Spring

“World War I, the 1920s and Modern Cool“ by Tom Risen (2014)

To memorialize the 100th anniversary of World War I's beginning, reporter Tom Risen discusses the War's cultural impact for the US News & World Report. He contributed the boom of ideas to young people's disgust at the War's carnage, intense immigration to America during the 1910s, and the opening of cultural spaces. Risen does not directly mention Millay. However, his article shows how Millay epitomized the radical youth culture and artistic experimentation that resulted from the first World War. Many details of Millay's life align with information from the article. She lived in Greenwich Village, a hotspot for young artists and culture makers. For many people, Millay represented the modern, liberated woman. Millay's open bisexuality mirror poet Gertrude Stein's open lesbianism. Many authors experimented with style, including Millay, who infused everyday speech and sensibilities into her sonnets. Like many of her fellow artists, Millay's work grappled with grief and cynicism at the establishment.

“The Magnetism of Edna St. Vincent Millay“ by Vivian Gornick (2021)

Biographer Vivian Gornick explains that Millay became a celebrity for more than just her well-received work. Millay became a charismatic figurehead for the 1920s' countercultural lifestyle. Her reputation mirrored and eclipsed the reputation and popularity of the infamous British poet and bad boy Lord Byron. Gornick also proposes that her ability to entrance audiences shared a similar source with her poetry and her desire to achieve a “higher destiny” and cultivate her passionate energy.

“Edna St. Vincent Millay’s Poetry has been eclipsed by her personal life—let’s change that“ by Amandas Ong (2018)

In an article for The Guardian newspaper, reporter Amandas Ong argues that Millay's personal life has overshadowed her technical skills and artistic legacy for modern readers. Ong contributes it to self-mythologizing, competition from the modernist school, and her propaganda work during World War II. Ong said Millay brought new life to more traditional poetic forms by using them to explore a woman's sexuality, experiences, and emotions.

“Remembering Muted Voices” (2017)

Millay's “Spring” openly carries an anti-war sentiment that many tried to censor during World War I. The National World War I Museum and Memorial held a Symposium in 2017 highlighting the social and legal barriers pacifists and other anti-war advocates faced while trying to share their messages, such as the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918. Readers can see the rebellious and political spirit that defined Millay's work through this context.