Robert Frost (1) (1874–1963)

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, illustrated by P.J. Lynch.

The words of the classic poem from Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, written in 1922 and first published in the poet's 1923 New Hampshire collection, are paired in this gorgeous picture book with the watercolor and gouache artwork of Irish illustrator P.J. Lynch. Here the narrator of the poem is a young woman, riding her horse through a snowbound world, and briefly stopping to gaze at a beautiful wood...

I have show more loved this poem since childhood, when I first encountered it in a volume of Frost's poetry taken from my father's shelves, and I have also loved the picture book made of it in 1978 by American artist Susan Jeffers, whose illustrations are a thing of beauty, amplifying the mystery and wonder of these words. That said, I am also a great admirer of P.J. Lynch's work, so when I heard that he had also recently produced a new picture book presentation of this poem, I immediately set out to track it down. I am so glad I did, as I found this new presentation just as (if not slightly more) beautiful than the Jeffers—which is quite an achievement! I think the two artists do something rather different, in their visual interpretations, and I appreciate that difference. Whereas the Jeffers has a rather cheerful "dashing through the snow" feeling, complete with a figure that looks suspiciously like Santa Claus, the Lynch captures an individual who, save for her horse, is truly along in a frozen world. One gets the sense, in some of these illustrations, of the feeling of being frozen, not just in the landscape, but in the young woman, who is momentarily transfixed by the deep and dark beauty of the woods. Recommended to anyone looking for picture book presentations of this poem—I recommend reading both it and the Jeffers—as well as to fellow fans of P.J. Lynch. show less

It's not that I have a favourite Robert Frost poem -- he's not that kind of fellow. Yes, there are many "quotable quotes" that people bandy about; but again, he's not that kind of fellow. I dip into this collection again and again, when I want the world to slow down a little, and I just want to dream away a few hours, an afternoon. These are especially good on snowy, blustery, mid-winter afternoons when there is nothing to do, and nowhere to go. And in the evening, you stop by a wood, ... show more lovely, dark, and deep.

He's the kind of fellow with whom you could have had long, interesting conversations, whether or not the discourse took you anywhere on that particular day; but to never make the mistake, in that conversation, of confusing his simplicity of language with simplicity of thought -- for he is more than "a considerable speck" in the universe and he has allowed me to take many roads, in my mind, not taken in the physical world.

This is a well-thumbed, well-loved collection. show less

Spent my morning with these trying to find RF's critical assessment of fame, how his neighbors come last to recognize him. Turns out, it's not in the Complete, since he was elected Poet Laureate of Vermont (where he'd moved from N.H. forty years before) in 1961, at age 85. Year after he recited from memory at JFK's Inauguration. Wryly, Frost responds "On Being Chosen Poet of Vermont," "Breathes there a bard who isn't moved/ When he finds his verse is understood…By his country and his show more neighborhood." And that IS the order, friends: The Country will recognize you before your neighbors do, especially yankees, mebbe.
I found this stunning, despite almost five decades of familiarity, many of them teaching certain poems like "Home Burial" and "A Servant to Servants," and of course property feeling in "Stopping by Woods", as well as the role of Edward Thomas and England in the universally misunderstood and admired "Road not Taken," with the most famous aposiopesis in English and American lit, "and I--/ …I took…."
My perusal this morning suggested I had neglected a dozen bird poems I should have noted in my "Birdtalk", like "Never again would Birds' Sounds be the Same," "Directive" about the Phoebes weeping to those not versed in country things, "Minor Bird" possibly about Titmouses or Phoebes, and others. Then, for this Amtrak rider, Boston to Colorado six times, some poems start from trains, "A Passing Glimpse," "Figure in the Doorway," and "On the Heart's Beginning to Cloud the Mind."(One, a train in Utah.) And several on wells, from the prolog "Pasture" to "For Once, then, Something." And even old shoes, "A Record Stride."
Above these subjects looms the writer's flexible, ironic, undercutting voice and tone, still uncommon in American poetry, so often elevated, sublime, the "I" growing as s/he speaks.
And may I say, as a lifelong "liberal," community college teacher, supporter of the American Dream and fulfillment thereof, I was amused at RF's parodic political satire mostly from the R--Rep or Right. His "Departmental" could be a satire on Hillary anthill: "Death's come to Jerry McCormick,/ Our selfless forager Jerry" (372); as could "A Roadside Stand" be a satire on my whole political and professional life, "Where they won't have to think for themselves anymore;/ While greedy good-doers, beneficent beasts of prey,/ Swarm over their lives enforcing benefits/ That are calculated to soothe them out of their wits…"(370).
Frost famously conflicted with the Amherst College liberal President Meiklejohn, whose policies RF termed at the time, "Micklejaundice." But later in life, Frost conceded, "Meiklejohn was right."
Well…I find Frost's poetry filled with nuggets, turns of phrase, sometimes parodic turns, and especially quick changes in tone--rare in any but cummings and Dickinson, who lived down the street from where Frost taught in 1919, and whose life overlapped his by eleven years. Bill Pritchard's literary biography is unsurpassed as a poetic reading, and it contains a photo of Frost regaling my two great, witty Amherst College teachers, Baird (Shakespeare) and Craig (In Freshman Comp, he asked my class, staring out the window, if any of us saw drumlins out there? No-one did. Craig, "You can't see them if you don't know the word." See RF, "Drumlin Woodcock.") and Craig's upperclass Seminar on Dickens and James). Both Baird and Craig endorsed my senior honors thesis on Renaissance prosody and tone, directed by the learned and witty Richard Cody.
I rejoice in having had such teachers, but I do wonder at all that I have missed through decades of familiarity. As Baird once wrote me of my grad subject, Andrew Marvell, his "To His Coy Mistress' is much better than familiarity suggests. I would say, this goes for most of Frost--though may I add, his neighbor down the street, of another gender, surpasses him…and all but one or two poets. But both ED and RF expand our New England dialect vocabulary, like "aftermath" for the second mowing. show less

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, illustrated by Susan Jeffers.

Robert Frost's classic winter poem, Stopping By Woods On a Snowy Evening, which was composed in 1922 and first published in 1923 as part of his New Hampshire volume, provides the text for this beautiful picture-book. His evocative words are paired with Susan Jeffers' beautiful artwork, which amplifies the story to be found in the poem, depicting the travelling narrator as a kindly soul who leaves good things for the forest show more residents as he passes through.

As someone who has loved this poem since the day I first encountered it, as a young girl reading through the collected works of Robert Frost to be found on my father's shelves, I was pretty much guaranteed to enjoy this book, but I found that I was unexpectedly moved by Jeffers' artwork. The illustrations, which capture both the pale beauty of a snow-covered world, as well as the more colorful elements brought into that world by the man in his snow-drawn carriage, have quite a few surprises hidden in them. From the hares hiding in the brush on one page, to the deer watching as the man lays down the food he has brought for the woodland animals, there is plenty going on in the illustrations that add to the 'basic' story-line of the poem. Highly recommended to anyone looking for picture-book presentations of classic poems intended for children, as well as to fans of Ms. Jeffers' artwork. show less