Robert Frost was an American poet born in 1874 in California. He published his first poem in 1890 and graduated valedictorian from Lawrence High School in 1892. He attended Dartmouth College and Harvard but did not complete degrees. He married his wife Elinor in 1895 and they had 6 children, though some died young. Frost received numerous honors including 4 Pulitzer Prizes for his pastoral poetry which used rural New England settings to explore universal themes of human psychology, experience, and the natural world. He was known for his skill with language, form, tone, and use of nature as both subject and backdrop.

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 1892. Leaves before the end of the
term.
 1893-1895 – works in a mill, as a reporter, teacher
 Marries Elinor White, Dec. 19, 1895. First child Elliot born
9/25/96.
 Enters Harvard College 1897. Leaves 1899, returns to Lawrence.
Robert and Elinor have 5 more children 1899-1907.

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. 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.