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9 - Robert Frost

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2011

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Summary

An English critic (A. Alvarez in The Shaping Spirit, 1958) has this to say about Frost's present reputation in England:

Perhaps the only modern American poet who really is concerned with manners is Robert Frost…I think this is why Frost has been so readily accepted in England; he is peculiarly congenial; we are easy with the tradition of country poetry, simple language and simple wisdom. American cosmopolitanism, even Eliot's, has always seemed a suspicious virtue, whereas Frost seems assured, he does not have to strive; he has New England behind him…

Alvarez, perhaps unwittingly, gives the impression (which I do not share) that Frost's poetry is widely read in England. But otherwise this implicit placing of Frost (‘country poetry, simple language and simple wisdom’) in a familiar minor niche does, I think, convey a true account of Frost's actual standing here. His reputation is based, it would seem, on a handful of well-known anthology pieces. ‘Everyone’ knows ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’, just as ‘everyone’ knows Masefield's ‘Cargoes’, but that is not enough to put either poet in a context of active discussion. My own impression, for what it is worth, is that if Frost is mentioned at all, it is as a worthy but dull poet of about the rank of Masefield. And if this patronising attitude is accompanied by a more sympathetic note, that may derive from the memory of America's unofficial poet laureate as a white-haired old man pathetically inaudible at John F. Kennedy's presidential inauguration.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1982

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  • Robert Frost
  • W. W. Robson
  • Book: The Definition of Literature and Other Essays
  • Online publication: 01 June 2011
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511552854.011
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  • Robert Frost
  • W. W. Robson
  • Book: The Definition of Literature and Other Essays
  • Online publication: 01 June 2011
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511552854.011
Available formats
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Robert Frost
  • W. W. Robson
  • Book: The Definition of Literature and Other Essays
  • Online publication: 01 June 2011
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511552854.011
Available formats
×