A graduate student at the University of Virginia has uncovered a previously unknown and unpublished poem by Robert Frost.
Robert Stilling, a doctoral candidate in English, discovered mention of the poem in correspondence to Frost from his friend, editor and publisher Frederic G. Melcher. The letter refers to a poem inscribed inside Melcher's copy of Frost's second collection of poetry, North of Boston.
The university's Melcher collection also includes Melcher's book, and when Stilling investigated, there was Frost's handwritten poem from 1918, "War Thoughts at Home," right where Melcher said it would be.
"Finding the poem is the easiest part," Stilling said. "Learning to understand it takes a long time." (Washington Post).
The book is currently on display at UVA's Special Collections, and the poem will be published in the upcoming issue of The Virginia Quarterly Review.
