Lanterna Rally

Author: Vincent Sheean

Publisher:

Published: 1951

Total Pages: 158

ISBN-13:

This unusual book is an appreciation of an aspect in the life of Edna St. Vincent Millay which reflects as much as any other the essence of her nature and her poetry -- her extraordinary relationship with the birds. It was Miss Millay who introduced the author to the indigo bunting, described by Audubon as a bird that is blue all over, has a sweet, delicate voice, and sings when most other bird voices are still. From their first meeting the indigo bunting became to him the symbol of this poet. Though he knew the poet only in her later years, there developed a mutual understanding rarely achieved in a lifetime association. Vincent Sheean was one of the few people ever allowed to visit the room at the top of the stairs where Miss Millay kept her books. It was here that, inadvertently, he saw her bird diary with its revealing entries -- excerpts of which are included. Few people knew Miss Millay well; she was more in communication with nature than with human beings. But Mr. Sheean saw her in a range of moods: one rainy week end, quoting other poets she had memorized, or talking of Shelley and Keats, or discussing the habits of the scarlet tanager; on another occasion silent, withdrawn and seemingly frightened in a period of being unable to write; again, coming bare-legged across the rocks at Ragged Island, a circle of sea gulls overhead. Against a background of this unique friendship, and quoting liberally from Miss Millay's poems, Vincent Sheean reveals new and fascinating aspects of a complex and elusive artist. The Indigo Bunting is a moving and beautifully written volume which will appeal to admirers of author and subject alike.