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Poet

Edna St. Vincent Millay

American poet · 1892–1950

First Fig

Edna St. Vincent Millay was the rock star of 1920s poetry — she filled theatres for readings and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1923. Her tiny poem "First Fig" ("My candle burns at both ends") became the unofficial motto of the Jazz Age.

Her early collections, including A Few Figs from Thistles (1920), are in the public domain in the US.

3 poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Full text, free to read — all in the public domain.