“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could…”
I suspect many of my readers will immediately recognise these verses as the opening lines of Robert Frost’s famous poem ‘The Road Not Taken’. I remember first encountering it in high school, sparking my life-long interest in the great American poet and his works. However, I never really had a favourite edition of his poetry, happy to just look up his works online or in cheap paperbacks — until very recently when I got a copy of Selected Poems of Robert Frost – Illustrated Edition.
Marketed as a ‘gift edition’, the book truly is a gift that keeps on giving. It’s a sturdy, hardback volume, printed on quality paper; it’s made to last. Its 285 pages contain the entire first three collections of Frost’s poems: A Boy’s Will, North of Boston, and Mountain Interval, plus forty three of his early poems originally published in other collections.
What makes a real difference, though, are the wonderful illustrations by Thomas W. Nason (1889–1971). The woodcut engravings depicting iconic New England rural scenes are just the perfect complement to Frost’s writing, mirroring the themes, visions, and moods of his poems.
Not exactly a drawback, but the volume doesn’t contain any comments, biographical or otherwise. Personally I’d like to see at least the notes on the years in which the poems were originally written, but this is a small matter.
If you’re into Robert Frost or poetry in general, treat yourself to this beautiful edition!
Selected Poems of Robert Frost – Illustrated Edition was published by Union Square & Co. in 2017. 286 pp. ISBN 973-1-4549-2912-3.
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