American poet Edna St. Vincent Millay?began writing and publishing poetry as a child. She grew up in coastal Maine with her two sisters and plenty of books, music, and nature, but often without parents?her father left home when they were young, and her mother, a nurse, traveled for months at a time to support them. Vincent and her two sisters often had to fiercely fend for themselves, from the daily to-do lists of keeping house, through bitterly cold winters and blight, which proved to be good fodder for indoor and outdoor adventures alike?and for poetry.