Rating: 
Summary: The stuff of sweet dreams
Review: This is an enthralling biography of Ms. Millay portrayed as a common, yet savant literateure, with savage yet somehow provacative prose given to rolling off my tongue like a fine cabernet.... delicate, frisky bouquet, yet a trifle presumptuous... and a serious catalyst to purple lips.Actually, I've never read Ms. Milford's thoughtful biography, but my friend "Jen" and her wet dishtowel-offering cat tell me it's far better than lima beans. I wonder if Ms. Millay would agree that celery is somewhat distasteful? I would have liked to see Ms. Milford spend a bit more time around this, but overall a fantastic read (from what I understand).
Rating:
Summary: A fantastic read!
Review: This is one of the best books I have read in several years. It is magical, provocative,and educational - a true treasure. I've never been interested in reading biographies, but after reading this, I've realized what I've been missing. I also disagree with one reviewer that Edna St. Vincent Millay is "obscure" to most living Americans. I think many easily recognize her name - and even if they don't, this book is a fabulous way to learn about an otherwise unfamiliar individual.
Rating:
Summary: What a life.
Review: This was a lady that, to paraphrase her most famous couplet, burned the end at both candles.
Pity me I'd have tried to humanize her to make her happier rather than do what most men seemed impelled to do by her charisma and sex appeal.
Not everyone can write the old style rhyming poetry on which my generation was raised and make sense with it. She and Stephen Vincent Benet (John Brown's Body) were masters at it without making it sound like The Village Blacksmith (by which I mean to go "ta da, ta da, ta da, ta da, ta da, ta da, ta da!" Not all of either Millay or Benet is stunning, but enough of it is that they should be read.
So read this book, by all means. Very captivating and unusual life. Besides, it isn't everyone that's named for a hospital.
And God bless you Edna, wherever you are. You should have been allowed to live happier and longer even if you'd shot your creative bolt.
Rating:
Summary: Masterful Biography
Review: Thought provoking and completely engaging for the individual reader and excellent material for book discussion groups.
One reviewer criticized Milford for using (throughout the book) paragraphs of conversation with Millay's sister, who controlled access to much of the material, and who wished to control the biography. I completely disagree: Milford let us see the operations of the living upon the lives of the dead, as they occur in every family, but especially in the lives of artists.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding!
Review: Three decades after Nancy Milford's biography of Zelda Fitzgerald, she returns with a vivid portrait of Edna St. Vincent Millay, a passionate and complex woman who mesmerized America with her unique style, taste, and sexual cravings durning The Jazz Age.
USA TODAY has chosen "Savage Beauty: The Life Of Edna St. Vincent Millay" by impressive writer, Nancy Milford, one of the top '10' books of the year. I agree with them... A book I am most proud to recommend!
Rating: 
Summary: And you think poets are dull????
Review: We English majors think we know all about poets--having assigned reading of so much of their stuff. I always like Millay and thought she was a cross between Keats and Dorothy Parker (which would probably insult her). Somehow the small print in the lit books with a short bio of the next presented poet seemed to miss the details of Vincent's life. Savage Beauty may tell you more about ESVM than you care to know, but it is well written, full of interesting details and quite informative. And, hey, English majors, give it a whirl--it's better than the assignments.
| 
