As the oldest child of divorced parents who were never home, Millay was forced to act as a surrogate mother for her two younger sisters. It was an heavy burden placed on a young child. One particular passage, written when Millay was nineteen, resonates particularly: "I'm getting old and ugly. My hands are stiff and rough and stained and blistered. I can feel my face dragging down. I can feel the lines coming underneath my …showed first 75 words of 704 total…

…showed last 75 words of 704 total…depleted his own reserves of strength and died in 1949 of lung cancer followed by surgery and a stroke. Millay evidently grew more dependent on alcohol during her brief, widowhood. She died sitting at the foot of her staircase, alone, at Steepletop. Despite her addictions, Millay's memory as a great American poet will forever be remembered. Thomas Hardy once said that American had two great attractions: the skyscraper and the poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay.