Frost's reputation as a major American poet is secure, yet many critics express reservations about his artistry. There commentators usually cite such shortcomings as simplistic philosophy, expression of stock sentiments, failure to delve deeply into thematic concerns, and inability to universalize distinct concerns of rural New England. Malcolm Cowley, in his essay "The Case Against Mr. Frost," summarizes these views: "[Frost] is concerned chiefly with himself and his near neighbors... And Frost does not strive toward greater depth to compensate for what he lacks in breadth; he does not strike far inward into the wilderness of human nature. It is true that he often talks about the need for inwardness... [Yet] still he sets limitations on the exploration of himself, as he sets them on almost every other human activity." Cowley added: "If he does not strike inward, neither does he follow that other great American tradition... of standing on a height to observe the panorama of nature and society." Nevertheless, most critics praise the imagery, rhythmic qualities, dramatic tension, and synecdochia qualities of Frost's verse, and his poems are among the most widely studied and appreciated of American literature.
William Pritchart writes well about Frost's doctrine of "sentence sounds," his contribution to poetic theory which is also his innovation as an experimental poet. This critic remembers that he is talking about poems, works of art, understanding that style is content, as he shows how sentence structure and rhythm create meaning. No hagiographer, Pritchard is properly skeptical from time to time, about man and work; but mostly his task is to reveal Frost at his best, to write in service to the are of poetry, or to one man's practice of it. He brings to his subject anecdotes from the life, quotations from letters and talk-anything that will serve his purpose.
Source cited:
Robert Frost (1874-1963)." Poetry Criticism. Ed. Robyn V. Young. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale Research, 1991. 190-232. Literature Criticism Online. Gale. Tarrant County College. 7 August 2009 http://ezp.tccd.edu:2055/servlet/LitCrit/txshracd2560/FJ3583650007
"Frost: A Literary Life Reconsidered by William H. Pritchard." Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Sharon K. Hall. Vol. 34. Detroit: Gale Research, 1985. 468-476. Literature Criticism Online. Gale. Tarrant County College. 7 August 2009 http://ezp.tccd.edu:2055/servlet/LitCrit/txshracd2560/FJ3511850085
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