''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
David John Nutt (born 16 April 1951) is an English neuropsychopharmacologist specialising in the research of drugs that affect the brain and conditions such as addiction, anxiety, and sleep. He is the chairman of Drug Science, a non-profit w ...
in London, with a dedication to Frost's wife, Elinor. Its first American edition would come two years later, in 1915, through
Henry Holt and Company.
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
Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry.
Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massac ...
,
Thomas Hardy,
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
, and
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication '' Lyrical Ballads'' (1798).
Wordsworth's ' ...
.
[Fagan, Deirdre. 2007. ''Critical Companion to Robert Frost: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work''. New York: ]Facts on File
Infobase Publishing is an American publisher of reference book titles and textbooks geared towards the North American library, secondary school, and university-level curriculum markets. Infobase operates a number of prominent imprints, including ...
. 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.
Background
Frost admitted that much of the book is
autobiographical
An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life.
It is a form of biography.
Definition
The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...
. 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.
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."
In fact, some of the poems were written as early as two decades before.
[Kendall, Tim. 2012. ''The Art of Robert Frost''. Yale University Press.. .] 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."
The title of the book comes from the repeated lines in the poem "My Lost Youth" by
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include " Paul Revere's Ride", '' The Song of Hiawatha'', and ''Evangeline''. He was the first American to completely tran ...
:
[Parini, Jay. 1999. ''Robert Frost: A Life''. New York: Henry Holt and Company, LLC. .]
The line is, in turn, a quote from
Olaus Sirma
Olaus Matthiae Lappo-Sirma (Ca. 1655, probably in Soađegilli - 1719 in Eanodat, Finnish Lapland, Sápmi), was a Sámi priest and the first Sámi poet known by name to posteriority. His most well-known work is the poem ''Moarsi favrrot'', which H ...
in ''
Lapponia Lapponia may refer to:
* Laponia (historical province), a historical Swedish province
* ''Lapponia'' (book), a 1673 ethnographic account of the region by Johannes Schefferus
* Lapponia (train) The ''Lapponia'' was an express passenger train operate ...
'' (1675). Frost likely chose the title as a reflection of his own wayward early life.
Publication history and response
![Robert Frost, 1913](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Robert_Frost%2C_1913.JPG)
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.
The book was published by
David Nutt
David John Nutt (born 16 April 1951) is an English neuropsychopharmacologist specialising in the research of drugs that affect the brain and conditions such as addiction, anxiety, and sleep. He is the chairman of Drug Science, a non-profit w ...
of London in 1913, with a dedication to Frost's wife Elinor,
[ who had assisted in choosing the poems and arranging the order for publication.][
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
William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...
. Yeats said he considered ''A Boy's Will'' "the best poetry written in America in a long time."[Shuman, R. Baird ''Great American Writers: Twentieth Century.'' Marshall Cavendish, ] 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."[Hoffman, Tyler. 2001. ''Robert Frost and the Politics of Poetry''. Hanover, NH: Middlebury College Press. .]
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." Poet Richard Aldington
Richard Aldington (8 July 1892 – 27 July 1962), born Edward Godfree Aldington, was an English writer and poet, and an early associate of the Imagist movement. He was married to the poet Hilda Doolittle (H. D.) from 1911 to 1938. His 50-year w ...
would similarly praise Frost's "directness of treatment" and "simplicity of speech" in ''North of Boston''. Lascelles Abercrombie
Lascelles Abercrombie, (9 January 1881 – 27 October 1938) was a British poet and literary critic, one of the "Dymock poets". After the First World War he worked as a professor of English literature in a number of English universities, w ...
, 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." William Morton Payne also noted there was further complexity within the seeming simplicity of the book, writing for ''The Dial
''The Dial'' was an American magazine published intermittently from 1840 to 1929. In its first form, from 1840 to 1844, it served as the chief publication of the Transcendentalists. From the 1880s to 1919 it was revived as a political review and ...
'' 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'."[Diepeveen, Leonard. 2003. ''The Difficulties of Modernism''. New York: Routledge. p. 186. ] 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." Overall, the book (or collection as some may call it) was widely well-received and positively reviewed.
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. ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' said in a review, "In republishing his first book after his second, Mr. Robert Frost has undertaken the difficult task of competing with himself."["'A Boy's Will'. By Robert Frost" (review). '']The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
''. November 21, 1915
Contents
*Expanded Contents
*Into My Own
*Ghost House
*My November Guest
*Love and a Question
*A Late Walk
*Stars
*Storm Fear
*Wind and Window Flower
*To the Thawing Wind
*A Prayer in Spring
*Flower-gathering
*Rose Pogonias
*Asking for Roses
*Waiting Afield at Dusk
*In a Vale
*A Dream Pang
*In Neglect
*The Vantage Point
*Mowing
*Going for Water
*Revelation
*The Trial by Existence
*In Equal Sacrifice
*The Tuft of Flowers
*Spoils of the Dead
*Pan with Us
*The Demiurge's Laugh
*Now Close the Windows
*A Line-storm Song
*October
*My Butterfly
*Reluctance
References
External links
*
A Boy's Will
' via Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks."
It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital libr ...
*
*
1915 edition of ''A Boy's Will'' from the HathiTrust
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boy's Will
Works by Robert Frost
1913 poetry books
American poetry collections
Henry Holt and Company books
Poetry by Robert Frost