Classifying Robert Frost as a poet has been a conundrum for many critics, as his style of poetry is a cross between the nineteenth century and the twentieth century. This cross makes him an extremely unique poet, very comparable to T.S. Elliot and Wallace Stevens (Southworth 169). James M. Cox, in an attempt to decipher how Frost developed into the poet that he was, wrote “though his career fully spans the modern period and though it is impossible to speak of him as anything other than a modern poet, it is difficult to place him in the main tradition of modern poetry” (“Robert Frost”). Frost’s life and his experience at the turn of the century is what brought him to be such a famous poet.
In 1874 Frost was born to William Prescott Frost Jr., who was a journalist, and Isabelle Moodie in San Francisco California. He spent the first eleven years of his life in California, but when his father passed away in 1885 Frost moved across the country to Lawrence, Massachusetts to live with his Grandfather on his mill. Frost had an early affinity for poetry and published his first poem in his high school’s magazine. In Frost’s later poetry, he is well known for his connection to rural life, however he was born and bred a city boy. After failing to commit to Dartmouth College, Frost returned to Lawrence, Massachusetts and worked various jobs in the working class. For example, he delivered newspapers and worked in a factory until he realized his hatred for these mundane jobs. After his change of heart, Frost committed to his poetry (The Biography of Robert Frost).
Frost sold his first poem in 1894 to The New York Independent, and it was called “My Butterfly: An Elegy”. Robert Frost was so ecstatic about his first publication that ...
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...porary Literary Criticism. Detroit: Gale, 1982. 4: 174-5
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Bradley, Sculley. “The Renaissance in Poetry.” A Time of Harvest. 1962: pp. 21-32. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Detroit: Gale,1975. 3: 170-71
Southworth, James G. “Robert Frost.” Some Modern American Poets. 1950: pp. 42-87. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Detroit: Gale, 1975. 3: 169
Shmoop Editorial Team. "The Road Not Taken Rhyme, Form & Meter." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 20 Feb. 2014.
Contemporary Literary Criticism. Detroit: Gale, 1975. 3: 168. Print.
Frost, Robert. Complete Poems of Robert Frost. New York (N.Y.): Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1949. Print.
New World Encyclopedia. “Robert Frost." New World Encyclopedia, 20 Nov. 2013. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.
Lentricchia, Frank. Robert Frost: Modern Poetics and the Landscape of Self. Durham: Duke University Press. 1975. 103-107.
Selected Poems by Robert Frost, New York: Barnes and Noble, 2001 3.Graham, Judith, ed. Current Biography Yearbook Vol. 1962, New York: The H.W Wilson Company, 1993 4.Kesey, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, New York: Penguin Group, 1962 5.Weir, Peter. Dead Poets Society, 1989
Robert Lee Frost was born on March 26, 1874 in San Francisco. When his father died, he moved to Massachusetts with his family to be closer to his grandparents. He loved to stay active through sports and activities such as trapping animals and climbing trees. He married his co- valedictorian, Elinor Miriam White, in 1895. He dropped out of both Dartmouth and Harvard in his lifetime. Robert and Elinor settled on a farm in Massachusetts, which his grandfather bought him. It was one of the many farms on which he would live in throughout his lifetime. Frost spent the next 9 years writing poetry while poultry farming. When poultry farming did not work out, he went back to teaching English. He moved to England in 1912 and became friends with many people who were also in the writing business. After moving back to America in 1915, Frost bought a farm in New Hampshire and began reading his poems aloud at public gatherings. Out of the blue, he suddenly had many family disasters. Frost’s youngest daughter and wife died and his son committed suicide, soon after which another daughter institutionalized. Darker poetry, su...
Robert Lee Frost began life in San Francisco on March 26, 1874. For an unknown reason, Frost believed for years that he was actually born in 1875. When Frost’s father died in 1885 his mother decided to move closer to her wealthy parents in Massachusetts. In California, Frost had dropped out of kindergarten after one day, and upon returning to the first grade, also dropped out. This was no deterrent on Frost to attend college. He was accepted to Harvard but instead attended Dartmouth because of his financial situation. Even though Frost found the school to be anything but challenging, he would not finish his time at Dartmouth, nor earn any formal degree in a school (Bengtsson). He once said of schooling that “Education is hanging around until you’ve caught on.” Interestingly enough, Robert Frost held several postions at credible schools, including Amherst and Harvard. Also, Frost was awarded an incredible amount of honorary degrees from Berkley to Yale (Parini 59). Frosts careers also ranged from editing for Henry Holt to raising poultry on his Derry, New Hampshire farm.
Robert Frost had always been interested in poetry even from a young age. He graduated from Lawrence High School at the top of his class along with Elinor White, who he fell in love with. He and Elinor then went their separate ways, while he went on to attend Dartmouth College she attended St. Lawrence University. He and Elinor did get married a few year later when they both had graduated and Robert was working different jobs as he was having no luck trying to publish his poems in the United States. Because he was not able to get any of his poems published he moved to England in hopes of better luck. After only a short time he managed to get a view works published in England and the news of his works started a lot of buzz. While all of this was going on he had no idea that people in America were also beginning to hear about his work. With the beginning of World War One he moved his family back to the United States were he took up job lecturing in colleges, but he was now living the life he had always wanted, a successful poet with a family. Throughout the rest of his life kept writing and publishing poems which he received many awards for.
Waggoner, Hyatt H. "A Writer of Poems: The Life and Work of Robert Frost," The Times Literary Supplement. April 16, 1971, 433-34.
The persona begins to think about how he cannot take both paths and be the same “traveler”
Thompson, Lawrance. Robert Frost: The Years of Triumph. Notes. Online. World Wide Web. 21 Jul 2000. .
Life and death are two things that we as humans must all face. The road from one to the other, from life to death, is a long and at times, both joyous and painful one. Robert Frost’s poems are a prime example of these times and trials. The poems I chose for this paper highlight them, and with Frost’s allegory, they present a sort of silver lining to the string of dark and dreary words he’s pieced together for these poems. The depressing tone to the poems “Acquainted with the Night”, “Nothing Gold Can Stay”, and “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowing Evening” could be attributed to the death of many of Frost’s family members, and how despite this he overcame it all, and at the end of his life, was a successful writer. These poems to not go into great explanation of the details of Frost’s life, however, I believe that they are representations of the things path that he’s walked, and how he viewed his actions and death in general.
1. Frost, Robert. Robert Frost’s Poems. Ed. Louis Untermeyer. New York: Washington Square Press, 1968. 194.
Frost’s life was full of tragedies, yet he was still able to become an accomplished poet. According to Poets.org, Robert Lee Frost was born on March 26, 1874 in San Francisco. When he was only 11 years old, Frost’s dad, William Prescott Frost, Jr, passed away. The death of his father caused his mother, Isabelle Moodie, to move her family to Massachusetts. Frost became interested in poetry in high school. His first published poem was “My Butterfly.” This poem was published in 1894 in a New York newspaper called The Independent (Poets.org).
strengthens his viewpoint and regards Frost as ―one of the most intuitive poets [. . . h]e sees
Robert Frost was born to an editor for a father, and a member of the Swedenborgian church. His father started as a teacher, and then became the editor of the San Francisco Evening Bulletin. Isabelle Moodie, his mother, baptized him with the Swedenborgian church. Later on in Frost’s life, he left this church. Frost was born in San Francisco (“Biography of Robert Frost”, poemhunter.com). In 1994, be published his first poem, “The Butterfly: An Elegy,” on November 8, 1894 at age 20. He published this work in the New York newspaper Frost was a unique poet in the way that he stood in between the nineteenth-century poetry, and modern poetry. James M. Cox said that, “Though his career fully spans the modern period and though it is impossible to speak of him as anything other than a modern poet, it is difficult to place him in the main tradition of modern poetry,” (“Robert Frost”, poetryfoundation.org).
Often called the most popular American poet of the twentieth century, Robert Frost achieved a worldwide reputation as a major poet early in his career. He and his family spent three years in England, where he published his first two collections of poetry, A Boy’s Will and North of Boston. Initially uncertain about the reception he would receive in the United States, he returned to New England in 1915 to find that his poetry had gained massive popularity among Americans. Frost’s poetry continues to claim a place in the hearts of today’s readers. If asked to name a poet, many would name Robert Frost. Elementary school children learn “The Road Not Taken” and “Mending Wall”. Frost’s poetry earned and keeps its popularity due to its appeal to a wide range of readers. Even those who don’t often read poetry can find something to enjoy. At first glance, Frost writes simply about nature, but beneath the beautiful imagery lays deeper meaning. Frost uses nature to convey his messages, some of which reflect the ideas of the earlier Romantic writers, such as the love of nature and the distrust of industry. While Robert Frost expresses beliefs shared by writers of the Romantic Period, he also describes his own ideas about love, death, and interpersonal relationships.
Frost was a rural Yankee whose writings reflect everyday experiences-his own experiences, but was one who saw metaphorical dimensions in the everyday things he encountered. These everyday encounters held ground as his subject manner, combined with the rural setting of New England nature, seasons, weather and times of day. Frost’s goal was to write his poetry in such a way that it would cover familiar ground, but in an unfamiliar way or uncommon in expression.