A Boy's Will and North of Boston

by Robert Frost

Book Overview

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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0486268667
• ISBN13: 9780486268668
• Release Date: June 1991
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 0.21 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 5.4" x 8.2"
• Age Range: 11 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 6 and higher

Customer Reviews

Breath-takingly awesome.

This short, well-priced Dover edition combines Robert Frost's acclaimed first two books of poetry, "A Boy's Will" and "North of Boston", with no significant commentary and little introductory hash. And so should it be. I believe that to truly grasp the essence of poetry, one must read it in its indigenous sequence, as the poet himself originally set it. The poems here "speak" to one another, similar to the songs of one of the great Beatles albums. And so like a Beatles album, here too the reader will find many a gem in the crevice, those great poems that the anthologists have past over. Just reading the poetic titles of these two books gives me goose-bumps!! The first book "A Boy's Will" contains many of the short lyrical poems that have made Frost's a house-hold name. The title alludes to Longfellow("A boy's will is the wind's will. . .), as if to announce that Frost sees himself as taking up the unfinished work of the greatest of 19th century American poets. These lyrical gems are marvels of control and form, diffracting so many moods of the human soul. The poems herein are your more classical, lyrical sorts of poetry, with predictable rhyme scheme and meter. Frost does not experiment much technically at this stage, but these poems are great to memorize!! The second book "North of Boston" is more experimental in form. Here Frost introduces his prose poem (blank verse?) poetry with which he is identified. As soon as one opens the cover, he is hit between the eyse with "Mending Wall" and "Death of the Hired Man", WHABAM!--two classics of American poetry right off the bat! And the follow ups are amazing to boot. There's a depth in these poems too, which rewards repeated reading. For example, I just realized what "Hor" means... These are truly classic, accessible works of poetry, recommended without reservation to the poetry enthusiast as well as to someone experiencing poetry for the first time!!

The Greatest Poetry Collection Of The 20th Century?

On January, 20, 1961, President John F. Kennedy invited the aged Robert Frost to come south from his New Hampshire farm and recite a poem on the occasion of his inauguration. Asked by a reporter why he chose to honor Frost with this invitation, Kennedy quite sincerely said, "It is Mr. Frost who honors me." I can say with no disrespect to the office of President that Kennedy's sentiment was very true, for our Chief Executives come and go, but the works of Robert Frost will surely endure thru millennia. Robert Frost is probably America's most well-know poet and arguably its best, and in these collections we are privileged to read the words Frost penned in his relative youth, with so much acclaim lying unseen ahead of him. Here are the words that stir the soul and call us into cold New England autumns of long ago. Here are the lines that would later resonate in ten-million minds, bravely sent forth into an uncertain reception by a Frost still young and yet unheralded. Here, on the once-blank page, the spirit of rural New England of nearly a century ago is waiting to speak to all of us. An unqualified achievement of absolute genius. I truly pity anyone who passes through a lifetime without reading these poems.

The beginnings

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 never stronger, 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 awhile 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 (though at times the rhymes are a little too simple, and the subjects don't vary much). Most striking is Frost's passion -- his enthusiasm, sorrow and thoughts seem to spill off the page. "A Boy's Will" and "North of Boston" are pretty different, though. The first collection is far less grounded, more ethereal and almost dreamy. Both possess Frost's exquisite phrasing ("A bead of silver water more or less/Strung on your hair won't hurt your summer looks") but the second focuses on more mundane things like hotels, farms and strangers. And more of the poems are long conversations, instead of meditations on nature and life. The first, however, has a poem about a moonlit search for a brook, the God Pan, and the stirring historical poem "In Equal Sacrifice," about Douglas carrying Robert the Bruce's heart to the Holy Land On an emotional level, the poems are about equal -- "A Boy's Will" is beautifully written, while "North of Boston" is powerful. Some readers might not be thrilled about the conversational poems, which are mostly composed of two people talking in a rather grounded fashion. ("Stark?" he inquired. "No matter for the proof."/"Yes, Stark. And you?"/"I'm Stark." He drew his passport.) But it is quite intriguing to see Frost expanding his poetry and seeing what else he was capable of doing. "A Boy's Will and North of Boston" encompasses the first two volumes of Robert Frost's classic poetry, and give a look at a poet expanding his talents and finding his unique voice.

Well worth having

Many budget-priced classics are poorly edited, with a forward or introduction that is little more than a token gesture. This edition of Frost's early work, comprising his first two publications, is a notable exception. The introduction by William Pritchard and the afterword by Peter Davison are both first-rate. The poems themselves are very fine and if you read them in sequence they give a real sense of the poet's development. It is also nice that they are in their original forms, including the glosses that Frost later removed.With such fine editing, and at such a low price, this book is well worth having.

Robert Frost is great

This has to be Robert Frost's best piece of writing. I've never read poetry this great. I would really recommend it.