Signed book: New Hampshire. First edition, fourth printing. NY: Henry Holt and Company, 1924. Hardcover, 5.75 x 8.75, 113 pages. Opposite the first page, Frost pens a three-stanza poem in black ink, signed and inscribed at the conclusion, “Robert Frost, for Thomas Ogden Amelia.” In full: “On a star-bright night / The great Overdog, / That Heavenly beast / With a star in one eye, / Gives a leap in the East. / He dances upright / All the way to the West, / And never once drops / On his forefeet to rest. / I’m a poor Underdog; / But tonight I will bark / with the great Overdog / That romps through the dark.” Autographic condition: fine. Book condition: VG-/None.
This poem was originally published as ‘On a Star-Bright Night’ in the New York Herald Tribune on March 22, 1925, later published under the title ‘Canis Major’ in West Running Brook—the latter title direct in its reference to the the subject of the poem, the constellation which Sirius—the brightest star in the night sky—calls home. Replete with the elements of theme and style we associate with Frost—the rhyme scheme, rural outdoor setting, and focus on the solitary individual—this is a choice representation of his work. Suggestive of Whitman’s ‘barbaric yawp’ in the concluding lines, this scarce handwritten poem is an especially appropriate example of what vaulted Frost into the upper echelon of American poets. RR Auction COA.
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