The Robert Frost Reader Poetry and Prose

by Frost, Robert; Lathem, Edward Connery; Thompson, Lawrance

• ISBN13: 9780805070217
• ISBN10: 0805070214
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-04-01
• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks

Summary

Robert Frost was the most emblematically American of poets, a forthright advocate of both the art and craft of verse who was recognized and cherished as few other poets have ever been. This reader offers students and scholars a plethora of his speeches, interviews, correspondence, one-act plays, and other materials, as well as lengthy selections from all of Frost's books of verse. Though many have been drawn to his seemingly old-fashioned simplicity, this wide-ranging reader in fact reveals that Frost's work was often dark or ironic in toneand always subtle and complex. Robert Frost(1874-1963) is widely regarded as one of America's finest poets. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry on four different occasions, and also served as Consultant in Poetry at the Library of Congress. Robert Frost was the most emblematically American of poets, a forthright advocate of both the art and craft of verse who was recognized and cherished as few other poets have ever been. This reader offers students and scholars a plethora of his speeches, interviews, correspondence, one-act plays, and other materials, as well as lengthy selections from all of Frost's books of verse. Though many have been drawn to the poet's seemingly old-fashioned simplicity, this diverse collection in fact reveals that Frost's work was often dark or ironic in toneand always subtle and complex. "Frost has bequeathed to his nation a body of imperishable verse from which Americans will forever gain joy and understanding."John F. Kennedy "Frost was the first American poet who could honestly be reckoned a master-poet by world standards."Robert Graves "[Our] most eminent [and] most distinguished . . . Anglo-American poet."T.S. Eliot "Frost [is among] the greatest of the American poets of the 20th century."Randall Jarrell "No other American poet has so much art or so much subject matter."Mark Van Doren "Of all the poetry written in our generation, Frost's is most likely to stand the test of time."Lewis Gannett

Author Biography

Robert Frost (1874-1963) is widely regarded as one of America's finest poets. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry on four different occasions, and also served as Consultant in Poetry at the Library of Congress.

Table of Contents

Introduction	xi
A Brief Chronology	xiii
I Poetry: Selections from Eleven Books
A Boy's Will	3	(15)
North of Boston	18	(42)
Mountain Interval	60	(11)
New Hampshire	71	(41)
West-Running Brook	112	(17)
A Further Range	129	(27)
A Witness Tree	156	(24)
Steeple Bush	180	(9)
In the Clearing	189	(15)
A Masque of Reason	204	(5)
A Masque of Mercy	209	(6)
II. Other Samplings: Of Various Periods and Kinds Childhood Letters	215	(300)
Early Verse	217	(13)
High School Prose	230	(7)
My Butterfly	237	(3)
Letters about ``My Butterfly''	240	(6)
Stories for His Children	246	(10)
Among the Poems He Left Behind: Group One	256	(3)
Stories for Chicken Farmers	259	(17)
Letters about A Boy's Will and about Writing	276	(16)
Getting the Sound of Sense: An Interview	292	(6)
Early Letters to Untermeyer	298	(9)
A Way Out: A One-Act Play	307	(14)
Among the Poems He Left Behind: Group Two	321	(8)
We Seem to Lack the Courage to Be Ourselves: An Interview	329	(9)
Some Observations on Style	338	(2)
Education by Presence: An Interview	340	(5)
Six Rhymed Letters	345	(9)
Coaching a Younger Writer	354	(17)
Education by Poetry: A Meditative Monologue	371	(13)
Among the Poems He Left Behind: Group Three	384	(2)
A Letter to The Amherst Student	386	(3)
Introduction to Robinson's King Fasper	389	(9)
Ten of His Favorite Books	398	(2)
On Crudities and Opposites: Two Letters	400	(6)
Among the Poems He Left Behind: Group Four	406	(3)
Poverty and Poetry: A Talk	409	(8)
The Poet's Next of Kin in a College: A Talk	417	(5)
This Is My Best: A Choice of Sixteen Poems	422	(3)
A Selection of Couplets	425	(6)
What Became of New England? A Commencement Address	431	(5)
On a Passage in Paradise Lost: A Letter	436	(3)
The Figure a Poem Makes: An Introduction	439	(4)
The Doctrine of Excursions: A Preface	443	(3)
The Constant Symbol: An Introduction	446	(6)
Speaking of Loyalty: A Talk	452	(7)
Poetry and School: Remarks from His Notebooks	459	(4)
The Prerequisites: A Preface	463	(3)
Don't Get Converted. Stay: Excerpt from an Address	466	(4)
Aphoristic Lines of Poetry	470	(4)
Letters to an Incipient Biographer	474	(8)
Among the Poems He Left Behind: Group Five	482	(2)
Observations and Declarations of a Poet-Statesman	484	(12)
On Extravagance: A Talk	496	(15)
Last Poem	511	(2)
Last Letter	513	(2)
A Selected Bibliography	515	(2)
Index	517