The People, Places, and Stories Behind His New England Poetry is a wonderful single-source introduction to the world of Robert Frost for students and lay readers. Concise essays accompany each of thirty-six of Frost’s early New England poems, including renowned and loved works such as “Mending Wall,” “Birches,” and “The Road Not Taken.” Biographical information provides insights into what he was doing and thinking when he wrote each poem, commentaries by Frost himself reveal what he thought about the poems—and writing poetry—and interpretations from other sources offer an introduction to the complex symbolism beneath Frost’s deceptively simple language.