The art of Robert Frost

the long version

Robert Frost set out with the ambition "to be a poet for all sorts and kinds." The story of how he succeeded in his ambition is dramatized in the poems themselves. Tracing this story, Tim Kendall presents a judicious selection of sixty five poems from across Frost's writing career, beginning in the 1890s and ending with "Directive" from the 1940s. Encouraging readers to follow the journey which Frost himself recognized in all great poetry ("It begins in delight and ends in wisdom"), Kendall intersperses the poems with sensitive and elegant close readings. He reawakens readers to the complexity and strangeness of the poet's canonical works and draws attention to lesser-known but equally powerful poems from across his oeuvre. The first book on Frost to combine selected poems with a critical study, this engaging, carefully considered, and accessible volume will remind readers why Frost remains one of the most popular and critically respected poets of the past century.