Renascence

poem by Millay

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Article History

Renascence, poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay, first published in 1912 in the anthology The Lyric Year and later included as the title poem of her first published collection, Renascence and Other Poems (1917).

“Renascence” consists of 214 lines written in octosyllabic couplets. The poem, written when Millay was 20, reflects in simple, direct language the poet’s feelings of wonder at the magnitude of the universe and the concepts of God and death.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper.