Date of Award
Spring 2014
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Major
English Literature
First Advisor
Daniel Mrozowski
Abstract
For decades, scholars have understood Edna St Vincent Millay in two fairly distinctive patterns as either a classical romanticist or ephemeral rebel. This dual reputation has been crafted from the obvious presence of natural imagery, sexual dynamism, feminine voice, and romantic yearning in her work. What critics have failed to see in her poetry are the potent sinister undertones that claim violence as a means to power. I will argue that Millay narrates the gendered struggle that takes place in this violence, in order to ultimately assert feminine agency in the process of forming a cultural identity. Thus, rather than focus on the undeniable presence of romanticist and rebellious tendencies in her poetry as her central project, I propose that these tendencies serve as tools in her broader, less acknowledged identity as an artisan of violent feminine agency.
Recommended Citation
Galdiz, Carolina, "Edna St. Vincent Millay: Artisan of Violent Feminine Agency". Senior Theses, Trinity College, Hartford, CT 2014.
Trinity College Digital Repository, https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/theses/389
Included in
American Literature Commons, Comparative Literature Commons, Literature in English, North America Commons, Other Arts and Humanities Commons, Other English Language and Literature Commons, Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Poetry Commons, Reading and Language Commons, Women's Studies Commons
Comments
Senior thesis completed at Trinity College for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in English Literature.