North of Boston [Hardcover]

Robert Frost (Author), 1stWorld Publishing (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 20, 2006

SOMETHING there is that doesn't love a wall, That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it, And spills the upper boulders in the sun; And makes gaps even two can pass abreast. The work of hunters is another thing: I have come after them and made repair Where they have left not one stone on a stone, But they would have the rabbit out of hiding, To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean, No one has seen them made or heard them made, But at spring mending-time we find them there. I let my neighbour know beyond the hill; And on a day we meet to walk the line And set the wall between us once again. We keep the wall between us as we go. To each the boulders that have fallen to each. And some are loaves and some so nearly balls We have to use a spell to make them balance: "Stay where you are until our backs are turned!" We wear our fingers rough with handling them. Oh, just another kind of out-door game, One on a side. It comes to little more: There where it is we do not need the wall: He is all pine and I am apple orchard. My apple trees will never get across And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 108 pages
• Publisher: 1st World Library - Literary Society (February 20, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1421806681
• ISBN-13: 978-1421806686
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,489,856 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Going "North", November 10, 2004

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: North of Boston (Paperback)

Robert Frost took a very different direction in "North of Boston," his second collection of poetry. Rather than the otherworldly naturescapes and human fears, he seems to focus on how people communicate this time around. Unfortunately, he sacrifices some of the poetry's power in the process.

"Something there is that doesn't love a wall," is the first line of one of Frost's more typical poems here, a nuanced work about neighbors rebuilding a wall between them. But then there are poems like "Death of the Hired Man," a long conversation between a man and his wife, about a former worker who has returned home to die. Another is just about a mountain, as told by a farmhand.

Robert Frost even in his more lackluster writings is still a great poet. Unfortunately "North of Boston" is a bit less engaging than his first collection. It's laced with Frost's exquisite phrasing ("A bead of silver water more or less/Strung on your hair won't hurt your summer looks"), but is more mundane and grounded.

In the emotional sense, the conversation poetry is quite striking. In a quiet way. Frost seems to have been studying people's interactions, such as the gradual softening of a woman when she finds that someone she had formerly considered worthless is only there to die in a place he loves. On an emotional note, it's beautiful.

In the technical sense, some readers might not be thrilled about the conversational poems, which are mostly composed of two people talking in a rather grounded fashion. ("Stark?" he inquired. "No matter for the proof."/"Yes, Stark. And you?"/"I'm Stark." He drew his passport.) But it is quite intriguing to see Frost expanding his poetry and seeing what else he was capable of doing.

"North of Boston" is not Robert Frost's best collection, but it is an interesting and very well-written one. Just don't expect anything like "A Boy's Will," his first poetry collection.