A Boy's Will & North of Boston - Softcover

Frost, Robert

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1495437191 ISBN 13: 9781495437199

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014

Synopsis

Robert Frost came into public view with "A Boy's Will" and "North of Boston," his first short collections of poetry. While Frost's "voice" is a bit unformed in these poems, the rich ponderings of nature and love are strong, full of "sun-saturated meadows," melancholy looks at life and death, and pearly streams. "I should not be withheld but that some day/Into their vastness I should steal away," Frost announces in the first poem of "A Boy's Will." He follows up this statement with everything from eerie story-poems ("Love and a Question") to exultant ("A Prayer in Spring") to melancholy meditations on nature's beauty, love, and broken hearts. "Something there is that doesn't love a wall," is the first line of one of Frost's more typical poems in "North of Boston," a nuanced work about neighbors rebuilding a wall between them. But then there are poems like "Death of the Hired Man," a long conversation between a man and his wife, about a former worker who has returned home to die. Another is just about a mountain, as told by a farmhand. Poets take a while to reach their peak, and Frost was still starting out in these books. That said, it's astounding how good he was even in his first volume of poetry. Most striking is Frost's passion -- his enthusiasm, sorrow and thoughts seem to spill off the page. While Frost is more ethereal, even dreamy, in a "A Boy's Will," both collections possess Frost's exquisite phrasing. “North of Boston” just focuses a little more on the mundane, like hotels, farms and strangers.

About this title

From the Back Cover

Although Robert Frost (1874–1963) wrote poetry throughout his youth and early adult years, his first collection of poems was not published until he was nearly 40 years old. And, ironically, it was not in America that this quintessentially American poet was first published, but in England. In 1912, he settled his family in Buckinghamshire, determining to devote his full life to poetry.
In 1913, Frost published A Boy's Will, his first collection of poems. A series of sharply observed impressions of New England rural life touching upon universal themes, it included such poems as "Into My Own," "Asking for Roses," "Spoils of the Dead," and "Reluctance." A second volume, North of Boston, followed in 1914 and contained several of Frost's finest and best-known works: "Mending Wall," "After Apple-Picking," "The Death of the Hired Man," and others. Both volumes are reprinted here complete and unabridged―a treasury of fine early verse by one of the 20th century's most admired poets.

About the Author

Robert Lee Frost (1874 – 1963) was an American poet. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech. His work frequently employed settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to examine complex social and philosophical themes. A popular and often-quoted poet, Frost was honored frequently during his lifetime, receiving four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry.

Edition details

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1495437191
• ISBN 13: 9781495437199
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 110