Robert Frost: Fire and Ice

You will note this is not a recitation of Frost's collection of poetry of the same name. Presumably it is a narrator reading a speech delivered by Frost at Cambridge (?) University.

Robert Frost did not have the sense of humor of a Mark Twain as a speaker. But he was not this bad. Voice inflection pace of the speaker is also critical. Audience reaction is all but negligible. I suspect when presented by Frost the address was a good deal more interesting. As I recall there was applause at only one place during the reading, aside from the beginning and end.

The poetry of Frost, for want of a better term, is woven into the fabric of the speech itself. I don't recall that any poems were read in entirety. I suspect Frost could have pulled this off before an audience familiar with his poetry. This narrator doesn't. It's not that he doesn't try as he's clearly familiar with Frost's material. He simply doesn't sound anything like the Robert Frost those of us heard on the various vinyls where the poet read his own work in the 1950's and 1960's or at JFK's inaguration.

Clarity in narration, the "speed" at which it's read, etc. are not the only factors to be considered when judging narration. This narrator doesn't sound like Robert Frost. For those who have heard a recording of the JFK inagural speech which includes Frost's presentation, and it was by a very elderly poet on a very cold day, it's especially clear that there's not the desired amount of Frost in this audio book. It's a shame.