FROST, ROBERT. 1874-1963.
Autograph Manuscript Signed ("Robert Frost"), entitled "Neither Out Far nor in Deep," 1 p, 8vo, n.p., n.d. Mounted at 4 corners, bottom edge unevenly trimmed. Framed.
"Neither Out Far Nor In Deep
The people along the sand
All turn and look one way.
They turn their back on the land.
They look at the sea all day.
The land may vary more;
But wherever the truth may be—
The water comes ashore,
And the people look at the sea.
They cannot look in deep.
They cannot look out far;
But such the watch they keep
From being the kind they are."
Variant autograph manuscript of one of Frost's most admired poems, a "little masterpiece of tonal ambiguity" (Pack). The present manuscript reads as the first and third stanzas of the published version, but the final stanza with an important line transposition and variant two closing lines from the published fourth stanza.
