What Lips My Lips Have Kissed

What Lips My Lips Have Kissed is a biography of American poet Edna St. Vincent Millay by Daniel Mark Epstein. The book traces Millay's life from her childhood in Maine through her rise to literary fame in the 1920s and her later years. Epstein draws on letters, diaries, and interviews to reconstruct Millay's relationships and artistic development. The narrative follows her time at Vassar College, her years in Greenwich Village, and her marriage to Eugen Boissevain, while examining the creation of her most significant poems. The author incorporates Millay's poetry throughout the biography, connecting her work to events and experiences in her life. Her interactions with other literary figures and artists of the period, including Edmund Wilson and Floyd Dell, provide context for the cultural landscape she inhabited. This biography reveals the intersection between art and life, exploring how passion, independence, and unconventional choices can shape both personal experience and creative expression. The book examines Millay's role in changing attitudes toward women's sexuality and artistic freedom in twentieth-century America.

This biography of Edna St. Vincent Millay gets strong reactions from readers who appreciate its thorough research and poetic writing style. The book draws on letters, diaries and interviews to reconstruct Millay's romantic relationships and literary development. Readers praised: - Vivid details about Millay's early years in Maine - Integration of her poems with biographical details - Coverage of lesser-known relationships - Respectful handling of sensitive personal topics Common criticisms: - Over-emphasis on romantic affairs versus poetry analysis - Speculative passages about Millay's thoughts/feelings - Slow pacing in middle sections - Limited discussion of her later years Ratings: Goodreads: 3.9/5 (397 ratings) Amazon: 4.2/5 (41 ratings) "Beautifully written but too focused on love life versus artistry" - Goodreads reviewer "Captures Millay's fierce independence and artistic dedication" - Amazon reviewer "Lacks depth on her development as a poet" - Poetry Magazine review

Savage Beauty by Nancy Milford A biography of Edna St. Vincent Millay that delves into her romantic life, poetry, and cultural impact during the same era explored in Epstein's work.

The Silent Woman by Janet Malcolm This investigation into Sylvia Plath's life and relationships mirrors the biographical approach to understanding a poet's romantic experiences.

T.S. Eliot: A Life by Peter Ackroyd The examination of T.S. Eliot's personal relationships and their influence on his poetry provides context for the intersection of love and literature in the modernist period.

Love Poems by Anne Sexton This collection presents a poet's perspective on love and desire that connects to the themes of passion and romance found in Epstein's exploration of Millay.

Rimbaud: The Double Life of a Rebel by Edmund White The focus on Arthur Rimbaud's passionate affairs and their impact on his poetry parallels the examination of romantic relationships in literary creation.

🌟 The book's title comes from Edna St. Vincent Millay's famous sonnet that begins "What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why." 📚 Daniel Mark Epstein spent over three years researching Millay's life, gaining unprecedented access to previously sealed letters and documents from her estate. 💌 The biography reveals that Millay received approximately 100 marriage proposals throughout her life, including one from Floyd Dell, a prominent literary critic. 🏆 Edna St. Vincent Millay became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1923, and her work helped shape the cultural landscape of the Jazz Age. 🎭 The book details how Millay's early theatrical training influenced her dramatic public poetry readings, which often drew thousands of spectators and helped establish her as one of America's first celebrity poets.