Sometimes seen as the stuff of commencement addresses, his poems are hard to pin down—just like the man behind them.

Nevertheless, for this poem, and for the first time in his career, Frost got paid—$15, by the editor of a New York weekly called The Independent. “On reading ‘My Butterfly,’ ” Adam Plunkett writes in ...

There are no revelations in Love and Need, but Plunkett excels at bringing the poems to life with contextual details (such as the ones above) and literary resonances. Robert Frost in 1962.

The Wild Afterlife of Your Trash’ by Alexander Clapp “There is a reason why Mafia bosses tend to work in ‘waste management,’” ...

I know Frost’s poetry well, having written “Robert Frost: A Life” and, quite recently, a small book in which I analyze sixteen of my favorite Frost poems. I never liked some of the later ...

The Life of Robert Frost’s Poetry,” critic Adam Plunkett wrestles with how to fit the mercurial work (no American poet shifts tones so suddenly or subtly as Frost) with the mercurial life.

Frost’s approachable verse and appealing rural subjects brought him legions of admirers. His personal life was shot through with pain.

In his first book, “Love and Need: The Life of Robert Frost’s Poetry,” the literary critic Adam Plunkett interweaves discussions of the poet’s life and works to show that Frost could also ...

“On reading ‘My Butterfly,’ ” Adam Plunkett writes in his new Love and Need: The Life of Robert Frost’s Poetry, “the poetry editor called the rest of the staff over to listen because ...