During a century when few poets were writing drama, and fewer playwrights were writing verse, Edna St. Vincent Millay excelled as a capable author of both. In 1923 Millay became the first woman to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize in poetry. During her lifetime Millay's contributions to theater were also well recognized. Her substantial contributions to drama--particularly verse drama--have received little attention. Despite their originality and virtuosity, Millay's dramatic works are often neglected by scholars. Because Millay lacked a strong tradition of American verse drama to draw upon, she looked to medieval and Elizabethan playwrights for guidance, and she experimented with theatrical form. Millay's plays, as do many of her poems, tend to gesture toward centuries-old traditions. Aria da Capo (produced 1919; published 1920) evokes both commedia dell'arte and Greek tragedy, while the dialogue of the play refers to modernist trends in music and painting. Two Slatterns and a King (produced 1919; published 1921) is based on medieval morality plays.
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