Selected Poems (1923) is a collection of poems by American poet Robert
Frost. Dedicated to Edward Thomas, a friend of Frost's and an important
English poet who died toward the end of the First World War, Selected
Poems is a wonderful sampling of poems from Frost's early collections,
including A Boy's Will and North of Boston. Known for his
plainspoken language and dedication to the images and rhythms of rural
New England, Robert Frost is one of America's most iconic poets, a voice
to whom generations of readers have turned in search of beauty, music,
and life.
"Mowing" envisions the poet's work through the prism of rural labor.
"There was never a sound beside the wood but one / And that was my long
scythe whispering to the ground. / What was it it whispered?" The
speaker does not know, but continues his task, hypnotized by its rhythm
and simple music. In "After Apple-Picking," as fall gives over to
winter, the poet remembers in dreams how the "Magnified apples appear
and disappear, / Stem end and blossom end" as he climbs the ladder into
the heart of the tree. Both a symbol for life and a metaphor for the
poetic act, apple picking leaves the poet "overtired / Of the great
harvest [he himself] desired", awaiting sleep as he describes "its
coming on," wondering what, if anything, it will bring. "The Road Not
Taken," perhaps Frost's most famous poem, is a meditation on fate and
free will that follows a traveler in an autumn landscape, unsure of
which path to take, but certain he cannot stand still.
With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript,
this edition of Robert Frost's Selected Poems is a classic of American
literature reimagined for modern readers.
