A Boy's Will

Last updated
A Boy's Will
A Boy's Will 1915.jpg
Title page to the first American edition, Henry Holt and Company, 1915
Author Robert Frost
CountryEngland
Published1913
Publisher David Nutt
Text A Boy's Will at Wikisource

A Boy's Will is a poetry collection by Robert Frost, and is the poet's first commercially published book of poems. The book was first published in 1913 by David Nutt in London, with a dedication to Frost's wife, Elinor. Its first American edition came two years later, in 1915, through Henry Holt and Company.

Contents

Like much of Frost's work, the poems in A Boy's Will thematically associate with rural life, nature, philosophy, and individuality, while also alluding to earlier poets including Emily Dickinson, Thomas Hardy, William Shakespeare, and William Wordsworth. [1] :52 Despite the first section of poems having a theme of retreating from society, then, Frost does not retreat from his literary precursors and, instead, tries to find his place among them. [2]

Background

Frost admitted that much of the book is autobiographical. As the proof sheets were printed in January 1913, he wrote that the poems were "pretty near being the story of five years" of his life. [1] :52 Specifically, Frost noted that the first poem of the book, "Into My Own", expresses how he turned away from people, and "Tuft of Flowers" shows how he "came back to them." [1] :52 In fact, some of the poems were written as early as two decades before. [3] :13 Frost was apparently pleased with the book and wrote to a friend shortly after its publication, "I expect to do something to the present state of literature in America." [4]

The title of the book comes from the repeated lines in the poem "My Lost Youth" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: [5] :119

A boy's will is the wind's will
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts.

The line is, in turn, a quote from Olaus Sirma in Lapponia (1675). [6] Frost likely chose the title as a reflection of his own wayward early life. [3] :13

Publication history and response

Robert Frost in 1913 Robert Frost, 1913.JPG
Robert Frost in 1913

Most of the poems in A Boy's Will had never been published previously. While in England, Frost determined to have them collected, and his manuscript was accepted by the first publisher he approached. [3] :13 The book was published by David Nutt of London in 1913, with a dedication to Frost's wife Elinor, [1] :52 who had assisted in choosing the poems and arranging the order for publication. [5] :119

As it was being published, Frost met with fellow writer Ezra Pound, who insisted they immediately go to Nutt to see a copy of the book in print. Pound offered to write a review that day and soon introduced Frost to poet William Butler Yeats. [5] :127–8 Yeats said he considered A Boy's Will "the best poetry written in America in a long time." [7] In his September 1913 review in the New Freeman, Pound noted: "The man has the good sense to speak naturally and to paint the thing, the thing as he sees it. And to do this is a very different matter from gunning about for the circumplectious polysyllable." [8] :54

F. S. Flint was particularly pleased with the individual poems using one specific theme each, allowing "direct observation of the object and immediate correlation with the emotion—spontaneity, subtlety in the evocation of moods, humor" and praised Frost's "ear for silences." [1] :52 Poet Richard Aldington would similarly praise Frost's "directness of treatment" and "simplicity of speech" in North of Boston. [8] :53 Lascelles Abercrombie, however, warned that the simplicity of Frost's language did not imply simplicity in his poetry and in A Boy's Will, he believed "the selection and arrangement of the substance do practically everything." [8] :66 William Morton Payne also noted there was further complexity within the seeming simplicity of the book, writing for The Dial in 1913, "A dream world of elusive shapes and tremulous imaginings is half revealed to our vision by the subdued lyrics which Mr. Robert Frost entitles 'A Boy's Will'." [9] The youth of the author, however, was apparent to at least one anonymous critic who wrote in a September 20, 1913, review, "We do not need to be told that the poet is a young man: the dew and the ecstasy — the audacity, too — of pristine vision are here." [1] :53 Overall, the book (or collection as some may call it) was widely well-received and positively reviewed. [3] :14

Following the success of North of Boston in 1914, Henry Holt and Company republished A Boy's Will in 1915, becoming the first edition of the book published in the United States. [3] :13 The New York Times said in a review, "In republishing his first book after his second, Mr. Robert Frost has undertaken the difficult task of competing with himself." [10]

Contents

1915 first U.S. edition cover. ABoysWill15.jpg
1915 first U.S. edition cover.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Frost</span> American poet (1874–1963)

Robert Lee Frost was an American poet. His work was initially published in England before it was published in the United States. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech, Frost frequently wrote about settings from rural life in New England in the early 20th century, using them to examine complex social and philosophical themes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">W. B. Yeats</span> Irish poet and playwright (1865–1939)

William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet, dramatist and writer, and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival, and along with Lady Gregory founded the Abbey Theatre, serving as its chief during its early years. He was awarded the 1923 Nobel Prize in Literature, and later served two terms as a Senator of the Irish Free State.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ezra Pound</span> American poet and critic (1885–1972)

Ezra Weston Loomis Pound was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a collaborator in Fascist Italy and the Salò Republic during World War II. His works include Ripostes (1912), Hugh Selwyn Mauberley (1920), and his 800-page epic poem, The Cantos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Thomas (poet)</span> British poet and novelist (1878-1917)

