Robert Frost In Early Twentieth Century London: Harold Monro's Poetry and Drama and Eros

Authors

Jonathan Barron, University of Southern MississippiFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-1-2019

Department

English

School

Humanities

Abstract

Eros and sexuality are the last things readers are inclined to consider when hearing the name Robert Frost. Yet in the December 1914 issue of Poetry and Drama, Frost published poems that addressed those subjects: "The Sound of Trees," "The Cow in Apple-Time," "Putting in the Seed," and "The Smile." What follows calls attention not only to this under-recognized erotic theme in Frost's work but also to the possibility that these poems belong to a lost publication, a chapbook of ten poems that Frost intended to publish in 1914. There remains an under appreciated connection Frost had to modernist poets of early twentieth century London. These poems challenge what Frost considered to be a far too idealistic view of sexuality too often promoted in the pages of Poetry and Drama. Against what claimed to be radical, then, he issued his own counter poetics of what may be called "pragmatic realism."

Publication Title

English Literature in Transition, 1880-1920

Volume

62

Issue

2

First Page

186

Last Page

205

Recommended Citation

Barron, J. (2019). Robert Frost In Early Twentieth Century London: Harold Monro's Poetry and Drama and Eros. English Literature in Transition, 1880-1920, 62(2), 186-205.
Available at: https://aquila.usm.edu/fac_pubs/16833