39 pp. Controversial at the time for its feminist content, A Few Figs from Thistles was Millay making her first lasting mark on the literary landscape, and it was instrumental in establishing her reputation as one of the finest American poets of her young generation before she won the Pulitzer Prize in 1923. Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 – 1950) was an American lyrical poet and playwright, considered to be one of the strongest activist feminist literary voices in the early 20th century. Millay's rise was meteoric, becoming the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1923. Millay used her celebrity to establish herself as a fixture in the bohemian literary scene of New York City's Greenwich Village, forming relationships that bridged the literary and radical activist worlds. Millay remains one of the most enduringly popular and important poets of her era, her verses often being anthologized for students and poet lovers and highly influential on later generations.
