Robert Frost
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Robert Lee Frost (March26, 1874January29, 1963) was an
American poet The poets listed below were either born in the United States or else published much of their poetry while living in that country. A B C D E F G H I–J K L M N O P Q * George Quasha (born 1942) R S T U–V ...
. His work was initially published in England before it was published in the United States. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech, Frost frequently wrote about settings from rural life in
New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
in the early 20th century, using them to examine complex social and philosophical themes. Frequently honored during his lifetime, Frost is the only poet to receive four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry. He became one of America's rare "public literary figures, almost an artistic institution".''Contemporary Literary Criticism''. Ed. Jean C. Stine, Bridget Broderick, and Daniel G. Marowski. Vol. 26. Detroit: Gale Research, 1983. p 110. He was awarded the
Congressional Gold Medal The Congressional Gold Medal is an award bestowed by the United States Congress. It is Congress's highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements and contributions by individuals or institutions. The congressional pract ...
in 1960 for his poetic works. On July 22, 1961, Frost was named
poet laureate A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch ...
of
Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...
.


Biography


Early life

Robert Frost was born in
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
to journalist William Prescott Frost Jr. and Isabelle Moodie. His father was a descendent of Nicholas Frost of
Tiverton, Devon Tiverton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Devon, England, and the commercial and administrative centre of the Mid Devon district. The population in 2019 was 20,587. History Early history The town's name is conjectured to derive from "Twy-fo ...
, England, who had sailed to
New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
in 1634 on the ''Wolfrana'', and his mother was a Scottish immigrant. Frost was also a descendant of Samuel Appleton, one of the early English settlers of Ipswich, Massachusetts, and Rev. George Phillips, one of the early English settlers of
Watertown Watertown may refer to: Places in China In China, a water town is a type of ancient scenic town known for its waterways. Places in the United States *Watertown, Connecticut, a New England town **Watertown (CDP), Connecticut, the central village ...
, Massachusetts. Frost's father was a teacher and later an editor of the '' San Francisco Evening Bulletin'' (which later merged with the '' San Francisco Examiner''), and an unsuccessful candidate for city tax collector. After his death on May 5, 1885, the family moved across the country to
Lawrence Lawrence may refer to: Education Colleges and universities * Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States * Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States Preparator ...
, Massachusetts, under the patronage of Robert's grandfather William Frost Sr., who was an overseer at a New England mill. Frost graduated from Lawrence High School in 1892. Frost's mother joined the Swedenborgian church and had him baptized in it, but he left it as an adult. Although known for his later association with rural life, Frost grew up in the city, and he published his first poem in his high school's magazine. He attended
Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...
for two months, long enough to be accepted into the
Theta Delta Chi Theta Delta Chi () is a social fraternity that was founded in 1847 at Union College, New York, United States. While nicknames differ from institution to institution, the most common nicknames for the fraternity are TDX, Thete, Theta Delt, and Thump ...
fraternity. Frost returned home to teach and to work at various jobs, including helping his mother teach her class of unruly boys, delivering newspapers, and working in a factory maintaining
carbon arc lamp An arc lamp or arc light is a lamp that produces light by an electric arc (also called a voltaic arc). The carbon arc light, which consists of an arc between carbon electrodes in air, invented by Humphry Davy in the first decade of the 1800s, ...
s. He said that he did not enjoy these jobs, feeling that his true calling was to write poetry.


Adult years

In 1894, he sold his first poem, "My Butterfly. An Elegy" (published in the November 8, 1894, edition of ''The Independent'' of New York) for $15 ($ today). Proud of his accomplishment, he proposed marriage to Elinor Miriam White, but she demurred, wanting to finish college (at St. Lawrence University) before they married. Frost then went on an excursion to the
Great Dismal Swamp The Great Dismal Swamp is a large swamp in the Coastal Plain Region of southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina, between Norfolk, Virginia, and Elizabeth City, North Carolina. It is located in parts of the southern Virginia indepe ...
in
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
and asked Elinor again upon his return. Having graduated, she agreed, and they were married at Lawrence, Massachusetts, on December 19, 1895. Frost attended
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
from 1897 to 1899, but he left voluntarily due to illness. Shortly before his death, Frost's grandfather purchased a farm for Robert and Elinor in Derry, New Hampshire; Frost worked the farm for nine years while writing early in the mornings and producing many of the poems that would later become famous. Ultimately his farming proved unsuccessful and he returned to the field of education as an English teacher at New Hampshire's
Pinkerton Academy Pinkerton Academy is a secondary school in Derry, New Hampshire, United States. It serves roughly 3,269 students, making it by far the largest high school in New Hampshire, more than 1,300 students greater than the next largest high school. Pi ...
from 1906 to 1911, then at the New Hampshire Normal School (now
Plymouth State University Plymouth State University (PSU), formerly Plymouth State College, is a public university in the towns of Plymouth and Holderness, New Hampshire. As of fall 2020, Plymouth State University enrolls 4,491 students (3,739 undergraduate students an ...
) in
Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...
, New Hampshire. In 1912, Frost sailed with his family to
Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
, settling first in
Beaconsfield Beaconsfield ( ) is a market town and civil parish within the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England, west-northwest of central London and south-southeast of Aylesbury. Three other towns are within : Gerrards Cross, Amersham and High W ...
, a small town in
Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...
outside London. His first book of poetry, '' A Boy's Will'', was published the next year. In England he made some important acquaintances, including Edward Thomas (a member of the group known as the
Dymock poets The Dymock poets were a literary group of the early 20th century who made their homes near the village of Dymock in Gloucestershire, in England, near to the border with Herefordshire. Significant figures and events The 'Dymock Poets' are genera ...
and Frost's inspiration for "
The Road Not Taken "The Road Not Taken" is a narrative poem by Robert Frost, first published in the August 1915 issue of ''The Atlantic Monthly'', and later published as the first poem in the collection '' Mountain Interval'' of 1916. Its central theme is th ...
"),
T. E. Hulme Thomas Ernest Hulme (; 16 September 1883 – 28 September 1917) was an English critic and poet who, through his writings on art, literature and politics, had a notable influence upon modernism. He was an aesthetic philosopher and the 'father ...
, and
Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...
. Although Pound would become the first American to write a favorable review of Frost's work, Frost later resented Pound's attempts to manipulate his American prosody. Frost met or befriended many contemporary poets in England, especially after his first two poetry volumes were published in London in 1913 (''A Boy's Will'') and 1914 ('' North of Boston''). In 1915, during
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, Frost returned to America, where Holt's American edition of ''A Boy's Will'' had recently been published, and bought a farm in
Franconia Franconia (german: Franken, ; Franconian dialect: ''Franggn'' ; bar, Frankn) is a region of Germany, characterised by its culture and Franconian dialect (German: ''Fränkisch''). The three administrative regions of Lower, Middle and Upper Fr ...
, New Hampshire, where he launched a career of writing, teaching, and lecturing. This family homestead served as the Frosts' summer home until 1938. It is maintained today as
The Frost Place The Frost Place is a museum and nonprofit educational center for poetry located at Robert Frost's former home on Ridge Road in Franconia, New Hampshire, United States. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. ...
, a museum and poetry conference site. He was made an honorary member of
Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...
at Harvard in 1916. During the years 1917–20, 1923–25, and, on a more informal basis, 1926–1938, Frost taught English at
Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...
in Massachusetts, notably encouraging his students to account for the myriad sounds and intonations of the spoken English language in their writing. He called his colloquial approach to language "the sound of sense". In 1924, he won the first of four
Pulitzer Prizes The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made hi ...
for the book '' New Hampshire: A Poem with Notes and Grace Notes''. He would win additional Pulitzers for '' Collected Poems'' in 1931, '' A Further Range'' in 1937, and ''A Witness Tree'' in 1943. For forty-two years – from 1921 to 1962 – Frost spent almost every summer and fall teaching at the
Bread Loaf School of English Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalists, Middlebury was the first operating college or university in Vermont. The college currently enrolls 2,858 undergraduates from all 5 ...
of
Middlebury College Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalists, Middlebury was the first operating college or university in Vermont. The college currently enrolls 2,858 undergraduates from all ...
, at its mountain campus at
Ripton, Vermont Ripton is a town in Addison County, Vermont, United States. The population was 739 at the 2020 census. Geography Ripton is located in east-central Addison County, in the Green Mountains of Vermont. The highest point in the town is the summit o ...
. He is credited with being a major influence upon the development of the school and its writing programs. The college now owns and maintains his former Ripton farmstead, a
National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
