Original Autograph Manuscript Poem “Does No One But Me at All Ever Feel this Way in the Least”

$3000

Item: 23676

Add to Wishlist

FROST, ROBERT. (1874-1963). American poet and four-time Pulitzer Prize winner, author of such beloved poems as The Road Not Taken, Mending Wall and Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening. AMsS. (“Robert”). 2pp. Small 4to. N.p., N.d. To “Fred” (American bibliophile and director of the Morgan Library FREDERICK B. ADAMS, JR.; 1910-2001). The original autograph manuscript draft of Frost’s poem “Does No One But Me at All Ever Feel this Way in the Least.” Accompanied by Frost’s 1952 Christmas holiday booklet published by the Spiral Press that prints this poem.

One of America’s best loved poets of the 20^th century, Frost is remembered for depicting rural life in his poetry. Although born in San Francisco, Frost had a nearly lifelong association with New England, living and writing variously in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont. After spending three years in England, where poets Ezra Pound and Edward Thomas befriended him, Frost published his first two books, A Boy’s Will and North of Boston, after which he returned to New Hampshire where, from 1915 to 1920, he lived with his family on a farm in Franconia. His 1923 volume entitled New Hampshire won the first of four Pulitzer Prizes and features one of his most beloved poems, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.”

Original Autograph Manuscript Poem “Does No One But Me at All Ever Feel this Way in the Least”

Hover over image to magnify. Click to zoom.

Click image to magnify

Robert Frost

In 1952, Frost’s poem “Does No One But Me at All Ever Feel this Way in the Least” was printed by the Spiral Press for the poet’s customary Christmas “token,” or holiday booklet. The poem later appeared in Frost’s final poetry collection In the Clearing, published in 1962, with the title changed to omit “But Me.”

In seven stanzas of iambic pentameter, Frost’s poem “presents a particularly post-World War II attitude held by many humanists who began to criticize modern science for facilitating the atrocities of the early 20^th century. Instead of embracing the nation with the hopeful passion of Walt Whitman nearly a century before, Frost, with hindsight expresses disappointments over what America has become,” (Critical Companion to Robert Frost, Fagan). Although it received a mixed critical reception, “what comes across most powerfully in this poem is the coalition of forces, both human and natural, conspiring to prevent newness. A lost Eden is what Frost mourns…” (The Frost Encyclopedia, Tuten and Zubizarreta).

Our manuscript is complete, including the footnotes added to the published version but also reveals a few minor differences in wording and punctuation as well as a few sections which the poet has struck through and changed.

Beneath his signature, Frost has added “to Fred.” Written on two separate sheets of blank notepaper with the customary file holes in the left margin. Folded and in very good condition. Included with the manuscript and Christmas booklet is a folder with Adams’ bookplate affixed to it.

Auctioned by Sotheby’s, London, in 2001 for 5,875 Pounds at the sale of Frederick B. Adams library that included his magnificent Frost collection.

Original Autograph Manuscript Poem “Does No One But Me at All Ever Feel this Way in the Least”