Second Collection: 'North of Boston' Features Celebrated Works

Published in 1914 in London by David Nutt, North of Boston was Robert Frost’s second poetry collection and followed the release of A Boy’s Will the previous year. Frost was living in England at the time, having moved there in 1912. The volume contained 17 poems and shifted from the shorter lyrical style of his debut toward longer narrative pieces rooted in rural New England life. Many poems are written in blank verse and structured as conversations, presenting everyday speech and interpersonal tensions among farmers and small-town residents. The collection includes well-known poems such as “Mending Wall,” “The Death of the Hired Man,” “Home Burial,” and “After Apple-Picking.” Critics noted the use of dramatic dialogue and monologue, which allowed Frost to portray characters through conversation rather than descriptive narration. Contemporary responses in Britain, including attention from Ezra Pound and Edward Thomas, helped expand Frost’s readership. When Frost returned to the United States in 1915, an American edition of North of Boston was issued by Henry Holt and Company, contributing to wider recognition of his work and establishing the conversational, character-driven style that continued in his later collections.