Edna St. Vincent Millay, 1928, from the portfolio, Faces of the 20's

Born in Rockland, Maine in 1892, Millay was a poet and novelist whose work was as well known as her reputation as a free spirit. She published her first poem at the age of fourteen, graduated from Vassar in 1917, and promptly moved to Greenwich Village, where she lived among other writers and artists. Millay was considered rebellious for the time because her writing was not dictated by conventional female decorum of her era.
She received the Pulitzer Prize in 1922 and continued writing until she died in 1950.

Abbott's photograph subtly reveals Millay's playful personality. Millay's relaxed pose in spite of the formality of the portrait indicates not only Abbott's formal choices but also Millay's own propensity for eccentricity.