Robert Frost: The Poet as Philosopher

by Peter J. Stanlis

Robert Frost is by far the most celebrated major American poet of the twentieth century. In part, this is because his poetry seems, on the surface, to be so accessible, even homey. But Frost was not just a powerful writer of popular lyric and narrative verse, argues Peter J. Stanlis in this major contribution to American literary study and philosophy. Rather, his work is deeply rooted in a complex philosophical dualism that opposes both idealistic monism, centered in spirit, and scientific positivism, which posits that the universe can be understood as nothing but matter.

 

In Robert The Poet as Philosopher, Stanlis shows how Frost’s philosophical dualism of spirit and matter is perceived through metaphors and applied to science, religion, art, education, and society. He further argues that Frost’s dualism provides a critique of the monistic forces that were instrumental in the triumph of twentieth-century totalitarianism. Thoroughly informed by his twenty-three year friendship and correspondence with Frost, Stanlis’s landmark volume is the first attempt to deal with the poet’s philosophy in a systematic manner. It will appeal not only to fans of Frost but to all who understand poetry as a form of revelation for understanding human nature.

Genres: Poetry, Philosophy

350 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Dave Franklin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peter Stanlis’s “Robert Frost: The Poet as Philosopher” is an important book that serves as a rejoinder not to misread Frost as a simple, pastoral bard. Although Stanlis has a habit of conveying a few too many personal digressions, and engages in redundancies, he manages to illuminate Frost’s poetry and thought with clarity and elegance.

Stanlis spent the better part of his life pondering the argument that would eventually become the central thread of this book; namely, that the key to understanding Frost’s poetry is to view it in the context of the poet’s complex, philosophical dualism.

According to Stanlis, Frost insisted that although a complete understanding of the relationship between spirit and matter is impossible, philosophical monism, both the materialist and the idealist varieties, are belied by the complexity of human perception and experience. Thus, Stanlis suggests, Frost sought to mediate between these ontological domains through the power of metaphor. For Frost metaphor was not simply a means of saying “one thing in terms of another,” but a way of being. Though regularly perceived as simply a rustic, Frost was, in fact, a perspicacious observer of man and nature, and a sophisticated and nuanced thinker.

The author notes that Frost frequently remarked ‘he was never more serious than when he was joking,’ Stanlis’s book reminds us that to take Frost’s seemingly facile verse too lightly, is to do so at our peril.

[Jonathan]

None

[Audrey Saltarelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

a little dry but over all fairly informative