What Lips My Lips Have Kissed: The Loves and Love Poems of Edna St. Vincent Millay

This is simply a great biography.Apparently Epstein was able to gain access to a vast Library of Congress collection of documents on Millay that won't be released to the public until 2010. And he seems to have done an unusually good job of sorting through all this information and putting it in order.Perhaps it's due to Epstein being a poet himself, but he's able to give a wonderfully sensitive and intelligent account of Millay's life. He's done lots of detective work, and it seems to all hold together.It's an unbelievable story -- so American in some ways: the gilded age to ragtime to the Jazz Age, the World Wars, anti-war and women's rights, passion, poetry, Greenwich Village and the Left Bank, genius, narcissism, money, fame, sex, alcohol, drugs, a skyrocket ride from poverty to success to destruction.And yet so un-American in its calm, well-behaved, almost English manner: no shooting, no fist-fights, no one calling the cops, a time when books of poetry sold 50,000 copies and folks jam-packed auditoriums to hear poetry readings -- think Bloomsbury secretly on meth and Virginia Woolf quietly dedicating herself to nymphomania.Really a well-written book, and surely the best biography of Millay so far.

Catching up on my Amazon reviews (only about 300 books behind)---been a big fan of Millay since my first reading of Renascence (a favorite poem). Millay was a personality before there were magazines and 24/7 coverage of a celebrities every move---no doubt she would have been good fodder for these purveyors of the lives of others. Ms. Millay lived on the edge and her talent was equalled by a life lived large. Mr. Epstein captured this exceptionally woman beautifully in his well-written biography.Highly recommended.

I got the book, because i read a review about Nancy Milford's 'Savage Beauty', about Edna St. Vincent Millay, and was so intrigued, I went to Amazon to see what else there was about her. I ended up buying both. This one is more interesting to read than the Nancy Milford book, though they are both excellent, but if I had only bought one, I would have chosen Epstein's 'What Lips'; as Milford's book is somewhat tiresome at times, in all the unnecessary ho-hum detail. He is simply a better storyteller.E. St. Vincent Millay was an amazing person, living a very 'wild', uninhibited life, on her own terms, often leaving multitudes of broken hearts; male and female,in her wake, for the purpose of feeding her emotions and spirit, and to enhance her poetry. No doubt she was a genius, but so much more! I also believe she would never have been the person she was, had she had a different Mother, who was an amazingly strong and memorable character too...But, Millay will forever be known for these four lines, which I personally love:My candle burns at both ends;It will not last the night;but ah, my foes, and, oh, my friends--It gives a lovely light!I loved the book, and will reread it someday...

Two bios came on the market at the same time a decade ago. This one I purchased and read after the first big NYT best-seller one, which is really fat and flabby. This Epstein bio is very sharp with critically astute details regarding Vincent. It is the best bio. Epstein has the ability to really nail important junctures and relationships in a hurricane of love affairs that were more or less necessary to the writing and inspiration of the sonnets and poetry that the Millay legend was founded upon. This is a brilliant and succint biography that has crystalline insight into the life of the poet. This biographer is a poet himself and uses the poet's skills and lazer vision to show more of the poet herself in her era and in her genius. He addresses more in fewer pages and confidently peels the proverbial onion of such a life as Edna St. Vincent Millay's. It was a dicy existence from start to finish, and this biographer is truly adept in revelation of personality and her art. He knows more and shows more in less words. The intensity of her life is reflected full-force here, without a lot of silly stuff that doesn't matter. Milford, the other biographer, who also wrote a decent biography, wrote an overwrought bio that lacks focus and insight, and her big old bio is just a giant slippery fish that keeeps flopping out of her hands back in the giant ocean of information that she tried to control. Epstein, with superior dexterity, delivered a poignant bio with his fab poet's radar and he zeroed in on one of the most exquisite and now-under-valued voices in 20th century American literature, the one and only Edna St. Vincent Millay. Oh, and did I say that he is a brave biographer, too?

Epstein clearly has a gift for understanding the biographer's task, which is not merely to chronicle a life, but to reveal as much as possible the inner life of his subject. He describes the dynamics of Millay's complex and sometimes troubled personality in a sympathetic and very enjoyable read. His book will provide many new insights for me as I read her wonderful poems.

More of a review than a collection .

I am from Maine , very interested in poetry and just finished this book , much depth and facts about her and her life . found it mesmering, loved it

I was hoping for the poem that is the title of the book. I wish that the content of these books were included. This book was a biography with partial selected poem, but NOT the poem thats the title of the book. "What Lips My Lips have Kissed" I was disapointed as there are many bios of St Vincent all by Daniel Mark Epstein. I hope this helps

One of my favourite poetry books. Nobody compares with Edna. Love this creative genius.

this a very interesting bio of a very romantic poet.have not finished reading it yet as other books have diverted my attention,there is only so much 'romance' a lady can endure in one sitting.

I had thought I was buying a book of Millay's love poems. Instead it is a book largely of her life with some poems interspersed. While her life was very interesting and the book does a thorough job if telling it, at 275 pages it was more information than I wanted and not enough poetry. Buyer beware: read the synopsis before you invest.