Collected Poems. By Robert Frost. Henry Holt. $5.00
The publication of Mr. Robert Frost’s Collected Poems provides an appropriate occasion for making an estimate of Mr. Frost’s rank and importance in American poetry. Of the importance there can hardly be much question, but the nature of the specific contribution which Frost has made is not so obvious. Indeed, it has to some extent been obscured by emphasis on Frost, the homely philosopher, or on Frost the New England seer—tributes appropriate enough, perhaps, on one level, but damaging to a full appreciation by a somewhat different type of audience of Frost’s essential accomplishment. Frost at times has even been in danger of being praised as a sort of vastly more literate and vastly more accomplished Edgar Guest. The key to this misconception lies in the disposition of many admirers to emphasize his “directness” and “simplicity” in contrast to the “tortured obscurity” of other modern poets. But such compliments have been made in ignorance of the intrinsic quality of Frost’s method.
Already have an account? Log in
Join KR for even more to read.
