When Edna St. Vincent Millay lost a national poetry contest in 1912, it created quite a scandal in the world of American poetry! Yet that loss, and the controversy, went a long way to launching her storied career.

Vincent (as she was called by those closest to her) was just nineteen when she began to compose “Renascence”  toward the end of 1911. Written at a time of uncertainty about her future, it was a poem about herself, yet it dealt with the common human struggle to find hope in the face of hopelessness.

She had been an outstanding student in her tiny Maine high school, and a star contributor to the popular children’s publication St. Nicholas Magazine. Once she had passed the age limit (eighteen) for submissions, she was left without an outlet for her poetry. Read More→