Robert Frost

Starred review from September 1, 2009
The greatsome say greatestAmerican poet was at one time so shy that he couldnt be induced to lecture or read in public at all. Yet in his later years, he became a frequent and extravagantly beloved speaker from whom wisdom about life and poetry flowed with conversational warmth and relaxation. In these excerpts from talks given to town-and-gown audiences (college denizens and outsiders) during his last 13 years, he is golden. To be sure, it takes a little time to settle into the rhythm and the manner of his speaking, which is rendered pretty much verbatim. He spoke extemporaneously, without notes, for his writers organizational habits and his 75-plus years of living made him sure of the core of whatever subject he chose to address. He is never ambiguous despite the fact that he freely interjected spur-of-the-moment modifications and emendations, primarily in the easy vernacular of spontaneous conversation, to both humorous and relevant effect. At the heart of his speaking method is metaphor regarded as the essence of language, and at the heart of his message is the Socratic and Emersonian injunction to know oneself or, as he puts it in the very first talk here, getting up something to say for yourself.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)