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Reading the Mountains of Home
Small farms once occupied the heights that John Elder calls home, but now only a few cellar holes and tumbled stone walls remain among the dense stands of maple, beech, and hemlocks on these Vermont hills. Reading the Mountains of Home is a journey into these verdant reaches where in the last century humans tried their hand and where bear and moose now find shelter. As John Elder is our guide, so Robert Frost is Elder's companion, his great poem "Directive" seeing us through a landscape in which nature and literature, loss and recovery, are inextricably joined.
Over the course of a year, Elder takes us on his hikes through the forested uplands between South Mountain and North Mountain, reflecting on the forces of nature, from the descent of the glaciers to the rush of the New Haven River, that shaped a plateau for his village of Bristol; and on the human will that denuded and farmed and abandoned the mountains so many years ago. His forays wind through the flinty relics of nineteenth-century homesteads and Abenaki settlements, leading to meditations on both human failure and the possibility for deeper communion with the land and others.
An exploration of the body and soul of a place, an interpretive map of its natural and literary life, Reading the Mountains of Home strikes a moving balance between the pressures of civilization and the attraction of wilderness. It is a beautiful work of nature writing in which human nature finds its place, where the reader is invited to follow the last line of Frost's "Directive," to "Drink and be whole again beyond confusion."
Over the course of a year, Elder takes us on his hikes through the forested uplands between South Mountain and North Mountain, reflecting on the forces of nature, from the descent of the glaciers to the rush of the New Haven River, that shaped a plateau for his village of Bristol; and on the human will that denuded and farmed and abandoned the mountains so many years ago. His forays wind through the flinty relics of nineteenth-century homesteads and Abenaki settlements, leading to meditations on both human failure and the possibility for deeper communion with the land and others.
An exploration of the body and soul of a place, an interpretive map of its natural and literary life, Reading the Mountains of Home strikes a moving balance between the pressures of civilization and the attraction of wilderness. It is a beautiful work of nature writing in which human nature finds its place, where the reader is invited to follow the last line of Frost's "Directive," to "Drink and be whole again beyond confusion."
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
June 30, 2014
I often find that poetry is seen as inaccessible or exclusive to some as a result a reader's inability to "place" the poem somewhere. There isn't a concrete location to envision, or a cohesive string to follow, or a theme the bares itself to its audience (unless you want to spend hours on one piece, which surely not everyone cares to do).
John Elder, by way of Frost's late-great poem "Directive," humbly serves as guide to the quest that is "reading" a poem. A professor of English at Middlebury College, Elder uses "Directive" as his field guide--his "map," as he says--for traversing the slopes of wilderness preservation areas surrounding Bristol, Vermont. He, like any timid reader, has no pretense of being able to wholly and accurately harmonize the lines of arguably Frost's most bewildering piece. Rather, he searches for a medium to relate the words in hopes of creating his own sort of translation for the verse.
The result is this book, "Reading the Mountains of Home." It is equal parts literary criticism, ethnography, autobiography, and woodland guide. Elder carries a light pack, but his thoughts are heavy on each of his hiking excursions. His only tools are Maple (his dog/companion), his map, his compass, and a copy of "Directive." By casting the words of the poem upon the hillside and digging deep into Vermont's geological and cultural history, the author gains an understanding of the massive wilderness otherwise deemed "too much for us." He finds that Frost's poem does more than just describe Vermont (albeit with marvelous precision). He finds the poet's motive for extending awareness past the present, past settlement (past the most recent ice age in fact!), and past cultural or familial bounds.
These extensions broaden out sense of scope and scale; a worthy lesson for all to learn. Any single experience may become "too much for us"; but if you can trace that experience back to its root causes (and beyond), "back in a time made simple by the loss / Of detail," such affairs become more bearable. As Frost needed such a strategy to comprehend his own experiences with loss and depression, so does Elder for the years of turmoil with which he wrote this book. In taking us along on his excursions, Elder lays bare Frost's most intimate philosophy on life's gravest matters. By both writers, we are constantly reminded that there is comfort in renewable, that a change in perspective can resolve the most difficult conflicts, and that you often need to become "lost enough to find yourself."
Go outside, go on an adventure, and go read this book!
John Elder, by way of Frost's late-great poem "Directive," humbly serves as guide to the quest that is "reading" a poem. A professor of English at Middlebury College, Elder uses "Directive" as his field guide--his "map," as he says--for traversing the slopes of wilderness preservation areas surrounding Bristol, Vermont. He, like any timid reader, has no pretense of being able to wholly and accurately harmonize the lines of arguably Frost's most bewildering piece. Rather, he searches for a medium to relate the words in hopes of creating his own sort of translation for the verse.
