The Letters of Robert Frost, Volume 4
1937-1946
Will be published approx. on 22. September 2026
Book
Hardback
960 pages
978-0-674-50449-3 (ISBN)
Description
A revelatory new volume of Robert Frost's correspondence, illuminating one of America's most renowned poets at the height of his literary fame and the depths of personal tragedy.
By the late 1930s, Robert Frost had achieved bona fide celebrity. He won his third Pulitzer Prize for A Further Range, published in 1936, and he had become an in-demand lecturer nationwide. The penultimate volume of The Letters of Robert Frost-which presents 606 letters, most for the first time-sheds new light on the poet's inner life as he aged into his sixties and early seventies.
These were heady days indeed-from summers at the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference in Vermont, to prestigious fellowships at Harvard and Dartmouth, to winter retreats at the Florida home he affectionately called "Pencil Pines." Yet even as his literary reputation flourished, personal tragedy struck with devastating force. In 1938, some six months after undergoing surgery for breast cancer, his wife, Elinor, succumbed to heart failure. Two years later, in 1940, his son Carol died by suicide. Between these losses, Frost fell in love with Kathleen "Kay" Morrison, who was married to Harvard professor Theodore Morrison. She soon became Frost's secretary-though not his wife, as he had hoped-and he credited her with renewing his poetic vitality. In 1942, he published his acclaimed seventh collection, A Witness Tree, for which he won his fourth, and final, Pulitzer Prize.
Thoroughly annotated and accompanied by a biographical glossary and detailed chronology, volume 4 of The Letters of Robert Frost offers a strikingly intimate portrait of a towering American poet.
By the late 1930s, Robert Frost had achieved bona fide celebrity. He won his third Pulitzer Prize for A Further Range, published in 1936, and he had become an in-demand lecturer nationwide. The penultimate volume of The Letters of Robert Frost-which presents 606 letters, most for the first time-sheds new light on the poet's inner life as he aged into his sixties and early seventies.
These were heady days indeed-from summers at the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference in Vermont, to prestigious fellowships at Harvard and Dartmouth, to winter retreats at the Florida home he affectionately called "Pencil Pines." Yet even as his literary reputation flourished, personal tragedy struck with devastating force. In 1938, some six months after undergoing surgery for breast cancer, his wife, Elinor, succumbed to heart failure. Two years later, in 1940, his son Carol died by suicide. Between these losses, Frost fell in love with Kathleen "Kay" Morrison, who was married to Harvard professor Theodore Morrison. She soon became Frost's secretary-though not his wife, as he had hoped-and he credited her with renewing his poetic vitality. In 1942, he published his acclaimed seventh collection, A Witness Tree, for which he won his fourth, and final, Pulitzer Prize.
Thoroughly annotated and accompanied by a biographical glossary and detailed chronology, volume 4 of The Letters of Robert Frost offers a strikingly intimate portrait of a towering American poet.
Reviews / Votes
An immaculate work of biography, literary history, and scholarship. This volume not only preserves the work of a great American poet but also teaches readers how to attend-with care and imagination-to literature itself. -- Heather Cass White, editor of <i>New Collected Poems of Marianne Moore</i> A major addition to American literature. These were consequential years for Robert Frost, when he wrote some of his most searing, brilliant, and irreplaceable poems. As ever, Frost was a provocative and aphoristic correspondent, and his letters deserve equal space on any shelf of his poetry. He quarried his own life for poems, and the mother lode is here, in the letters. Hass, Atmore, Sheehy, and Richardson have done a magnificent job of ushering this book into being. -- Jay Parini, author of <i>Robert Frost: A Life</i> Offering a wealth of insight into Frost's later years, these expertly annotated letters invite pleasurable browsing and close reading alike. A must-have volume for scholars of the poet's life and art. -- Hilary Holladay, author of <i>The Power of Adrienne Rich: A Biography</i> These fascinating and revelatory letters come to us from an important period of Frost's poetic career, marked by literary success and personal loss. Anchored by detailed and insightful explanatory material, this volume sheds new light on the life that informed many of Frost's best poems. -- Laura Kasischke, author of <i>Where Now</i> and <i>Space, in Chains</i>More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge, Mass.
United States
Publishing group
Harvard University Press
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
22 photos
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 162 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-674-50449-3 (9780674504493)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Robert Bernard Hass is Professor of English and Philosophy at Pennsylvania Western University. Henry Atmore is Professor of Anglo-American Studies at Kobe City University of Foreign Studies. Donald Sheehy is Professor Emeritus of English and Philosophy at Pennsylvania Western University. Mark Richardson is Professor of English at Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan.