First published in 1938, this collection of stories set in the rich farmland of the Salinas Valley includes the O. Henry Prize-winning story "The Murder," as well as one of Steinbeck's most famous short works, "The Snake."

As one explores Frost's ethical thinking through his body of prose and poetry, one discovers a conflicted and often confusing world. Some apparently overt claims are shaded in context by tones of cynicism or skepticism. Values he apparently lauded in his work he violated freely in his life. Ideals he longed for are often crushed under a bitter sense of reality. Consequently, the important questions to ask about Frost's ethiscs are whether any systematic patterns emerge, what influenced such patterns, and, most importantly, how they are manifested in the poetry. To examine such issues, the critical methodology of this study is contextual, with emphasis upon three primary contexts. The first context is the nature of the work itself - the fundamental influences upon Frost's art and the way he shapes the poetic work to engage an ethical issue. The second significant context entering this discussion is historical/biographical. While it is not the aim to read Frost's poems directly in the context of life events, as a poet who is often narrative in style, his own life inevitably colors the story of the work. Furthermore, the understanding of ethical situation and response is significantly enhanced by an understanding of the personal and historical details behind the work. Finally, the third and most important context comes directly from the philosophy of ethics itself, demonstrating that consistent ethics, even though intrinsically encapsulated in ambiguity and ambivalence, does in fact appear in Frost's work.

It is a testament to the enduring power and beauty of Jane Kenyons poetry that many people -- even those not particularly interested in poetry -- know her work. What forces and influences shaped Kenyons writing? And what shaped her as a person and a poet? These are the questions that John Timmerman seeks to answer in "Jane Kenyon: A Literary Life."

In the opening chapters Timmerman beautifully limns the story of Kenyons life, drawing on unpublished journals and papers of hers and recollections by her husband, the poet Donald Hall. To show how her art grew out of her life, Timmerman proceeds to explore, volume by volume, the form and substance of Kenyons work.

By frequently examining the multiple drafts that Kenyon wrote in the process of reaching a finished poem, Timmerman reveals how she winnowed and refined ideas, images, and language until a poem was honed to its essence. She was especially interested in the luminous particular, the arresting image that would focus a poem. She also took care to use simple, grounded language and natural objects and events -- often drawing on and reflecting on the life she lived at Eagle Pond Farm in rural New Hampshire.

Throughout her life Kenyon struggled with depression, but she never let it define her or her work. She also struggled with her faith almost constantly, yet her faith was unrelenting, according to Timmerman, and she still wrote poems of great beauty and spiritual consolation. Her poetry, even when very personal, reached out -- and still reaches out -- to the reader, establishing that vital thread of human connection. Indeed, as Timmerman says, Kenyons poems are soundings of the human soul.

Kenyon was cut down in the prime ofher writing life by leukemia, and Timmerman concludes by exploring Halls mourning of her death in "Without, " a wrenching collection of poems. But Kenyons voice lives on in her work, and Timmermans insightful, often moving study shows why this unique literary voice continues to touch readers with its beauty, grace, and power.