Volume 24, Number 18 · November 10, 1977
Robert Frost Crosses the Missouri
By Karl Miller
Robert Frost: The Work of Knowing
by Richard Poirier
Oxford University Press, 322 pp., $11.95
Robert Frost: The Early Years, 1874-1915
by Lawrance Thompson
Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 643 pp., $12.50
Robert Frost: The Years of Triumph, 1915-1938
by Lawrance Thompson
Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 744 pp., $15.00
Robert Frost: The Later Years, 1938-1963
by Lawrance Thompson, by R.H. Winnick
Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 468 pp., $17.95
Robert Frost's long life came to an end in 1963, and Lawrance Thompson's long life of Robert Frost—that of an authorized biographer, who was outlived by his labors, and whose third volume was completed by a colleague—came to an end last year. Frost's life rang with praise and applause, but he has so far been the subject of a disproportionately small amount of literary criticism. The oracles have been dumb, for the most part, and sometimes surly. Richard Poirier's book, however, will cause them to speak. Among other matters, it will cause them to speak about what it is like for the poems to be read by a reader of Leavis and of Mailer—a reader for whom the writing of poetry can be compared to sexual intercourse.
Review, 6827 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |