Robert Frost
When many think about frost, they imagine images of ice and winter.
But did you know that there is a Frost that writes poetry? Put on your student caps, and come and learn about the poet Robert Lee Frost.
The man from California
Robert Frost was born on March 26, 1874, in San Francisco, California, to William Prescott Frost, Jr., and Isabelle Moodie. His father was a teacher turned newspaperman, but died of tuberculosis when Robert was just 11. After the death of her husband, Isabelle took her young family to Massachusetts to live with his grandfather. While there, his mother joined the Swedenborgian church. Young Robert was baptized into this church, and attended it as a youth.
Robert was a good student. He graduated at the top of his class and published his first poems in his high school magazine. The young poet started attending Dartmouth College, but left after a couple of months because he needed to work. Robert ended up helping the family finances in many ways.
He helped his mother with her teaching job.
He sold newspapers.
For a time, he worked at a factory making arc lights –bright lights used in the theater and in movie studios. (see some images here)
Through all this, he saw that poetry was his calling in life. Also, during this time, he sold his first poem for $15. In 1897 he started attending Harvard University but had to leave after two years to help his wife through a difficult pregnancy.
Speaking of his wife, let's talk about her.
Robert met his wife, Elinor Miriam White, and proposed to her in 1894 – just after selling his first poem. At first, she turned him down – she wanted to finish her schooling – but accepted the following year shortly after she finished.
Robert Frost in the 1910s
After leaving Harvard, Robert's grandfather bought him a farm, and he turned to farming to provide for his family. This didn't work so well for him, so he returned to teaching.
He taught at New Hampshire's Pinkerton Academy from 1906 to 1911.
He moved his family in 1912 to England.
While in England, his poetry took off in popularity. In 1915 he returned to America and bought a farm in New Hampshire.
His life as a poet is perhaps different than many, spending a good deal of it away from the city and battling challenges. Here are some more examples:
As a young adult, his mother died of cancer.
In 1920, he had to commit his sister (and only sibling) to a mental hospital for depression. (He and his mother, along with his wife and one of his daughters, also dealt with the same challenge.) She would die nine years later.
Of the six children born to Robert and Elinor, four died in his lifetime (one of suicide).
Maybe this explains why, though he grew up in the city, his poems draw inspiration from the country – especially the forests and trees.
A touch of Frost
For me, my first introduction to Frost, and my favorite of his, is the following:
The Road not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
To me, this poem isn't just a poem about a traveler choosing which road to take.
It is about life choices.
It is about making choices, not based on its popularity, but taking a life's path that may be less popular and probably harder.
Following the less popular paths in life may not always be the wisest, but should we always shun such choices? In Frost's words, it can make "all the difference.”
Some of his poetry may be a bit hard to understand, but some of his easier reads are the following.
Robert Frost is one of the most well-known poets of the early 20th century. The funny thing is, in his day, some criticized his work as not being modern enough.
It seemed Robert Frost took his own path. Given all the problems in his life, he could have chosen to be negative. Instead, he choose beauty. Once he reached success he could have settled in a big city like New York, closer to where all the action is. Instead, he chose to be true to himself and settle away from the city.
His was a hard path that was indeed less traveled, but out of it came beautiful things.
This is food for thought for all of us.
On the web
Robert Frost interview + poetry reading (1952)
This interview by NBC with Robert Frost gives insight into his life and how he approaches poetry.
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