1. Robert Frost
A Detailed Study

2. Brief Biography
Robert Lee Frost was born March 26, 1874 in San Francisco, CA
Father Will Frost dies. Family returns to Lawrence, MA for burial. Robert enters Lawrence H.S. 1888
Publishes first poem “La Noche Triste in May, 1890
Graduates co-valedictorian of Lawrence H.S. with Elinor White in 1892
Enters Dartmouth College in Leaves before the end of the term.
– works in a mill, as a reporter, teacher
Marries Elinor White, Dec. 19, First child Elliot born 9/25/96.
Enters Harvard College Leaves 1899, returns to Lawrence. Robert and Elinor have 5 more children

3. Brief Bio. continued DEATH First child Elliot dies at age 3 in 1900
Mother, Isabelle, dies of cancer 4 months later
Sixth child Elinor dies within days of birth, 1907
Fifth child, Marjorie, dies during childbirth, 1937
Wife, Elinor, dies of a heart attack, 1938
Third child, son Carol, dies of suicide, 1940

4. (Some) Recognition Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry
1923 – New Hampshire
1931 – Collected Poems
1937 – A Further Range
1943 – A Witness Tree
Gold Medal for Poetry, National Institute of Arts and Letters, 1939
Gold Medal, Poetry Society of America, 1941
Award, Academy of American Poets, 1953
Congressional Gold Medal, 1960
(presented by John F. Kennedy, 1962)
Inaugural Poet for John F. Kennedy, 1961.

5. A Modest Ambition
It has been noted that Frost’s ambition as a writer was to write “a few poems that it would be hard to get rid of.”
(R.H. Winnick)

6. Frost’s stylistic hallmarks
Frost is often described as a pastoral poet
a. Of or relating to the country or country life; rural.
b. Charmingly simple and serene; idyllic.
c. Of, relating to, or being a literary or other artistic work that portrays or evokes rural life, usually in an idealized way.
Those who criticize Frost label him as “detached” from modern society, content to sing of sweet nostalgia for the good things of the past.

7. Look more closely
Frost uses rural imagery to explore something of larger symbolic or metaphysical significance.
Nature can be either or both the central theme of a poem, or merely a backdrop or physical setting for a very human or even existential theme.

8. Some hallmarks of Frost’s poetry
SUBJECTS
rural scenes and landscapes
farming and farmers
the natural world
ALSO
psychological struggle
experience
will
purposefulness
acceptance

9. Some themes Relationship to fellow man Tragedy
Strong and sensitive feelings for the non-human natural world
Fate / death
Trust in oneself, fellow man, the future

10. Sound
“I want them all to sound different. Listen for the tune.” – Robert Frost
Be careful to examine the possibilities of sound and wordplay in the poems

11. Tone and Drama
“It’s the tone I’m in love with; that what poetry is, tone.” – R.F.
“Literature is performance in words.” – R.F.
Frost uses drama and situation to vary the tones. He employs distinctive human tonalities, generally subdued and low key, ranging the scale of human emotion.

12. Form Short to medium length poems, generally.
Highly structured in terms of meter, rhythm, and rhyme.
Traditional stanzaic organization
“I would sooner write free verse as play tennis with the net down.” – R.F.

13. Metaphor
“Poetry permits the one possible way to say one thing and mean another.” – R.F.
“The figure of a poem is the same as for love, it begins with delight and ends in wisdom.”
“A poem is a thought-felt thing.”
Many poems begin with observation and follow with connection. In this sense…

14. …we may see a poem’s pattern as
Nature
Volta
Contemplation

15. Nature (Clarification)
Frost may use nature as a background, beginning with the observation of something in nature and then moves toward a connection to some human situation or concern
“I’m not a nature poet. There is almost always a person in my poems.” – R.F.
Please take a look at “Design”

16. Design
I found a dimpled spider, fat and white, On a white heal-all, holding up a moth Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth-- Assorted characters of death and blight Nature
Mixed ready to begin the morning right, Like the ingredients of a witches' broth-- A snow-drop spider, a flower like a froth, And dead wings carried like a paper kite.
What had that flower to do with being white, Volta
The wayside blue and innocent heal-all? 10 What brought the kindred spider to that height, Then steered the white moth thither in the night? What but design of darkness to appall?-- If design govern in a thing so small Contemplation

17. Reserve
You may be well served to adopt the phrase, “Frost poses the question …”
rather than
“Frost’s message is…”
Frost believed poetry should engage ideas, but not take sides. He rarely answered questions directly. He said, “Poetry is gloating.” He also said, “Never larrup an emotion.”

18. Region
Frost was often thought of as a regional poet (New England), but described himself as a “realmist.”
His poems are universal, but told in the setting he knew and loved.

19. Humor “The height of poetry is a kind of mischief.” – R.F.
Good fences make good neighbors…
“The height of poetry is a kind of mischief.” – R.F.
Look for his puns and double entendres
Ex. “And whom I was like to give offense.” (Mending Wall)

20. Remember: Subject the topic that the poet has chosen to write about
Theme
the main thought that it expresses about the subject
Something psychological, believed, or felt

21. Examples for “Mowing”
“Working at a task one loves is its own best reward.”
“The joy of work is sweeter than any dream.”