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19th out of 186 books
—
56 voters
North of Boston
by
Robert Frost
He moves in darkness as it seems to me, Not of woods only and the shade of trees. He will not go behind his father's saying, And he likes having thought of it so well He says again, "Good fences make good neighbours."
Paperback, 50 pages
Published
November 3rd 2006
by Hard Press
(first published 1914)
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I like Frost but haven't read him in years. As always, love his rhymes and rhythms. But this time struck by how his poems reminded me of other writers.
This passage from "Black Cottage":
For, dear me, why abandon a belief
Merely because it ceases to be true.
Cling to it long enough, and not a doubt
It will turn true again, for so it goes.
made me think of Kurt Vonnegut.
When reading lines such as the ones below from "Blueberries" I'll be darned if I don't hear Dr Seuss:
He has brought them all up on...more
This passage from "Black Cottage":
For, dear me, why abandon a belief
Merely because it ceases to be true.
Cling to it long enough, and not a doubt
It will turn true again, for so it goes.
made me think of Kurt Vonnegut.
When reading lines such as the ones below from "Blueberries" I'll be darned if I don't hear Dr Seuss:
He has brought them all up on...more
With North of Boston, Frost begins in earnest his foray into the poetics of local narrative. As an experiment in the meter of common speech, I find it interesting, but none of the poems are really moving, as in his other books. "Home Burial" is probably the most powerful and least reliant on gothic tragedy to round out its story. Of course, "Mending Wall" is the poem we know and love--but not so much for the sound of it, I mean the kind of richly crafted music you come to expect of Frost in late...more
Almost without exception (thinking, thinking - no, entirely without exception), those books, poems and plays taught to me at some point in K-12 produced, like vaccines, almost life-long resistance to the works involved. Luckily, my long life since then has been long enough to permit me, in some cases, to outgrow that vicious old repulsion to at least some of those items. (Sorry, Hamlet!) And the poems of North of Boston are most definitely included.
There are those who take exception to Frost's...more
There are those who take exception to Frost's...more
For some reason, Frost and Hemingway are inextricably linked in my mind. It's almost as if I think Frost is a pseudonym that Hemingway uses when he writes poetry. Unfortunately, this is a bad linkage my mind is making; sure, both guys love the outdoors, but Frost isn't half the insecure asshole Hemingway is. And he doesn't seem quite so enamored with killing things.
On the other hand, both of them are at their best writing simple, everyday vignettes that seem to gesture towards something greater.
On the other hand, both of them are at their best writing simple, everyday vignettes that seem to gesture towards something greater.
Frost's second volume of poetry, North of Boston is the one where he finds his voice. The forced rhythms and rhymes of A Boy's Will are a thing of the past and the dark meditations that define his best work are present both in short lyrics like Mending Wall and in longer narrative poems like The Fear. Not all of the long pieces work equally well, but if you're conducting a non-obsessive tour of Frost's universe, this is the place to start.
The poems in this book are almost all dialogs, like this one I liked from The Generations of Men ...
"Where shall we meet again?"
"Nowhere but here
Once more before we meet elsewhere."
"In rain?"
"It ought to be in rain. Sometime in rain.
In rain to-morrow, shall we, if it rains?
But if we must, in sunshine." So she went.
The latter, literally, not as in today's "I went" (meaning "I said")
A good book of poems. I enjoyed them.
"Where shall we meet again?"
"Nowhere but here
Once more before we meet elsewhere."
"In rain?"
"It ought to be in rain. Sometime in rain.
In rain to-morrow, shall we, if it rains?
But if we must, in sunshine." So she went.
The latter, literally, not as in today's "I went" (meaning "I said")
A good book of poems. I enjoyed them.
Colour me extremely bored... What is this? I am sorry I did not get these poems at all. You can comment under the review and help me understand this. How can you make small stories / poems boring? There were hints of how it might have been a good one, but it bored the heck out of me right with the next line! Not for me, sorry.
fr. "Mending Wall":
"I could say 'Elves' to him,
But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather
he said it for himself."
fr. "The Death of the Hired Man":
"Part of a moon was falling down the west,
Dragging the whole sky with it to the hills.
Its light poured softly in her lap. She saw it
And spread her apron to it. She put out her hand
Among the harp-like morning-glory strings,
Taut with the dew from garden bed to eaves,
As if she played unheard some tenderness
That wrought on him beside her in the night."
fr....more
"I could say 'Elves' to him,
But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather
he said it for himself."
fr. "The Death of the Hired Man":
"Part of a moon was falling down the west,
Dragging the whole sky with it to the hills.
Its light poured softly in her lap. She saw it
And spread her apron to it. She put out her hand
Among the harp-like morning-glory strings,
Taut with the dew from garden bed to eaves,
As if she played unheard some tenderness
That wrought on him beside her in the night."
fr....more
So far it seems like Robert Frost is one of many poets I want to like more than I do. So it goes. Readable but didn't grab me.
So much better than his first book. It's like it was written by a completely different person. North of Boston really showcases Frost's storytelling ability within his poetry.
One of Frost's earlier collections. Quite short. Can't say I'm a big fan this one.
The poems Black Cottage and Mending Wall deserve five stars.
May 05, 2011
Denae
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
read-in-2011,
challenge-1010-by-2020
I know, I know...it's Robert Frost, beloved American poet. I just can't do it though. There are a few poems in here I enjoyed, specifically "The Self-Seeker" but most of it felt like a slog. I think I have read too many poets I loved for this to really appeal.
While a simply adore Frost's shorter lyrics, his longer/narrative poems don't do much for me.
From 25 books that shaped America list.
I haven't read Frost since high school. I'm blown away with everything I hadn't noticed before. Loved every second of it.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me, Not of woods only and the shade of trees. He will not go behind his father's saying, And he likes having thought of it so well He says again, "Good fences make good neighbours."
Jan 28, 2011
Heather
marked it as did-not-finish
Actually reading ebook version from Project Gutenberg but couldn't find that one listed...
May 09, 2013
Katie
marked it as to-read
Apr 30, 2013
Nora
marked it as to-read
Apr 25, 2013
Aaron
added it
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Flinty, moody, plainspoken and deep, Robert Frost was one of America's most popular 20th-century poets. Frost was farming in Derry, New Hampshire when, at the age of 38, he sold the farm, uprooted his family and moved to England, where he devoted himself to his poetry. His first two books of verse, A Boy's Will (1913) and North of Boston (1914), were immediate successes. In 1915 he returned to the...more
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3 trivia questions
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“Home is where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.”
—
64 people liked it
“Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offense.”
—
9 people liked it
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What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offense.”
Jul 24, 2012 06:14am
Jul 24, 2012 11:58am