Philip Edward Thomas was a British writer of poetry and prose. He is sometimes considered a war poet, although few of his poems deal directly with his war experiences. He only started writing poetry at the age of 36, but by that time he had already been a prolific critic, biographer, nature writer and travel writer for two decades. In 1915, he enlisted in the British Army to fight in the First World War and was killed in action during the Battle of Arras in 1917, soon after he arrived in France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Wadsworth Longfellow</span> American poet and educator (1807–1882)

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator. His original works include the poems "Paul Revere's Ride", "The Song of Hiawatha", and "Evangeline". He was the first American to completely translate Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy and was one of the fireside poets from New England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katharine Tynan</span> Irish poet and novelist (1859-1931)

Katharine Tynan was an Irish writer, known mainly for her novels and poetry. After her marriage in 1893 to the Trinity College scholar, writer and barrister Henry Albert Hinkson (1865–1919) she usually wrote under the name Katharine Tynan Hinkson, or variations thereof. Tynan's younger sister Nora O'Mahony was also a poet and one of her three children, Pamela Hinkson (1900–1982), was also known as a writer. The Katharine Tynan Road in Belgard, Tallaght is named after her.

Frank Stuart Flint was an English poet and translator who was a prominent member of the Imagist group. Ford Madox Ford called him "one of the greatest men and one of the beautiful spirits of the country".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucille Clifton</span> American poet (1936–2010)

Lucille Clifton was an American poet, writer, and educator from Buffalo, New York. From 1979 to 1985 she was Poet Laureate of Maryland. Clifton was a finalist twice for the Pulitzer Prize for poetry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Morris Meredith Jr.</span> American poet

William Morris Meredith Jr. was an American poet and educator. He was Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1978 to 1980, and the recipient of the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.

The Poetry Society of America is a literary organization founded in 1910 by poets, editors, and artists. It is the oldest poetry organization in the United States. Past members of the society have included such renowned poets as Witter Bynner, Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Marianne Moore, and Wallace Stevens.

Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.

Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.

Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.

Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">On being asked for a War Poem</span>

"On being asked for a War Poem" is a poem by William Butler Yeats written on 6 February 1915 in response to a request by Henry James that Yeats compose a political poem about World War I. Yeats changed the poem's title from "To a friend who has asked me to sign his manifesto to the neutral nations" to "A Reason for Keeping Silent" before sending it in a letter to James, which Yeats wrote at Coole Park on 20 August 1915. The poem was prefaced with a note stating: "It is the only thing I have written of the war or will write, so I hope it may not seem unfitting." The poem was first published in Edith Wharton's The Book of the Homeless in 1916 as "A Reason for Keeping Silent". When it was later reprinted in The Wild Swans at Coole, the title was changed to "On being asked for a War Poem".

<i>North of Boston</i> 1914 collection of poems by Robert Frost

North of Boston is a poetry collection by Robert Frost, first published in 1914 by David Nutt, in London. Most of the poems resemble short dramas or dialogues. It is also called a book of people because most of the poems deal with New England themes and Yankee farmers. Ezra Pound wrote a review of this collection in 1914. Despite it being called "North of Boston", none of the poems have that name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosa Jamali</span>

Rosa Jamali is an Iranian poet, translator, literary critic, and playwright.

<i>Cathay</i> (poetry collection) Poetry collection by Ezra Pound

Cathay (1915) is a collection of classical Chinese poetry translated into English by modernist poet Ezra Pound based on Ernest Fenollosa's notes that came into Pound's possession in 1913. At first Pound used the notes to translate Noh plays and then to translate Chinese poetry to English, despite a complete lack of knowledge of the Chinese language. The volume's 15 poems are seen less as strict translations and more as new pieces in their own right; and, in his bold translations of works from a language he was unfamiliar with, Pound set the stage for modernist translations.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Fagan, Deirdre. 2007. Critical Companion to Robert Frost: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts on File ISBN   978-0-8160-6182-2.
  2. Richardson, Mark. The Ordeal of Robert Frost: The Poet and His Poetics. University of Illinois Press, 1997: 105–106. ISBN   0-252-02338-2
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Kendall, Tim. 2012. The Art of Robert Frost. Yale University Press.. ISBN   978-0-300-11813-1.
  4. Kilcup, Karen L. 1998. Robert Frost and Feminine Literary Tradition. University of Michigan Press. p. 89. ISBN   0-472-10967-7
  5. 1 2 3 Parini, Jay. 1999. Robert Frost: A Life. New York: Henry Holt and Company, LLC. ISBN   0-8050-6341-2.
  6. Hatfield, James Taft. "Longfellow's Lappland Song" in PMLA. Vol. 45, No. 4 (December 1930): 1188–1192
  7. Shuman, R. Baird Great American Writers: Twentieth Century. Marshall Cavendish, ISBN   9780761472407
  8. 1 2 3 Hoffman, Tyler. 2001. Robert Frost and the Politics of Poetry. Hanover, NH: Middlebury College Press. ISBN   1-58465-150-4.
  9. Diepeveen, Leonard. 2003. The Difficulties of Modernism. New York: Routledge. p. 186. ISBN   0-415-94069-9
  10. "'A Boy's Will'. By Robert Frost" (review). The New York Times . November 21, 1915