Huntsman, What Quarry?

by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Extremely rare,very good

Genres: Poetry, Classics

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1939

About the author

Edna St. Vincent Millay was an American lyrical poet and playwright. She received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1923, the third woman to win the award for poetry, and was also known for her feminist activism and her many love affairs. She used the pseudonym Nancy Boyd for her prose work.

This famous portrait of Vincent (as she was called by friends) was taken by Carl Van Vechten in 1933.

Reviews

[Theo Logos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not dead of wounds, not borne
Home to the village on a litter of branches, torn
By splendid claws and the talk all night of vil-
lagers,
But stung to death by gnats
Lies Love.

What swamp l sweated through for all these years
Is at length plain to me.


Millay was 47 years old when this volume of poems was published. She had reached middle age, and her poems reflect that. Gone is the wild, unbounded, rebellious spirit that infused her earlier poetry. In Part One of this volume Millay gives us poems of everyday resignation, of accounts come due, and of stubborn perseverance through pain. Some, like the poem above mourn love lost through attrition. Others, like Modern Declaration (a favorite of mine) speak of love preserved through force of will alone:


I, having loved ever since I was a child a few things, never having wavered
In these affections; never through shyness in the houses of the rich or in the presence of clergymen having denied these loves;
Never when worked upon by cynics like chiropractors having grunted or clicked a vertebra to the discredit of these loves;
Never when anxious to land a job having diminished them by a conniving smile; or when befuddled by drink
Jeered at them through heartache or lazily fondled the fingers of their alert enemies; declare

That I shall love you always.
No matter what party is in power;
No matter what temporarily expedient combination of allied interests wins the war;
Shall love you always.


In Part Two, Millay’s poems address world events, which in 1939 were even more grim than advancing middle age. The poems Czecho-Slovakia and Two Voices rage against the betrayal of that unhappy land. Say That We Saw Spain Die mourns the Fascists victory against the brave, doomed resistance there. Perhaps because based on then current events most of the poems in this section are as forgettable as they are depressing.

Parts Three and Four, in contrast, present several of Millay’s most memorable poems. Pretty Love, I Must Outlive You, To A Calvinist In Bali, and To A Young Poet are all classic Millay poems that are familiar to those who know her through the collections compiled posthumously. Another that was new to me, but on par with those others is Short Story. And from Part Four, (1928) is devastating despair and beauty mixed:

For you there is no song...
Only the shaking
Of the voice that meant to sing, the sound of the
Strong
Voice breaking.

Strange in my hand appears
The pen, and yours broken.
There are ink and tears on the page; only the tears
Have spoken.

Part Five is one continuous and impressive poem, Theme And Variations. Like much of the rest of the volume, it presents loss and despair met with stubborn will, as exemplified in its final lines:


That which has quelled me, lives with me,
Accomplice in catastrophe.


And finally, all the poems in Part Six are Millay Sonnets, a form where she has no rival. All are strong, and in keeping with the feel of the volume. In I, Too, beneath your moon, Almighty Sex, Millay affirms her continued defiance of the culture’s sexual mores. And in Thou famished grave, I will not fill thee yet Millay defiantly thumbs her nose at advancing age and the death that will surely follow.

What Millay had lost of youthful rebellion she replaced with stubbornness and defiant resistance to both norms and the inevitable. These are the mature poems of an aging iconoclast. No one should be introduced to Millay by this volume, but all who love her work should read it.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

For some reason, didn't like this one as much as the others. Possibly because the other collections have more bite.

[Reba Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

I took my time with this collection, only digesting a few poems every once and a while, so it's bittersweet to finish. This particular volume has sentimental value for me, hence 5 stars.

[Mir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part I was kinda weak but it improved after that.

[Rhiannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

i bought an old copy of this poetry collection today and in 1945 someone wrote on the endpaper: “happy birthday from one of the birds who doesn’t know the answer”

[Didi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some nice gems in here

[Omama. · Rating 2 out of 5]

“Though less for love than for the deep
Though transient death that follows it
These childish mouths grown soft in sleep
Here in a rented bed have met,
They have not met in love’s despite . . .
Such tiny loves will leap and flare
Lurid as coke-fires in the night,
Against a background of despair.
To treeless grove, to grey retreat
Descend in flocks from corniced eaves
The pigeons now on sooty feet,
To cover them with linden leaves.”

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although not as good a collection as some of her earlier volumes, such as "A Few Figs from Thistles" and "Second April," "Huntsman, What Quarry?" is nonetheless a fascinating entry into Millay's corpus, if only because of the variety of poems included in terms of quality, style, and topic. Though there are some weak entries, the collection is magisterial for the range and maturity it displays - it is clearly the work of a well-developed poet, a reflection both on a successful career and an oft-times difficult life. The latter, particularly, is much with Millay in this collection; even in the lighter verses, there is a hint of melancholy, a sense of weltschmertz that resonates throughout. Perhaps Millay had some presentiment that this would be her last really great work, that her literary prowess as well as her reputation were waning. But even an inferior work Millay's is nonetheless a great read, and while "Huntsman, What Quarry?" is not the best representation of her lyric sensitivity or her keen wit, it is worthwhile for the depth and range on display, making it a fitting coda to a remarkable poetic career.

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Upon this age, that never speaks its mind,
This furtive age, this age endowed with power
To wake the moon with footsteps, fit an oar
Into the rowlocks of the wind, and find
What swims before his prow, what swirls behind--
Upon this gifted age, in its dark hour,
Falls from the sky a meteoric shower
Of facts...they lie unquestioned, uncombined.

Wisdom enough to leech us of our ill
Is daily spun; but there exists no loom
To weave it into fabric; undefiled
Proceeds pure Science, and has her say; but still
Upon this world from the collective womb
Is spewed all day the red triumphant child.

[Tristan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good overall. I thought the book improved as it went along, with the closing sonnets being absolutely stellar. I love Edna St. Vincent Millay's tone and wit; in one of her sonnets she ends a conversation with death: "I'll be but bones and jewels on that day,/ And leave thee hungry even in the end". I also really liked "From a Town in a State of Siege", which was very clever and interesting. Overall a very nice read.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This may be my favorite ESVM collection so far, though honestly I love them all.