Monday, October 02, 2006

New Robert Frost Poem

NPR.com reports that a graduate student in the English department of UVA discovered an unknown Robert Frost poem inscribed on the inside of a rare book.

NPR writes, "In this poem from 1918, Frost reflects on the fighting in Europe during World War I. At the direction of the Frost estate, only the first two stanzas appear here:

'War Thoughts at Home'

On the backside of the house
Where it wears no paint to the weather
And so shows most its age,
Suddenly blue jays rage
And flash in blue feather.

It is late in an afternoon
More grey with snow to fall
Than white with fallen snow
When it is blue jay and crow
Or no bird at all."

1 Comments:

Blogger Da' Square Wheelman, said...

This is what I've been able to piece together from various reports.

War Thoughts at Home
Robert Frost
[35 lines, 7 stanzas, each 5 lines]

1.
The flurry of bird war [?]
….[?]
….[?]
….[?]
….[?]

2.
It is late in an afternoon
More grey with snow to fall
Than white with fallen snow
When it is blue jay and crow
Or no bird at all.

3. [or 1?]
On the backside of the house
Where it wears no paint to the weather
And so shows most its age,
Suddenly blue jays rage
And flash in blue feather.

4.
….[?]
….[?]
….[?]
….[?]
….[?]

5.
And one says to the rest
“We must just watch our chance
And escape one by one-
Though the fight is no more done
Than the war is in France.”

6.
Than the war is in France!
She thinks of a winter camp
Where soldiers for France are made.
She draws down the window shade
And it glows with an early lamp.

7.
…..[?]
The uneven sheds stretch back
Shed behind shed in train
Like cars that have long lain
Dead on a side track.

11:12 AM  

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