Reluctance

Robert Frost

Robert Frost’s poem “Reluctance” was first published in 1913 in London, as the final poem in his first collection of verse, “A Boy’s Will”. The book’s first US edition would come two years later, in 1915.

Robert Lee Frost was born on 26 March 1874 in San Francisco, California, US, and he died on 29 January 1963 in Boston, Massachusetts, US, at the age of 88.

A poet and playwright, Frost was published in England before he was published in the US. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech, he frequently wrote about settings from rural life in New England in the early 20th century, using them to examine complex social and philosophical themes.

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Posted: 2 September 2023
Word length: 156
Video length: 2:12

Out through the fields and the woods And over the walls I have wended; I have climbed the hills of view And looked at the world, and descended; I have come by the highway home, And lo, it is ended.

The leaves are all dead on the ground, Save those that the oak is keeping To ravel them one by one And let them go scraping and creeping Out over the crusted snow, When others are sleeping.

And the dead leaves lie huddled and still, No longer blown hither and thither; The last lone aster is gone; The flowers of the witch hazel wither; The heart is still aching to seek, But the feet question “Whither?”

Ah, when to the heart of man Was it ever less than a treason To go with the drift of things, To yield with a grace to reason, And bow and accept the end Of a love or a season?

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