, near the Bread Loaf campus. In 1921, Frost accepted a fellowship teaching post at the
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
, where he resided until 1927, when he returned to teach at Amherst. While teaching at the University of Michigan, he was awarded a lifetime appointment at the university as a Fellow in Letters. The Robert Frost Ann Arbor home was purchased by
The Henry Ford The Henry Ford (also known as the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation and Greenfield Village, and as the Edison Institute) is a history museum complex in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan, Dearborn, Michigan, United States. The museum ...
Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, and relocated to the museum's Greenfield Village site for public tours. Throughout the 1920s, Frost also lived in his colonial-era house in
Shaftsbury, Vermont Shaftsbury is a town in Bennington County, Vermont, United States. The population was 3,598 at the 2020 census. History The town was chartered on August 20, 1761. It was named after the Earl of Shaftesbury. In June 1843, escaped slaves hid at ...
. In 2002, the house was opened to the public as the Robert Frost Stone House Museum in 2002 and was given to
Bennington College Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont. Founded in 1932 as a women's college, it became co-educational in 1969. It claims to be the first college to include visual and performing arts as an equal partner in ...
in 2017. In 1934, Frost began to spend winter months in Florida. In March 1935, he gave a talk at the
University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...
. In 1940, he bought a plot in South Miami, Florida, naming it ''Pencil Pines''; he spent his winters there for the rest of his life. In her memoir about Frost's time in Florida, Helen Muir writes, "Frost had called his five acres ''Pencil Pines'' because he said he had never made a penny from anything that did not involve the use of a pencil." His properties also included a
house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...
on Brewster Street in
Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...
.
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
's 1965 alumni directory notes that that Frost received an
honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...
there. Although he never graduated from college, Frost received over 40 honorary degrees, including from
Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...
,
Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
and
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
universities, and became the only person to have received two honorary degrees from
Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...
. During his lifetime, the Robert Frost Middle School in Fairfax, Virginia, the Robert L. Frost School in
Lawrence Lawrence may refer to: Education Colleges and universities * Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States * Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States Preparator ...
, Massachusetts, and the main library of
Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...
were named after him. In 1960, Frost was awarded a United States
Congressional Gold Medal The Congressional Gold Medal is an award bestowed by the United States Congress. It is Congress's highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements and contributions by individuals or institutions. The congressional pract ...
, "In recognition of his poetry, which has enriched the culture of the United States and the philosophy of the world"; it was formally bestowed on him by President Kennedy in March 1962. Also in 1962, he was awarded the
Edward MacDowell Medal The Edward MacDowell Medal is an award which has been given since 1960 to one person annually who has made an outstanding contribution to American culture and the arts. It is given by MacDowell, the first artist residency program in the United Sta ...
for outstanding contribution to the arts by the
MacDowell Colony MacDowell is an artist's residency program in Peterborough, New Hampshire, United States, founded in 1907 by composer Edward MacDowell and his wife, pianist and philanthropist Marian MacDowell. Prior to July 2020, it was known as the MacDowel ...
. Frost was 86 when he performed a reading at the
inauguration of John F. Kennedy The inauguration of John F. Kennedy as the 35th president of the United States was held on Friday, January 20, 1961, at the East Portico of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. It was the 44th inauguration, marking the commencement of ...
on January 20, 1961. He began by attempting to read his poem "Dedication", which he had composed for the occasion, but due to the brightness of the sunlight he was unable to see the text, so he recited " The Gift Outright" from memory instead. In the summer of 1962, Frost accompanied Interior Secretary Stewart Udall on a visit to the Soviet Union in hopes of meeting
Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...
to lobby for peaceful relations between the two Cold War powers. Frost died in Boston on January 29, 1963, of complications from prostate surgery. He was buried in the Old Bennington Cemetery in Bennington, Vermont. His
epitaph An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...
, from the last line of his poem, "The Lesson for Today" (1942), is: "I had a lover's quarrel with the world." One of the original collections of Frost materials, which he personally helped compile, is held in the Special Collections department of the
Jones Library The Jones Library of Amherst, Massachusetts is a public library with three locations, the main building and two branches. The library was established in 1919 by a fund set up in the will of lumberman Samuel Minot Jones. The library is governe ...
in
Amherst, Massachusetts Amherst () is a New England town, town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Connecticut River valley. As of the 2020 census, the population was 39,263, making it the highest populated municipality in Hampshire County (althoug ...
. The collection consists of approximately twelve thousand items, including original manuscript poems and letters, correspondence, photographs, and audio and visual recordings. The Archives and Special Collections at Amherst College holds a small collection of his papers. The University of Michigan Library holds th
Robert Frost Family Collection
of manuscripts, photographs, printed items, and artwork. The most significant collection of Frost's working manuscripts is held by Dartmouth.


Personal life

Frost's personal life was plagued by grief and loss. In 1885, when he was 11, his father died of
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
, leaving the family with just eight dollars. Frost's mother died of
cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
in 1900. In 1920, he had to commit his younger sister Jeanie to a mental hospital, where she died nine years later. Mental illness apparently ran in Frost's family, as both he and his mother suffered from depression, and his daughter Irma was committed to a mental hospital in 1947. Frost's wife, Elinor, also experienced bouts of depression. Elinor and Robert Frost had six children: son Elliott (1896–1900, died of
cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...
); daughter Lesley Frost Ballantine (1899–1983); son Carol (1902–1940); daughter Irma (1903–1967); daughter Marjorie (1905–1934, died as a result of puerperal fever after childbirth); and daughter Elinor Bettina (died just one day after her birth in 1907). Only Lesley and Irma outlived their father. Frost's wife, who had heart problems throughout her life, developed
breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...
in 1937, and died of
heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...
in 1938.


Work


Style and critical reception

Critic
Harold Bloom Harold Bloom (July 11, 1930 – October 14, 2019) was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was described as "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking wor ...
argued that Frost was one of "the major American poets". The poet and critic
Randall Jarrell Randall Jarrell (May 6, 1914 – October 14, 1965) was an American poet, literary critic, children's author, essayist, and novelist. He was the 11th Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress—a position that now bears the title Poe ...
often praised Frost's poetry and wrote "Robert Frost, along with Stevens and Eliot, seems to me the greatest of the American poets of this century. Frost's virtues are extraordinary. No other living poet has written so well about the actions of ordinary men; his wonderful dramatic monologues or dramatic scenes come out of a knowledge of people that few poets have had, and they are written in a verse that uses, sometimes with absolute mastery, the rhythms of actual speech". He also praised "Frost's seriousness and honesty", stating that Frost was particularly skilled at representing a wide range of human experience in his poems. Jarrell's notable and influential essays on Frost include the essays "Robert Frost's 'Home Burial (1962), which consisted of an extended close reading of that particular poem, and "To The Laodiceans" (1952) in which Jarrell defended Frost against critics who had accused Frost of being too "traditional" and out of touch with Modern or
Modernist poetry Modernist poetry refers to poetry written between 1890 and 1950 in the tradition of modernist literature, but the dates of the term depend upon a number of factors, including the nation of origin, the particular school in question, and the biases ...
. In Frost's defense, Jarrell wrote "the regular ways of looking at Frost's poetry are grotesque simplifications, distortions, falsifications—coming to know his poetry well ought to be enough, in itself, to dispel any of them, and to make plain the necessity of finding some other way of talking about his work." And Jarrell's close readings of poems like "Neither Out Too Far Nor In Too Deep" led readers and critics to perceive more of the complexities in Frost's poetry. In an introduction to Jarrell's book of essays,
Brad Leithauser Brad E. Leithauser (born February 27, 1953) is an American poet, novelist, essayist, and teacher. After serving as the Emily Dickinson Lecturer in the Humanities at Mount Holyoke College and visiting professor at the MFA Program for Poets & Writ ...
notes that "the 'other' Frost that Jarrell discerned behind the genial, homespun New England rustic—the 'dark' Frost who was desperate, frightened, and brave—has become the Frost we've all learned to recognize, and the little-known poems Jarrell singled out as central to the Frost canon are now to be found in most anthologies". Jarrell lists a selection of the Frost poems he considers the most masterful, including "The Witch of Coös", "Home Burial", "A Servant to Servants", "Directive", "Neither Out Too Far Nor In Too Deep", "Provide, Provide", "
Acquainted with the Night "Acquainted with the Night" is a poem by Robert Frost. It first appeared in the Autumn, 1928 issue of ''The Virginia Quarterly Review'' and was republished that year in his collection '' West-Running Brook''. Poem Interpretation and form T ...
", "After Apple Picking", "Mending Wall", "The Most of It", "An Old Man's Winter Night", "To Earthward", "
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" is a poem by Robert Frost, written in 1922, and published in 1923 in his ''New Hampshire'' volume. Imagery, personification, and repetition are prominent in the work. In a letter to Louis Untermeyer, Fros ...
", "Spring Pools", "The Lovely Shall Be Choosers", "Design", and "Desert Places". In 2003, the critic Charles McGrath noted that critical views on Frost's poetry have changed over the years (as has his public image). In an article called "The Vicissitudes of Literary Reputation," McGrath wrote, "Robert Frost ... at the time of his death in 1963 was generally considered to be a New England folkie ... In 1977, the third volume of Lawrance Thompson's biography suggested that Frost was a much nastier piece of work than anyone had imagined; a few years later, thanks to the reappraisal of critics like
William H. Pritchard William H. Pritchard (born 1932) is an American literary critic and the Henry Clay Folger Professor of English, ''Emeritus'', at Amherst College. Early life and education William Harrison Pritchard, Jr., was born in 1932, the son of William H ...
and
Harold Bloom Harold Bloom (July 11, 1930 – October 14, 2019) was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was described as "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking wor ...
and of younger poets like Joseph Brodsky, he bounced back again, this time as a bleak and unforgiving modernist." In ''The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry'', editors
Richard Ellmann Richard David Ellmann, FBA (March 15, 1918 – May 13, 1987) was an American literary critic and biographer of the Irish writers James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, and William Butler Yeats. He won the U.S. National Book Award for Nonfiction for ''Jame ...
and Robert O'Clair compared and contrasted Frost's unique style to the work of the poet
Edwin Arlington Robinson Edwin Arlington Robinson (December 22, 1869 – April 6, 1935) was an American poet and playwright. Robinson won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry on three occasions and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature four times. Early life Robin ...
since they both frequently used New England settings for their poems. However, they state that Frost's poetry was "less onsciouslyliterary" and that this was possibly due to the influence of English and Irish writers like
Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Word ...
and W.B. Yeats. They note that Frost's poems "show a successful striving for utter colloquialism" and always try to remain down to earth, while at the same time using traditional forms despite the trend of American poetry towards free verse which Frost famously said was "'like playing tennis without a net.'"Ellman, Richard and Robert O'Clair. ''The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry'', Second Edition. New York: Norton, 1988. In providing an overview of Frost's style, the
Poetry Foundation The Poetry Foundation is an American literary society that seeks to promote poetry and lyricism in the wider culture. It was formed from ''Poetry'' magazine, which it continues to publish, with a 2003 gift of $200 million from philanthropist Ru ...
makes the same point, placing Frost's work "at the crossroads of nineteenth-century American poetry ith regard to his use of traditional formsand modernism ith his use of idiomatic language and ordinary, everyday subject matter" They also note that Frost believed that "the self-imposed restrictions of meter in form" was more helpful than harmful because he could focus on the content of his poems instead of concerning himself with creating "innovative" new verse forms. An earlier 1963 study by the poet James Radcliffe Squires spoke to the distinction of Frost as a poet whose verse soars more for the difficulty and skill by which he attains his final visions, than for the philosophical purity of the visions themselves. "He has written at a time when the choice for the poet seemed to lie among the forms of despair: Science, solipsism, or the religion of the past century ... Frost has refused all of these and in the refusal has long seemed less dramatically committed than others ... But no, he must be seen as dramatically uncommitted to the single solution ... Insofar as Frost allows to both fact and intuition a bright kingdom, he speaks for many of us. Insofar as he speaks through an amalgam of senses and sure experience so that his poetry seems a nostalgic memory with overtones touching some conceivable future, he speaks better than most of us. That is to say, as a poet must." The classicist Helen H. Bacon has proposed that Frost's deep knowledge of Greek and Roman classics influenced much of his work. Frost's education at Lawrence High School, Dartmouth, and Harvard "was based mainly on the classics". As examples, she links imagery and action in Frost's early poems "Birches" (1915) and "Wild Grapes" (1920) with Euripides' ''
Bacchae ''The Bacchae'' (; grc-gre, Βάκχαι, ''Bakchai''; also known as ''The Bacchantes'' ) is an ancient Greek tragedy, written by the Athenian playwright Euripides during his final years in Macedonia, at the court of Archelaus I of Macedon. ...
''. She cites certain motifs, including that of the tree bent down to earth, as evidence of his "very attentive reading of ''Bacchae'', almost certainly in Greek". In a later poem, "One More Brevity" (1953), Bacon compares the poetic techniques used by Frost to those of Virgil in the ''
Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan_War#Sack_of_Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to ...
''. She notes that "this sampling of the ways Frost drew on the literature and concepts of the Greek and Roman world at every stage of his life indicates how imbued with it he was".


Themes

In ''Contemporary Literary Criticism'', the editors state that "Frost's best work explores fundamental questions of existence, depicting with chilling starkness the loneliness of the individual in an indifferent universe."''Contemporary Literary Criticism''. Ed. Jean C. Stine, Bridget Broderick, and Daniel G. Marowski. Vol. 26. Detroit: Gale Research, 1983, pp. 110–129. The critic T. K. Whipple focused on this bleakness in Frost's work, stating that "in much of his work, particularly in ''North of Boston'', his harshest book, he emphasizes the dark background of life in rural New England, with its degeneration often sinking into total madness." In sharp contrast, the founding publisher and editor of ''
Poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...
'', Harriet Monroe, emphasized the folksy New England persona and characters in Frost's work, writing that "perhaps no other poet in our history has put the best of the Yankee spirit into a book so completely." She notes his frequent use of rural settings and farm life, and she likes that in these poems, Frost is most interested in "showing the human reaction to nature's processes." She also notes that while Frost's narrative, character-based poems are often satirical, Frost always has a "sympathetic humor" towards his subjects.


Influenced by

*
Robert Graves Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was a British poet, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celtic ...
* Rupert Brooke *
Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Word ...
*
William Butler Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...
* John Keats *
Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champ ...


Influenced

* Robert Francis *
Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (; 13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature.
*
Richard Wilbur Richard Purdy Wilbur (March 1, 1921 – October 14, 2017) was an American poet and literary translator. One of the foremost poets of his generation, Wilbur's work, composed primarily in traditional forms, was marked by its wit, charm, and gentle ...
* Edward Thomas * James Wright


Awards and recognition

Frost was nominated for the
Nobel Prize in Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 , ...
31 times. In June 1922, the Vermont State League of Women's Clubs elected Frost as Poet Laureate of Vermont. When a ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' editorial strongly criticised the decision of the Women's Clubs, Sarah Cleghorn and other women wrote to the newspaper defending Frost. On July 22, 1961, Frost was named
Poet Laureate A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch ...
of Vermont by the state legislature through Joint Resolution R-59 of the Acts of 1961, which also created the position. Robert Frost won the 1963
Bollingen Prize The Bollingen Prize for Poetry is a literary honor bestowed on an American poet in recognition of the best book of new verse within the last two years, or for lifetime achievement.
.


Pulitzer Prizes

* 1924 for '' New Hampshire: A Poem With Notes and Grace Notes'' * 1931 for '' Collected Poems'' * 1937 for '' A Further Range'' * 1943 for '' A Witness Tree''


Legacy and cultural influence

* Robert Frost Hall is an academic building at
Southern New Hampshire University Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) is a private university between Manchester and Hooksett, New Hampshire. The university is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education, along with national accreditation for some hospitali ...
in
Manchester, New Hampshire Manchester is a city in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. It is the most populous city in New Hampshire. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 115,644. Manchester is, along with Nashua, one of two seats of New Hamp ...
. * In the early morning of November 23, 1963,
Westinghouse Broadcasting The Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, also known as Group W, was the broadcasting division of Westinghouse Electric Corporation. It owned several radio and television stations across the United States and distributed television shows for syndicat ...
's Sid Davis reported the arrival of President
John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
's casket at the
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
. Since Frost was one of the President's favorite poets, Davis concluded his report with a passage from "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening", but was overcome with emotion as he signed off. *
Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...
(1889–1964), the first Prime Minister of India, had kept a book of Robert Frost's close to him towards his later years, even at his bedside table as he lay dying. * The poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay" is featured in both the 1967 novel '' The Outsiders'' by
S. E. Hinton Susan Eloise Hinton (born July 22, 1948) is an American writer best known for her young-adult novels (YA) set in Oklahoma, especially '' The Outsiders'' (1967), which she wrote during high school. Hinton is credited with introducing the YA genr ...
and the 1983 film adaptation, first recited aloud by the character Ponyboy to his friend Johnny. In a subsequent scene Johnny quotes a stanza from the poem back to Ponyboy by means of a letter which was read after he passes away. * His poem " Fire and Ice" influenced the title and other aspects of
George R. R. Martin George Raymond Richard Martin (born George Raymond Martin; September 20, 1948), also known as GRRM, is an American novelist, screenwriter, television producer and short story writer. He is the author of the series of epic fantasy novels ''A Song ...
's fantasy series ''
A Song of Ice and Fire ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' is a series of epic fantasy novels by the American novelist and screenwriter George R. R. Martin. He began the first volume of the series, ''A Game of Thrones'', in 1991, and it was published in 1996. Martin, who init ...
''. * '' Nothing Gold Can Stay'' is the name of the debut
studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
by American
pop-punk Pop punk (or punk pop) is a rock music genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop. It is defined for its emphasis on classic pop songcraft, as well as adolescent and anti- suburbia themes, and is distinguished from other p ...
band
New Found Glory New Found Glory (formerly A New Found Glory) is an American rock band from Coral Springs, Florida, formed in 1997. The band currently consists of Jordan Pundik (lead vocals), Ian Grushka (bass guitar), Chad Gilbert (lead guitar, backing voc ...
, released on October 19, 1999. * At the funeral of former Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau, on October 3, 2000, his eldest son
Justin Justin may refer to: People * Justin (name), including a list of persons with the given name Justin * Justin (historian), a Latin historian who lived under the Roman Empire * Justin I (c. 450–527), or ''Flavius Iustinius Augustus'', Eastern Rom ...
rephrased the last stanza of the poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" in his eulogy: "The woods are lovely, dark and deep. He has kept his promises and earned his sleep." * A ''
Garfield ''Garfield'' is an American comic strip created by Jim Davis. Originally published locally as ''Jon'' in 1976, then in nationwide syndication from 1978 as ''Garfield'', it chronicles the life of the title character Garfield the cat, his human ...
'' comic strip published on October 20, 2002, originally featured the titular character reciting "Nothing Gold Can Stay". However, this was replaced in book collections and online edition, likely due to the poem being still under copyright when the comic ran (the poem has since lapsed into public domain, in 2019). * The poem "Fire and Ice" is the epigraph of Stephenie Meyers' 2007 book, ''Eclipse (Meyer novel), Eclipse'', of the Twilight (novel series), ''Twilight'' Saga. It is also read by Kristen Stewart's character, Bella Swan, at the beginning of the 2010 The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, ''Eclipse'' film. * "Nothing Gold Can Stay" is referenced in First Aid Kit (band), First Aid Kit's 2014 album ''Stay Gold (First Aid Kit album), Stay Gold'': "But just as the moon it shall stray / So dawn goes down today / No gold can stay / No gold can stay." * "Nothing Gold Can Stay" (February 4, 2015) is the title given to the tenth episode of the The Mentalist (season 7), seventh season of ''The Mentalist'' in which a character is killed. * The character of Baron Quinn recites "Fire and Ice" in an episode of AMC's ''Into the Badlands (TV series), Into the Badlands''. * Verses of "Fire and Ice" are referenced and recited throughout the 2017 episodic video game ''Life Is Strange: Before the Storm''. * The line "Nothing gold can stay" is featured in the 2018 single "Venice Bitch" by American singer Lana Del Rey. Del Rey also previously used this line in her 2015 single "Music to Watch Boys To".


Selected works


Poetry collections

* 1913. '' A Boy's Will''. London: David Nutt (publisher), David Nutt (New York: Holt, 1915) * 1914. '' North of Boston''. London: David Nutt (New York: Holt, 1914) ** "After Apple-Picking" ** "The Death of the Hired Man" ** "Mending Wall" * 1916. ''Mountain Interval''. New York: Holt ** "Birches (poem), Birches" ** "Out, Out" ** "The Oven Bird" ** "
The Road Not Taken "The Road Not Taken" is a narrative poem by Robert Frost, first published in the August 1915 issue of ''The Atlantic Monthly'', and later published as the first poem in the collection '' Mountain Interval'' of 1916. Its central theme is th ...
" * 1923. ''Selected Poems''. New York: Holt. ** "The Runaway" ** Also includes poems from first three volumes * 1923. ''New Hampshire (poetry collection), New Hampshire''. New York: Holt (London: Grant Richards (publisher), Grant Richards, 1924) ** " Fire and Ice" ** "Nothing Gold Can Stay (poem), Nothing Gold Can Stay" ** "
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" is a poem by Robert Frost, written in 1922, and published in 1923 in his ''New Hampshire'' volume. Imagery, personification, and repetition are prominent in the work. In a letter to Louis Untermeyer, Fros ...
" * 1924. ''Several Short Poems''. New York: Holt * 1928. ''Selected Poems''. New York: Holt. * 1928. ''West-Running Brook''. New York: Holt ** "
Acquainted with the Night "Acquainted with the Night" is a poem by Robert Frost. It first appeared in the Autumn, 1928 issue of ''The Virginia Quarterly Review'' and was republished that year in his collection '' West-Running Brook''. Poem Interpretation and form T ...
" * 1929. ''The Lovely Shall Be Choosers,'' ''The Poetry Quartos'', printed and illustrated by Paul Johnston (fine press printer and book designer), Paul Johnston. Random House. * 1930. ''Collected Poems of Robert Frost''. New York: Holt (UK: Longmans Green, 1930) * 1933. ''The Lone Striker''. US: Alfred A. Knopf, Knopf * 1934. ''Selected Poems: Third Edition''. New York: Holt * 1935. ''Three Poems''. Hanover, NH: Baker Library,
Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...
. * 1935. ''The Gold Hesperidee''. Bibliophile Press. * 1936. ''From Snow to Snow''. New York: Holt. * 1936. '' A Further Range''. New York: Holt (Cape, 1937) * 1939. ''Collected Poems of Robert Frost''. New York: Holt (UK: Longmans, Green, 1939) * 1942. '' A Witness Tree''. New York: Holt (Cape, 1943) ** " The Gift Outright" ** "A Question (poem), A Question" ** "Poetry analysis#"The Silken Tent" by Robert Frost, The Silken Tent" * 1943. ''Come In, and Other Poems''. New York: Holt. * 1947. ''Steeple Bush''. New York: Holt * 1949. ''Complete Poems of Robert Frost''. New York: Holt (Cape, 1951) * 1951. ''Hard Not To Be King''. House of Books. * 1954. ''Aforesaid''. New York: Holt. * 1959. ''A Remembrance Collection of New Poems''. New York: Holt. * 1959. ''You Come Too''. New York: Holt (UK: The Bodley Head, Bodley Head, 1964) * 1962. ''In the Clearing''. New York: Holt Rinehart & Winston * 1969. ''The Poetry of Robert Frost''. New York: Holt Rinehart & Winston.


Plays

* 1929. ''A Way Out: A One Act Play'' (Harbor Press). * 1929. ''The Cow's in the Corn: A One Act Irish Play in Rhyme'' (Slide Mountain Press). * 1945. ''A Masque of Reason'' (Holt). * 1947. ''A Masque of Mercy'' (Holt).


Letters

* 1963. ''The Letters of Robert Frost to Louis Untermeyer'' (Holt, Rinehart & Winston; Cape, 1964). * 1963. ''Robert Frost and John Bartlett: The Record of a Friendship'', by The Author & Journalist, Margaret Bartlett Anderson (Holt, Rinehart & Winston). * 1964. ''Selected Letters of Robert Frost'' (Holt, Rinehart & Winston). * 1972. ''Family Letters of Robert and Elinor Frost'' (State University of New York Press). * 1981. ''Robert Frost and Sidney Cox: Forty Years of Friendship'' (University Press of New England). * 2014. ''The Letters of Robert Frost, Volume 1, 1886–1920'', edited by Donald Sheehy, Mark Richardson, and Robert Faggen. Belknap Press. . (811 pages; first volume, of five, of the scholarly edition of the poet's correspondence, including many previously unpublished letters.) * 2016. ''The Letters of Robert Frost, Volume 2, 1920–1928'', edited by Donald Sheehy, Mark Richardson, Robert Bernard Hass, and Henry Atmore. Belknap Press. . (848 pages; second volume of the series.)


Other

* 1957. ''Robert Frost Reads His Poetry''. Caedmon Records, TC1060. (spoken word) * 1966. ''Interviews with Robert Frost'' (Holt, Rinehart & Winston; Cape, 1967). * 1995. ''Collected Poems, Prose and Plays'', edited by Richard Poirier. Library of America. . (Omnibus edition, omnibus volume.) * 2007. ''The Notebooks of Robert Frost'', edited by Robert Faggen. Harvard University Press.


See also

* List of poems by Robert Frost * ''Frostiana'' * List of New Hampshire historical markers (126–150)#126, New Hampshire Historical Marker No. 126: Robert Frost 1874–1963


Citations


General sources

* * * "Vandalized Frost house drew a crowd". ''Burlington Free Press'', January 8, 2008. * Robert Frost (1995). ''Collected Poems, Prose, & Plays''. Edited by Richard Poirier and Mark Richardson. Library of America. (trade paperback).
Robert Frost Biographical Information


External links


Robert Frost: Profile, Poems, Essays at Poets.org


* [https://www.modernamericanpoetry.org/poet/robert-frost Profile] at Modern American Poetry *
Robert Frost Collection
in Archives and Special Collections, Amherst College, Amherst, MA


Robert Frost Farm in Derry, NH

The Frost Place, a museum and poetry conference center in Franconia, N.H.


audio, video and full transcripts of Open Yale Courses
Robert Frost Declares Himself a "Balfour Israelite" and Discusses His Trip to the Western Wall

Drawing of Robert Frost by Wilfred Byron Shaw
at University of Michigan Museum of Art


Libraries


Robert Frost Collection
in Special Collections, Jones Library, Amherst, MA
Robert Frost book collection
an
Robert Frost papers
at the University of Maryland Libraries
The Victor E. Reichert Robert Frost Collection
from the University at Buffalo Libraries Poetry Collection
Robert Frost Collection
at Dartmouth College Library


Electronic editions

* * * *

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Frost, Robert Robert Frost, 1874 births 1963 deaths 19th-century American poets 20th-century American poets American Poets Laureate American male poets American people of English descent American people of Scottish descent Amherst College faculty Bollingen Prize recipients Burials in Vermont Congressional Gold Medal recipients Dartmouth College alumni Formalist poets Harvard University alumni Harvard University faculty Members of the American Philosophical Society Middlebury College faculty People from Bennington, Vermont People from Derry, New Hampshire People from Franconia, New Hampshire People from Lawrence, Massachusetts Phillips family (New England) Plymouth State University people Poets Laureate of Vermont Poets from California Poets from Massachusetts Poets from New Hampshire Poets from Vermont Pulitzer Prize for Poetry winners Sonneteers University of Michigan faculty Writers from San Francisco American inaugural poets 20th-century American male writers Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters