The Cambridge Companion to Robert Frost

This collection of specially-commissioned essays by experts in the field explores key dimensions of Robert Frost’s poetry and life. Frost remains one of the most memorable and beguiling of modern poets. Writing in the tradition of Virgil, Milton, and Wordsworth, he transformed pastoral and georgic poetry both in subject matter and form. Mastering the rhythms of ordinary speech, Frost made country life the point from which to view the world and the complexities of human psychology. The essays in this volume enable readers to explore Frost’s art and thought, from the controversies of his biography to his subtle reinvention of poetic and metric traditions and the conflicts in his thought about politics, gender, science and religion. This volume will bring fresh perspectives to the lyric, narrative and dramatic poetry of an American master, and its chronology and guide to further reading will prove valuable to scholars and students alike.

• International team of scholars provide an introduction to the whole of Frost’s life and work • Contains chronological guide to Frost’s work and extensive bibliography • This is the only guide of its kind on Frost currently in print

1. The lives of Robert Frost Donald Sheehy; 2. Biography and the poetry of Robert Frost William Pritchard; 3. Frost and the question of pastoral Robert Faggen; 4. Frost and the ancient muses Helen Bacon; 5. Frost as a New England poet Lawrence Buell; 6. Meter and versification Timothy Steele; 7. Frost and metaphor Judith Oster; 8. Frost and the meditative lyric Blanford Parker; 9. Frost and poetic choice Mark Richardson; 10. Frost’s politics George Monteiro; 11. Frost and economics Guy Rotella; 12. Human presence in Frost’s poetry John Cunningham.