{"id":69,"date":"2006-10-01T15:00:12","date_gmt":"2006-10-01T19:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/?p=69"},"modified":"2006-10-01T15:16:42","modified_gmt":"2006-10-01T19:16:42","slug":"a-runaway-favorite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/?p=69","title":{"rendered":"A runaway favorite"},"content":{"rendered":"

In its Fall 2006 edition to be released on Monday, October 2, the Virginia Literary Review will feature a newly discovered and previously unpublished poem by Robert Frost. The news caused me to reflect on Frost\u2019s poetry and to recall two of his poems that include horses and another in which he portrays we humans as \u201criders\u201d of the earth.<\/p>\n

“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”<\/a> is perhaps Frost\u2019s most familiar poem. Like all of Frost\u2019s poetry, it has a deeper meaning than the visual image, but it will resonate with all riders who have ever altered their course along a familiar route:<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0My little horse must think it queer
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0To stop without a farmhouse near
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Between the woods and frozen lake
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The darkest evening of the year.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0He gives his harness bells a shake
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0To ask if there is some mistake
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The only other sound\u2019s the sweep
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Of easy wind and downy flake.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Runaway\u201d is about a colt left alone in a pasture at dusk, as the first snow of the year begins to fall. Again the deeper meaning \u2013 we all relate to fear of the unknown and unknowable. But who can doubt that Frost knew the nature of horses, as well as he knew his fellow men?<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And now he comes again with clatter of stone,
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And mounts the wall again with white eyes
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And all his tail that isn\u2019t hair up straight.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cRiders\u201d from his volume West-Running Brook might not be as well known as some of Frost\u2019s other work, but it strikes at the core of his poetry. From the second stanza:<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0What is this talked-of-mystery of birth
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But being mounted bareback on the earth?<\/em><\/p>\n

It also offers a counterpoint to the Washington Irving\u2019s \u201cHeadless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow.\u201d From the third stanza:<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There is our wildest mount \u2013 a headless horse<\/em><\/p>\n

If you are interested in reading these and other of Frost\u2019s poems, you can visit www.ketzle.com\/frost<\/a>.\u00a0 The poems are listed under the books in which they first appeared. \u201cStopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening\u201d and \u201cThe Runaway\u201d are from New Hampshire. \u201cRiders\u201d is from West-Running Brook.<\/p>\n

You can also check out the story behind Frost\u2019s recently discovered poem \u201cWar Thoughts at Home,\u201d which dates back to 1918, at the Virginia Quarterly Review\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In its Fall 2006 edition to be released on Monday, October 2, the Virginia Literary…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books-movies","category-horse-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=69"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=69"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=69"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=69"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}