Robert Frost's 'Mountain Interval': Third Collection

Robert Frost’s third poetry collection, Mountain Interval, was published in 1916 by Henry Holt and Company in New York, following his earlier volumes A Boy’s Will (1913) and North of Boston (1914). The book appeared after Frost’s return to the United States in 1915 and reflected the growing recognition he had gained from his publications in England. The collection opens with “The Road Not Taken,” which quickly became one of Frost’s most widely circulated poems. Other notable poems in the volume include “Birches,” first printed in The Atlantic Monthly in August 1915, along with “Out, Out,” “The Sound of Trees,” and “An Old Man’s Winter Night.” The poems continue Frost’s use of blank verse, conversational rhythms, and rural imagery rooted in New England settings. Mountain Interval blends shorter lyrical poems with narrative pieces, combining elements present in Frost’s first two books. Many poems explore everyday rural scenes such as woodcutting, farm labor, winter landscapes, and solitary reflection, while addressing themes of choice, isolation, mortality, and time. The volume helped expand Frost’s readership in the United States and reinforced his standing with American publishers and critics. By 1916, Frost’s books were being widely reviewed and circulated, and Mountain Interval became part of the early group of collections that established his voice in twentieth century American poetry.