Hardback edition, 1963, Holt, Rinehart & Winston. 388 pages. This book is the
record of a friendship rare in our time. It is also something which Robert
Frost steadfastly declined to write: a completely unguarded autobiography. "The
Letters of Robert Frost to Louis Untermeyer" not only supplies new and
authentic facts hitherto concealed or unknown; it also enriches the reader with
candid pictures of Frost's contemporaries, as well as providing insights into
the cultural background of the first half of our century. These round out the
portrait of the man, as they add to the conception of the poet, by showing
Frost in a surprising variety of moods—oftentimes exhibiting an earthy
realism; occasionally jealous of his fellow artists; reacting bitterly to
criticism, but always proud, vital, and far more human than the fabled New
England sage that tradition has painted.