Accident and war effort left|thumb|Millay in 1930 Millay was staying at the Sanibel Palms Hotel when, on May 2, 1936, a fire started after a kerosene heater on the second floor exploded. Everything was destroyed, including the only copy of Millay's long verse poem, Conversation at Midnight, and a 1600s poetry collection written by the Roman poet Catullus of the first century BC. She would go on to rewrite Conversation at Midnight from memory and release it the following year.
Accident and war effort left|thumb|Millay in 1930 Millay was staying at the Sanibel Palms Hotel when, on May 2, 1936, a fire started after a kerosene heater on the second floor exploded Everything was destroyed, including the only copy of Millay's long verse poem, Conversation at Midnight, and a 1600s poetry collection written by the Roman poet Catullus of the first century BC She would go on to rewrite Conversation at Midnight from memory and release it the following year.