Robert Frost: A study in sensibility and good sense

About this book

"Robert Frost" by Gorham Bert Munson is a literary biography and critical study written in the early 20th century. It traces the poet’s New England lineage and life, his road to publication at home and abroad, and the principles behind his verse, blending narrative portraiture with close readings that highlight his “sensibility and good sense.”

The opening of the book moves from Frost’s deep ancestral roots in Maine and New Hampshire to his parents’ stories, his San Francisco childhood, and the family’s return East after his father’s death. It follows his schooling and courtship of Elinor White, early poems and reading, and the hard Derry farm years that led to inventive, student-centered teaching at Pinkerton and Plymouth. The narrative then recounts his self-chosen sojourn in England, the making of A Boy’s Will and North of Boston, encounters with Ezra Pound and Edward Thomas, and an unanticipated American reception that brought sales, honors, and college posts while he kept to farming and a modest life. The section closes with a concise critique of his craft—talk-like meters within form, exact observation, dramatic instinct, and a creed of making the common uncommon—illustrated through poem discussions and a brief play, A Way Out.