The result is this book, "Reading the Mountains of Home." It is equal parts literary criticism, ethnography, autobiography, and woodland guide. Elder carries a light pack, but his thoughts are heavy on each of his hiking excursions. His only tools are Maple (his dog/companion), his map, his compass, and a copy of "Directive." By casting the words of the poem upon the hillside and digging deep into Vermont's geological and cultural history, the author gains an understanding of the massive wilderness otherwise deemed "too much for us." He finds that Frost's poem does more than just describe Vermont (albeit with marvelous precision). He finds the poet's motive for extending awareness past the present, past settlement (past the most recent ice age in fact!), and past cultural or familial bounds.
These extensions broaden out sense of scope and scale; a worthy lesson for all to learn. Any single experience may become "too much for us"; but if you can trace that experience back to its root causes (and beyond), "back in a time made simple by the loss / Of detail," such affairs become more bearable. As Frost needed such a strategy to comprehend his own experiences with loss and depression, so does Elder for the years of turmoil with which he wrote this book. In taking us along on his excursions, Elder lays bare Frost's most intimate philosophy on life's gravest matters. By both writers, we are constantly reminded that there is comfort in renewable, that a change in perspective can resolve the most difficult conflicts, and that you often need to become "lost enough to find yourself."
Go outside, go on an adventure, and go read this book!
January 6, 2024
Book #33 of 2022. "Reading the Mountains of Home" by John Elder. 2/5 rating.
This is a literary analysis of the Robert Frost poem "Directive" and its interplay with Bristol, Vermont. After reading this book, I don't know that I really gained anything besides some descriptions about the Bristol area, and the realization that John has a much higher regard for this random poem than I do.
Frost lived very near Bristol for a time, and so John explains how you can trace this poem in the surroundings of this area which he also calls home. He traces some of the trails that Frost followed, while weaving his understanding of the poem into aspects of John's life.
John finds ways to relate the happenings in his life to a lot of things that he reads into Frost's words. While I certainly am no poet and therefore probably am missing all of these allusions and ideas Frost is bringing up, John inferring about 5 levels deep of thought from a line of poetry seems like a lot.
There were many beautiful descriptions of the woods in here and it is good to see the emotions and thoughts poetry can bring about in people, but I think I just didn't really "get" this book.
This is a literary analysis of the Robert Frost poem "Directive" and its interplay with Bristol, Vermont. After reading this book, I don't know that I really gained anything besides some descriptions about the Bristol area, and the realization that John has a much higher regard for this random poem than I do.
Frost lived very near Bristol for a time, and so John explains how you can trace this poem in the surroundings of this area which he also calls home. He traces some of the trails that Frost followed, while weaving his understanding of the poem into aspects of John's life.
John finds ways to relate the happenings in his life to a lot of things that he reads into Frost's words. While I certainly am no poet and therefore probably am missing all of these allusions and ideas Frost is bringing up, John inferring about 5 levels deep of thought from a line of poetry seems like a lot.
There were many beautiful descriptions of the woods in here and it is good to see the emotions and thoughts poetry can bring about in people, but I think I just didn't really "get" this book.
October 30, 2017
Once again, a book I wanted to like more than I actually did. The essays seemed forced to me, as if Elder had tried too hard to make what he experienced fit the lines of Frost's poem "Directive," instead of just letting the lines of the poem influence his direction.
February 14, 2025
Part memoir, part literary criticism, part natural history.
September 3, 2007
This was a great local history/ethnography of little Bristol, Vermont. I grew up hiking in and around much of the area Elder discusses in his book, and so I was charmed by it. One of my favorite components of the book was the inclusion of Robert Frost's poetry throughout. He weaves Frost's words into his experiences, rememberances, and the history of Bristol cliffs and the Vermont mountains.
November 13, 2015
Rev. John Weston loaned me this book because it’s one of his favorites and it’s about Addison County, VT where we live. It’s a lovely combination of literary criticism (analyzing a single Robert Frost poem), nature writing (about the Bristol Notch), and personal reflection. Wonderful.
February 3, 2011
Liking it a lot - I like how Elder's examining Frost's poem "Directive" as he examines the forests/mountains of his Vermont home.
January 14, 2017
Outstanding book that combines analysis of a Robert Frost poem, autobiographical details, and a great sense of place and nature. This book is a must read for, well, everyone.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews