Arguing that the central problem of Frost's career was his conflict with science, Robert Bernard Hass examines the ways in which the conflict affected the development of Frost's career from beginning to end. Hass situates the poet's work in the intellectual ferment of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and argues that as materialism collapsed under the weight of new scientific discovery, Frost began to see science as a historically conditioned mode of perception. Gradually viewing science as an imposed construct rather than a literal transcript of the physical world, Frost ameliorated his fear of science's disturbing conclusions, reaffirmed his belief in a spiritual reality, and subsequently formulated the most convincing defense of poetry since Sidney. Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved.