Collected Poems, Prose, and Plays

By Robert Frost

Book Overview

Justly celebrated at home and abroad, Robert Frost is perhaps America's greatest twentieth-century poet and a towering figure in American letters. From the publication of his first collections, A Boy's Will (1913) and North of Boston (1914), Frost was recognized as a poet of unique power and formal skill, and the enduring significance of his work has been acknowledged by each subsequent generation. His poetry ranges from deceptively simply pastoral lyrics and genial, vernacular genre pieces to darker meditations, complex and ironic.

Here, based on extensive research into his manuscripts and published work, is the first authoritative and truly comprehensive collection of his writings. Brought together for the first time in a Library of America single volume is all the major poetry, a generous selection of uncollected poems, all of Frost's dramatic writing, and the most extensive gathering of his prose writings ever published, several of which are printed here for the first time.

The core of this collection is the 1949 Complete Poems of Robert Frost, the last collection supervised by Frost himself. This version of the poems is free of unauthorized editorial changes introduced into subsequent editions. Also included is In the Clearing (1962), Frost's final volume of poetry. Verse drawn from letters, articles, pamphlets, and journals makes up the largest selection of uncollected poems ever assembled, including nearly two dozen beautiful early works printed for the first time. Also gathered here are all the dramatic works: three plays and two verse masques.

The unprecedented prose section includes more than three times as many items as any other collection available. It is rich and diverse, presenting many newly discovered or rediscovered pieces. Especially unusual items include Frost's contribution to John F. Kennedy's inauguration and two fascinating 1959 essays on "The Future of Man." Several manuscript items are published here for the first time, including the essays "'Caveat Poeta'" and "The Way There," Frost's remarks on being appointed poetry consultant to the Library of Congress in 1958, the preface to a proposed new edition of North of Boston, and many others. A selection of letters represents all of Frost's important comments about prosody, poetics, style, and his theory of "sentence sounds."

LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation's literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America's best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 188301106X
• ISBN13: 9781883011062
• Release Date: October 1995
• Publisher: Library of America
• Length: 976 Pages
• Weight: 1.53 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.2" x 8.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Pure Frost Without Editorial Heat

Are you someone who buys for the art of the book as much for the art of the contents? If so, you can't do better than any of the stellar titles from the Library Of America series of books... This splendid collection of Frost will not dissapoint...One of the many treats of this volume as is virtually true with all of the Library Of America volumes is the ease with which you can hold it comfortably in your hand...Exclusively...

Perfect

An excellent book that contains all of this works to perfect form. This book as letters that he sent to other people. I have read this whole book a few times, it is perfect. Get the book.

few compare with Frost

I do not really I believe that all the stuff here merits five stars (books like these throw in the kitchen sink when covering their subjects). Yet, when I ask myself--"how can I possibly not give some of the stuff here more than five stars?" I cannot sufficiently answer the question.A poet like Frost comes around maybe once in a generation (if we're lucky). Some of his works are undeniably for the ages. This volume is filled...

Timeless poetry

Reading Robert Frost aloud is one of the most peaceful interludes in life. I live in New England and taking this volume for a walk in the woods and reading it there makes me more appreciative of nature and the creativity of this great author. I learned to enjoy him at Amherst College, where he once taught, reading an American Literature assignment outdooors on a warm Octobee afternoon. This is the best of the three collections...