Author Guide · Poetry
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In 1912 a 38-year-old New Hampshire farmer and schoolteacher took his wife and four children to England, where nobody had heard of him. Within two years a London publisher, David Nutt, had brought out his first two books, and when Robert Frost sailed home in 1915 he returned as a poet with a reputation. He went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry four times, more than any other poet, and at 86 he recited “The Gift Outright” from memory at John F. Kennedy’s inauguration after the glare off the snow made his new poem unreadable. His poems sound like a New England farmer talking, which is why lines from “Mending Wall” and “The Road Not Taken” are quoted by people who have never opened his books. This guide covers his 12 key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 12 key books · 1913–1969 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Robert Frost published nine new collections of poems, from A Boy’s Will (1913) to In the Clearing (1962). The best known are North of Boston (1914), with “Mending Wall” and “The Death of the Hired Man”, Mountain Interval (1916), with “The Road Not Taken”, and the Pulitzer-winning New Hampshire (1923), with “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”. Start with North of Boston; read on for the order of the rest and where his four Pulitzers fall.
Where to Start with Robert Frost
If you want the book that made his name
→ North of Boston (1914) — the blank-verse dialogues of rural New England.
If you want “The Road Not Taken” and “Birches”
→ Mountain Interval (1916).
If you want “Stopping by Woods”
→ New Hampshire (1923) — his first Pulitzer-winning book.
If you want everything in one volume
→ The Poetry of Robert Frost (1969) — the standard complete edition.
12 Robert Frost Books, in Order
A Boy’s Will
His first book, published in London by David Nutt in 1913, when Frost was 39 and living in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire; Henry Holt issued it in New York in 1915. Short lyrics, many written years earlier on his farm in Derry, New Hampshire, including “Mowing”, “Storm Fear” and “Into My Own”. The title comes from Longfellow’s “My Lost Youth”.
North of Boston
Also first published by David Nutt in London, this is the book that made his name: long poems in blank verse, most of them dialogues or monologues between New England farm people. It contains “Mending Wall”, “The Death of the Hired Man”, “Home Burial”, about a couple after the death of their child, and “After Apple-Picking”.
Mountain Interval
His first book published first in America, by Henry Holt, a year after he came back from England. It opens with “The Road Not Taken”, written with his friend the English poet Edward Thomas in mind, and includes “Birches”, “The Oven Bird” and “‘Out, Out—’”, about a boy killed in an accident with a buzz saw.
New Hampshire
A long, joking title poem in praise of his adopted state, followed by shorter poems presented as its “notes” and “grace notes”. Those shorter poems include “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”, “Fire and Ice” and “Nothing Gold Can Stay”. It won the 1924 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, the first of his four.
West-Running Brook
A shorter, darker book of mostly lyric poems, including “Acquainted with the Night”, a sonnet in terza rima about walking alone through a city at night, and “Tree at My Window”. The title poem is a dialogue between a husband and wife about a brook that runs west when every other one runs east.
Collected Poems of Robert Frost
His first five books gathered in one volume by Henry Holt, with a handful of poems not collected before. It won the 1931 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, his second.
A Further Range
Written during the Depression and more openly concerned with politics and society than his earlier books. It also holds two of his bleakest short poems, “Desert Places” and the sonnet “Design”, and “Two Tramps in Mud Time”. It won the 1937 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.
A Witness Tree
His first book after the deaths of his wife Elinor in 1938 and his son Carol in 1940. It contains “The Gift Outright”, the poem he would recite at Kennedy’s inauguration in 1961, the sonnet “The Silken Tent”, “Come In” and “The Most of It”. It won the 1943 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, his fourth.
A Masque of Reason
A short comic play in blank verse that picks up the Book of Job a thousand years later: Job, his wife and God meet again, with Satan making an appearance, and argue about why the innocent suffer. A companion piece, A Masque of Mercy, followed in 1947.
Steeple Bush
A late collection, published when Frost was in his seventies, best known for “Directive”, a poem that leads the reader back through an abandoned farm country to a house that is no longer there.
In the Clearing
His last book, published the year before he died. It includes “For John F. Kennedy His Inauguration”, an expanded version of the poem “Dedication” that the sun’s glare stopped him reading on 20 January 1961, along with poems about science, space and old age.
The Poetry of Robert Frost
The posthumous complete edition, edited by Edward Connery Lathem and published by Holt, Rinehart and Winston six years after Frost’s death. It collects all the books above, including the two verse plays, and is the edition most readers use for the complete poems.
In What Order to Read Robert Frost
Each Frost collection stands alone, so there is no plot to follow, but publication order shows a real development: the early lyrics of A Boy’s Will, the long spoken poems of North of Boston, the short, often darker lyrics of the 1920s and 1930s, and the more argumentative late books.
Most readers meet him through anthology poems that are spread across several books. Start with North of Boston to hear how his blank verse works over a whole poem, then read Mountain Interval and New Hampshire for the poems everyone knows. If you would rather own one book, The Poetry of Robert Frost has everything.
A reading path
1. North of Boston (1914)
2. Mountain Interval (1916)
3. New Hampshire (1923)
4. West-Running Brook (1928)
5. A Witness Tree (1942)
Everything Else Robert Frost Published
Beyond the 12 key books: 8 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Selections and complete editions
3
3 books · 1923–1959
- 1923Selected Poemshis first selection, published by Holt
- 1949Complete Poems of Robert Frostthe collected poems up to Steeple Bush and the two masques
- 1959You Come Tooa selection for young readers
Verse drama
1
1 book · 1947
- 1947A Masque of Mercythe companion piece to A Masque of Reason, a comedy built on the story of Jonah
Small and limited editions
4
4 books · 1929–1951
- 1929The Lovely Shall Be Choosersa single poem in Random House’s Poetry Quartos series
- 1933The Lone Strikera single poem published by Knopf
- 1943Come In, and Other Poemsa selection published by Holt
- 1951Hard Not To Be Kinga single poem from House of Books
The years · 1874–1963
Quick facts about Robert Frost
- Known for
- Robert Frost is known for poems of rural New England written in the rhythms of everyday American speech, and for winning the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry four times.
