Blood Too Bright

Floyd Dell Remembers Edna St. Vincent Millay

What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,
I have forgotten*

One hundred years ago, Bohemian author and editor of the radical Masses magazine, Floyd Dell, began a passionate affair with a newcomer to Greenwich Village — the yet to be discovered “girl poet,” Edna St. Vincent Millay. In the years that followed, both Dell and Millay became symbols of early 20th century feminism, rebellion and literary freedom.

A century later, while poring over her grandfather Floyd’s papers at Chicago’s Newberry Library, Jerri Dell discovered hundreds of handwritten letters and an unpublished memoir about his love affair with Millay. Finding him as outlandish, entertaining and insightful as he was when she knew him fifty years before, she chose to bring him and his poet lover back to life within the pages of this book.

Admirers of Edna Millay — as well as literary and political history buffs, Bohemian Village enthusiasts, and readers interested in writers who famously influenced social norms — are sure to enjoy this eye-witness account of a fascinating woman and exceptional poet.

My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night*

*Excerpts from Sonnet XLIII and First Fig by Edna St. Vincent Millay