Books: "Robert Frost: Sixteen Poems to Learn by Heart"

 

Robert Frost: Sixteen Poems to Learn by Heart

By Robert Frost and Jay Parini

Library of America; hardcover, 164 pages; $24.00

In honor of Robert Frost's 150th birthday comes this collection of signature poems in this beautifully produced keepsake edition. These highlight his special genius and the power of memorization to unlock the magic of his language.

Frost was once asked, during a public reading, why he so frequently recited his poems from memory, and he said, "If they won't stick to me, I won't stick to them."

Poet and Frost biographer Jay Parini presents 16 poems to learn by heart, and in accompanying commentaries, he illuminates the stylistic and imaginative features of each poem, while adding biographical material from Frost's life to add context.

Some of the poems you will find here includes "Mending Wall," the opening poem in North of Boston, from 1914, a poem that's read far and wide by audiences young and old, and which famously invoked the rural maxim, "Good fences make good neighbors." There is also "The Road Not Taken," about the beguiling possibilities of life; "Birches," which serves as a reminder that "One could do worse than be a swinger of birches;" and "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," with its unforgettable final line, "And miles to go before I sleep."

"The goal of this book is to encourage readers to listen to the words and phrases, to locate their deeper rhythms, and to hear the tune of each poem as it unfolds," Parini writes. "This is what makes the poems memorable. As ever, memory and understanding go hand in hand. Repeat Frost's words, say them aloud, listen closely, and try to comprehend them as well: that is the work of 'standing under' the poems and taking in their meanings, which may be complex but which, over many readings, add to their shine. This deep reading, so integral to memorization, lodges the poems where they can't be easily removed from the reader's heart.

"'We speak of memorizing as getting something 'by heart,' which really means 'by head,'' the poet and critic John Hollander once wrote. 'But getting a poem...truly 'by heart' implies getting it by mind and memory and understanding and delight.' Memorizing a poem can teach us much about its structure and argument, and about the resonance of particular words. Best of all, memorization makes a poem part of our inner lives. Once committed to memory, a poem is available to us for recall at any time - and the occasion for remembering it will make themselves known to us. It isn't something that we have to work at. A line or stanza from 'The Road Not Taken' may suddenly pop into the mind when we are faced with a difficult decision. Or, when hearing on the television news of the latest fire or flood, we may be moved to quote 'Fire and Ice.' It's not hard to find a place in everyday conversation or debate to drop the line 'Good fences make good neighbors.'"

Those who have read and love Frost will treasure this wonderful little book, and it also is a perfect introduction to those reading his landmark poetry for the first time.