “Beauty never slumbers; All is in her name; But the rose remembers the dust from which it came.” — Edna St. Vincent Millay, Autumn Chant

18. “Safe upon the solid rock the ugly houses stand: come and see my shining palace built upon the sand!” — Edna St. Vincent Millay, Second Fig

19. “I saw and heard, and knew at last The How and Why of all things, past, and present, and forevermore.” — Edna St. Vincent Millay, Renascence

20. “I will come back to you, I swear I will, and you will know me still. I shall be only a little taller, than when I went.” — Edna St. Vincent Millay, The Harp-Weaver And Other Poems

Edna St. Vincent Millay quotes and sayings about never giving up

Find some inspiration with these Edna St. Vincent Millay quotes.

21. “Soar, eat ether, see what has never been seen; depart, be lost, But climb.” — Edna St. Vincent Millay, Collected Poems

22. “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!” — Edna St. Vincent Millay, First Fig

23. “Heart, have no pity on this house of bone: Shake it with dancing, break it down with joy.” — Edna St. Vincent Millay, Heart, Have No Pity On This House Of Bone

24. “Things that you could not spare and live, or so you thought, yet these all gone, and you still there. A man no longer what he was, nor yet the thing he’d planned.” — Edna St. Vincent Millay, If Still Your Orchards Bear

25. “Childhood is not from birth to a certain age, and at a certain age the child is grown, and puts away childish things. Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.” — Edna St. Vincent Millay, Childhood Is The Kingdom Where Nobody Dies