This is Robert Frost?

9 Months Ago: Borders is going out of business (sad) and everything is marked down considerably. E.L. and I head out to find some of the prime clearance books. There--sitting on the shelf, lonely and neglected: The Poetry of Robert Frost. Yes! A dream come true! I would finally be able to read all of his delicious poetry from start to finish.

Oh and I totally forgot that He was recent enough to have a picture on the cover! For some reason I thought Robert Frost was much much older.

Today: In an attempt to actually match my repertoire with my book case I am going through and reading everything I own that I haven't read before. I am now reading that poetry collection. On page 201 out of 521.



Honesty time: I thought it would be much more interesting. I mean don't get me wrong, he is a masterful poet, but really...I'm not that enthralled. I think there is a reason that there are a handful of his poems that receive infinite fame and no one knows the rest.

I'm getting through it very slowly, but very honestly it feels like sifting through old news papers about everyday life trying to find that big story in that little town from the 30's. Every once in a while I find a gem but for the most part the poems are stories whose "meaning" is kind of hard to grasp at. And maybe He isn't trying to show us much depth but just represent the farm people of his time but it is so hard!

"Into My Own", "Wind and the Window Flower", "Mending Wall", "The Road Not Taken", "Hyla Brook" are the only pieces out of 90 poems that I've read so far that I've liked! I'm not going to put on airs and act like some well read individual who can find meaning in a four page long poem about whether or not a guy is going to go out into the snow!

I want to like it so bad! I sit out in the park reading and rereading and still I just have to come to terms with the fact that I don't like 80% of Frost's poetry. It almost hurts inside. I want to appreciate it, to find the meaning, but I just find my mind wandering.

-Shrug-

I will finish it at least, before I move on. I WILL be able to say that I read it all. At least I can give a valid opinion then, instead of the one I had before where I had only read four pieces and thought all of Frost's work was wonderful. I don't mean to be cynical but it just makes me sad. It's like someone popped my "American Master" balloon and the whole room is pausing to watch it shrivel up on the floor.

Maybe I'll find something salvageable in the second half.

Carly