TS: Auden vs. Frost

I think Auden does gravitas better than Frost, generally, but Frost...he's like the Chic organization. There may be better poets who were writing at the same time, scaling greater heights, but when you stack all his hits up you say, Jesus Christ, that right there was a giant and every last one of these top-tier poems is instantly memorable, vivid, both deeply felt and thick with craft but not so much that it gets in the way

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

This poll happened as I was out wilderness trekking, so I missed it. I side with Lord Sotosyn here. Frost wrote some stuff that is simply exquisite. Both poets excelled at their craft, but I find Frost's subject matter to be more fundamental and humane as opposed to Auden's consistent bent toward sophistication, keeping a certain distance from the fundamentals.

To really get who Frost was, you need to dig around in his Collected Poems and read the non-hits & the longer poems that don't get any airtime. The voice in those lesser poems is still strong and sharp. Auden's lesser poems don't compare well to Frost's.

http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/09/11/the-most-misread-poem-in-america/