Frost's breakthrough book of poetry seen anew as an artistic whole and
in the context of the poet's career and development.
North of Boston, Robert Frost's second book of verse and arguably his
greatest, brought him suddenly into national prominence in 1915. Though
completed and first published in England in 1914, the book was rooted in
the decade, 1900-1910, that Frost spent in Derry, New Hampshire, where
he witnessed the decline of its traditional farming culture. In
presenting this "drama of disappearance," twelve of the book's fifteen
principal poems are literally dramatic, composed mainly of direct
dialogue. Among them are three of Frost's most famous lyrics, each
featuring a signature task of New England life and underlining the
book's tribute to a fading culture. Collectively, the poems bring the
diction and tones of a New England vernacular within a traditional
metric frame, making "music," as Frost boasted, "from the sound of
sense" and poetry of "a language absolutely unliterary." Such
adaptations of ordinary language and experience to blank verse drama
made Frost a founder of American modernism and North of Boston one of
its monuments. Exploring Frost's complex connection to his poetic
characters, this study provides new readingsof the individual poems and
a new look at North of Boston's development. To a degree no other study
has done, it addresses the book's design as an artistic whole while
placing it in the context of Frost's unfolding career.
David Sanders is Professor Emeritus of English at St. John Fisher
College, Rochester, New York.
