3. Is Mr. Frost’s realism photographic? Consider in this connection his own statement: “There are two types of realist—the one who offers a good deal of dirt with his potato to show that it is a real one; and the one who is satisfied with the potato brushed clean.... To me the thing that art does for life is to strip it to form.”
In view of the last sentence it is interesting to consider the kinds of details that Mr. Frost chooses for presentation and those that he omits.
4. Read several of the long poems to discover his relative strength in narrative and in dramatic presentation.
5. Examine the vocabulary for naturalness, colloquialism, and extraordinary occasional fitness of words.
6. Try to sum up briefly Mr. Frost’s philosophy of life and his attitude toward nature and people.
7. What do you observe about the metrical forms, the beauty or lack of beauty in the rhythm? Do many of the poems sing?
8. What do you prophesy as to Mr. Frost’s future?
Bibliography
- A Boy’s Will. 1913.
- North of Boston. 1914.
- Mountain Interval. 1916.
Studies and Reviews