Afternoon on a Hill - Love Letters to Nature

By Edna St. Vincent Millay

“Afternoon on a Hill - Love Letters to Nature” is a beautiful collection of poetry by Edna St. Vincent Millay all connected through the theme of nature and its beauty. Celebrated for their lyrical beauty, Millay's poems are infused with fiery romance and the youthful spirit that would become a characteristic of her writing. Contents include: “The Death of Autumn”, “Exiled”, “Inland”, “Alms”, “Low-Tide”, “Assault”, “Pastoral”, “Weeds”, “The Bean-Stalk”, “Eel-Grass”, “City Trees”, “Spring”, “Song of a Second April”, “The Singing-Woman from the Wood’s Edge”, “Recuerdo”, etc. Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950) was an American playwright, Pulitzer Prize-winning lyrical poet, and feminist activist. One of the most celebrated poets in American history, Millay is hailed as the twentieth century's most skillfull sonnet writers who expertly married modern attitudes with traditional forms of expression. Other notable works by this author include: “Two Slatterns and a King”, “The Lamp and the Bell”, and “Aria da Capo”. A wonderful collection of nature poetry not to be missed by poetry lovers and fans of Millay's timeless work. Ragged Hand - Read & Co is publishing this brand new collection of poetry now for a new generation of readers to enjoy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ragged Hand - Read & Co.
• Release date: Aug 14, 2020
• ISBN: 9781528790581

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Edna St. Vincent Millay was born in 1892 in Rockland, Maine, the eldest of three daughters, and was encouraged by her mother to develop her talents for music and poetry. Her long poem "Renascence" won critical attention in an anthology contest in 1912 and secured for her a patron who enabled her to go to Vassar College. After graduating in 1917 she lived in Greenwich Village in New York for a few years, acting, writing satirical pieces for journals (usually under a pseudonym), and continuing to work at her poetry. She traveled in Europe throughout 1921-22 as a "foreign correspondent" for Vanity Fair. Her collection A Few Figs from Thistles (1920) gained her a reputation for hedonistic wit and cynicism, but her other collections (including the earlier Renascence and Other Poems [1917]) are without exception more seriously passionate or reflective. In 1923 she married Eugene Boissevain and -- after further travel -- embarked on a series of reading tours which helped to consolidate her nationwide renown. From 1925 onwards she lived at Steepletop, a farmstead in Austerlitz, New York, where her husband protected her from all responsibilities except her creative work. Often involved in feminist or political causes (including the Sacco-Vanzetti case of 1927), she turned to writing anti-fascist propaganda poetry in 1940 and further damaged a reputation already in decline. In her last years of her life she became more withdrawn and isolated, and her health, which had never been robust, became increasingly poor. She died in 1950.

Book preview

AFTERNOON

ON A HILL

LOVE LETTERS TO NATURE

By

EDNA

ST. VINCENT MILLAY

Copyright © 2020 Ragged Hand

This edition is published by Ragged Hand,

an imprint of Read & Co. 

This book is copyright and may not be

reproduced or copied in any way without the express permission of the publisher in writing.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available

from the British Library.

Read & Co. is part of Read Books Ltd.

For more information visit

www.readandcobooks.co.uk

Contents

THE DEATH OF AUTUMN

EXILED

INLAND

ALMS

LOW-TIDE

ASSAULT

PASTORAL

WEEDS

THE BEAN-STALK

EEL-GRASS

CITY TREES

SPRING

SONG OF A SECOND APRIL

THE SINGING-WOMAN FROM THE WOOD’S EDGE

RECUERDO

BLIGHT

THREE SONGS OF SHATTERING

I

II

III

JOURNEY

AFTERNOON ON A HILL

GOD’S WORLD

RENASCENCE

BIBLIOGRAPHY

AFTERNOON

ON A HILL

LOVE LETTERS TO NATURE

THE DEATH

OF AUTUMN

When reeds are dead and a straw to thatch the marshes,

And feathered pampas-grass rides into the wind

Like agèd warriors westward, tragic, thinned

Of half their tribe, and over the flattened rushes,

Stripped of its secret, open, stark and bleak,

Blackens afar the half-forgotten creek,—

Then leans on me the weight of the year, and crushes

My heart. I