- 1874
- Born in San Francisco
- 1914
- North of Boston
- 1924
- First of four Pulitzer Prizes
- 1961
- Recites “The Gift Outright” at Kennedy’s inauguration
- 1963
- Dies in Boston, aged 88
- Born
- 26 March 1874, San Francisco, California
- Died
- 29 January 1963, Boston, Massachusetts; buried in Old Bennington Cemetery, Vermont
- Married
- Elinor Miriam White, in 1895; they had six children, four of whom died before him
- England
- 1912–1915, where his first two books were published and he befriended Edward Thomas
- Honours
- Four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry (1924, 1931, 1937, 1943); Congressional Gold Medal (awarded 1960)
- Office
- Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, 1958–1959; Poet Laureate of Vermont from 1961
The red mark is 1914: North of Boston, the book that made his name.
How Robert Frost Writes: Talk Set to Metre
Frost’s central idea was what he called “the sound of sense”: the tone of a sentence as you would hear it through a closed door, without the words. He wanted that spoken tone to pull against the regular beat of the metre. You can hear it most clearly in the blank verse of North of Boston, where farm people argue, evade and break off in sentences that scan as iambic pentameter but sound like conversation.
He kept to traditional forms his whole life, rhymed or in strict metre, at a time when many contemporaries were dropping them. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” links its stanzas through a chain of rhymes, “Acquainted with the Night” is a sonnet in terza rima, “Design” is a sonnet that turns a white spider on a white flower into a question about whether anything governs the world.
The plain surface hides a dark undertow. His poems are full of isolation, dead children, failing farms and people who cannot reach each other, and they tend to end on a question rather than a moral. At his 85th birthday dinner in 1959 the critic Lionel Trilling called him “a terrifying poet”. “The Road Not Taken”, usually read as praise for the bold choice, is a good example: the speaker admits the two roads were worn “really about the same”.
Listen
Robert Frost in Conversation with Randall Jarrell
Randall Jarrell interviews Robert Frost at the Library of Congress Recording Laboratory in Washington on 19 May 1959, and Frost reads eleven of his poems, including ’Beech’, ’Sycamore’ and ’Fireflies in the Garden’. From the archive of the Library of Congress.
Frequently asked questions about Robert Frost’s books
How many books has Robert Frost written?
He published nine new collections of poems, from A Boy’s Will (1913) to In the Clearing (1962), plus two verse plays, collected and selected editions and several small limited editions. This page lists his 12 key books, ending with the posthumous complete edition, The Poetry of Robert Frost (1969).
What are Robert Frost’s books in order?
A Boy’s Will (1913), North of Boston (1914), Mountain Interval (1916), New Hampshire (1923), West-Running Brook (1928), Collected Poems (1930), A Further Range (1936), A Witness Tree (1942), A Masque of Reason (1945), Steeple Bush (1947), In the Clearing (1962) and The Poetry of Robert Frost (1969).
Where should I start with Robert Frost?
With North of Boston (1914), which contains “Mending Wall”, “The Death of the Hired Man” and “Home Burial”. Then read Mountain Interval (1916) and New Hampshire (1923) for “The Road Not Taken”, “Birches” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”.
What is Robert Frost’s most famous book?
North of Boston (1914) is the book that made his reputation. His most famous single poems are spread over several books: “Mending Wall” is in North of Boston, “The Road Not Taken” in Mountain Interval and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” in New Hampshire.
How many Pulitzer Prizes did Robert Frost win?
Four, all for Poetry: in 1924 for New Hampshire, 1931 for Collected Poems, 1937 for A Further Range and 1943 for A Witness Tree. No other poet has won the poetry prize four times.
What poem did Robert Frost read at John F. Kennedy’s inauguration?
On 20 January 1961 he meant to read “Dedication”, a new poem written for the occasion, but sun glare reflecting off the snow made his draft unreadable, so he recited “The Gift Outright” from memory instead. The handwritten “Dedication” is now at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library; an expanded version appears in In the Clearing as “For John F. Kennedy His Inauguration”.
Who was “The Road Not Taken” written about?
Frost had his friend the English poet Edward Thomas in mind, whom he got to know in England. Thomas tended to regret whichever path they had taken on their walks together. The poem opens Mountain Interval (1916).
Was Robert Frost Poet Laureate?
He was Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1958–1959, the post now called Poet Laureate of the United States. In 1961 the Vermont legislature also named him Poet Laureate of Vermont.
Why is Lawrance Thompson’s biography of Frost controversial?
Thompson was Frost’s authorised biographer. His three volumes, the last published in 1977, portrayed Frost as jealous, vindictive and cruel to his family. Later critics and biographers have argued that Thompson’s portrait was unbalanced and have rehabilitated Frost’s reputation.
When did Robert Frost die and where is he buried?
He died in Boston on 29 January 1963, aged 88. He is buried in Old Bennington Cemetery in Bennington, Vermont, under the epitaph “I had a lover’s quarrel with the world”.
Footnotes
- Robert Frost — Wikipedia
- Robert Frost — Academy of American Poets
- Robert Frost — Encyclopædia Britannica
- Pulitzer-Preis/Poesie — Wikipedia (German)
- Robert Frost’s original poem for JFK’s inauguration — JFK Library
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,”
— Robert Frost, “The Road Not Taken”, the first line, in Mountain Interval (1916)
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