Edna St. Vincent Millay: feminist and formalist

• The Little Ghost
• I knew her for a little ghost
• That in my garden walked;
• The wall is high—higher than most—
• And the green gate was locked.

• And yet I did not think of that
• Till after she was gone—
• I knew her by the broad white hat,
• All ruffled, she had on.

• By the dear ruffles round her feet,
• By her small hands that hung
• In their lace mitts, austere and sweet,
• Her gown’s white folds among.

• I watched to see if she would stay,
• What she would do—and oh!
• She looked as if she liked the way
• I let my garden grow!

• She bent above my favorite mint
• With conscious garden grace,
• She smiled and smiled—there was no hint
• Of sadness in her face.

• She held her gown on either side
• To let her slippers show,
• And up the walk she went with pride,
• The way great ladies go.

• And where the wall is built in new
• And is of ivy bare
• She paused—then opened and passed through
• A gate that once was there.

• A Visit to the Asylum
• Once from a big, big building,
• When I was small, small,
• The queer folk in the windows
• Would smile at me and call.

• And in the hard wee gardens
• Such pleasant men would hoe:
• “Sir, may we touch the little girl’s hair!”—
• It was so red, you know.

• They cut me colored asters
• With shears so sharp and neat,
• They brought me grapes and plums and pears
• And pretty cakes to eat.

• And out of all the windows,
• No matter where we went,
• The merriest eyes would follow me
• And make me compliment.

• There were a thousand windows,
• All latticed up and down.
• And up to all the windows,
• When we went back to town,

• The queer folk put their faces,
• As gentle as could be;
• “Come again, little girl!” they called, and I
• Called back, “You come see me!”

Edna St. Vincent Millay (1982-1950) was an American poet who received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1923 – the third woman to win the award in its history. The subject matter of her poetry was wide-ranging and marked by a meticulous formality that liberated more often than constricted her talent. Fellow formalists Thomas Hardy (representing the previous generation) and Richard Wilbur (representing the rising generation) considered her poetry to be the finest to be written by an American. Celebrated in her own time, Millay’s poetry has since experienced a renaissance – both among feminist scholars and formalist poets.