Road Not Taken

9 Pages 2331 Words

imself entirely to writing. His efforts to establish himself and his work were almost immediately successful. A Boy's Will was accepted by a London publisher and brought out in 1913, followed a year later by North of Boston. Favorable reviews on both sides of the Atlantic resulted in American publication of the books by Henry Holt and Company, Frost's primary American publisher, and in the establishing of Frost's transatlantic reputation.
In 1915, North of Boston was published in New York, just as the Frost family returned back to the United States. Response to this new book of poems was immediate and Frost was in demand for appearances. On May 5, 1915, Frost came to Boston from his home in New Hampshire, to be heard at Tuffs University, where he read three of his unpublished poems: “Birches,” “The Road Not Taken,” and “The Sound of Trees.” A day after the reading, Frost went to The Atlantic Monthly and spoke with an Ellery Sedgwick. Sedgwich had just received a note from English editor and critic Edward Garnett, in which he wrote, “since Whitman’s death, no American poet has appeared, of so unique a quality, as Mr. Frost.” Sedgwick then gave Frost a warm welcome and asked if he had any new poems for The Atlantic. Frost then asked Sedgwick if was sure he wanted to publish his poems, whic...