Robert Frost

• born in California and lived there in early childhood
• father died when Frost was 11
• after father died, his family moved to New England
• mother was a school teacher
• Frost graduated from high school in 1891 in Lawrence, Mass.
• Frost shared position of valedictorian with Elinor White
• married Elinor White in 1894
• he lived off the publication of his papers and books and taught and lectured at various colleges
• he faced poverty
• he and Elinor had four children
• his first poem appeared in a New York periodical in 1894
• moved to London September 2, 1912, with wife and kids
• returned to New Hampshire, where he remained until his death
• endured tragedy: his son committed suicide, and his daughter had a mental breakdown

• 1913: A Boy's Will
• 1913: "The Pasture"
• 1913: "Mowing"
• 1914: "Mending Wall"
• 1914: "The Death of the Hired Man"
• 1914: "After Apple-Picking"
• 1914: "The Wood-Pile"
• 1914: North of Boston
• 1916: Mountain Interval
• 1916: "The Road Not Taken"
• 1916: "An Old Man's Winter Night"
• 1916: "Oven Bird"
• 1916: "Birches"
• 1916: "Out, Out-"
• 1922, 1936: "Design"
• 1923: "Fire and Ice"
• 1923: "Nothing Gold Can Stay"
• 1923: "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"
• 1923: New Hampshire
• 1928: West-Running Brook
• 1928: "Once by the Pacific"
• 1934, 1936: "Provide, Provide"
• 1936: "Departmental"
• 1936: "Desert Places"
• 1936: "Neither out Far nor in Deep"
• 1942: "The Gift Outright"
• 1942: "Directive"

• Robert Frost  mainly focused on the issue of nature.  Frost always presented himself as a New Englander and therefore was interpreted as a nineteenth century Transcendentalist.
• Frost shared with Emerson and Thoreau the "belief that everybody was a separate individuality and that collective enterprises could do nothing but weaken the self" (Norton 1763).
• Frost avoided movements simply because they were right or left sided and involved group undertakings.
•  "Frost neither worships nature nor fears her" (Brooks 79).
• Frost has power due to his unconscious, but doesn't let his power go to his head.  The definition that the author gave to define Frost was taken from Psalm 8: "What is man, that thou art mindful of him?  and the son of man, that thou visiteth him?  For thou hast made him a lower than the angels…" (Brooks 79).

• How can you relate Frost's relationship with nature to his poems?
• In the "Pasture" whom do you think Frost is speaking to? Explain your answer.
• Why do you think Frost is compared to Emerson and Thoreau?  What characteristics do all of these men share in their dealings with and thoughts on nature?
• Do you feel that the poem "The Death of the Hired Man" can be considered a short story?  What type of impact did the outcome of the poem have on you?
• Write your own poem and try to let nature be your main focus as you develop your thoughts.  Try to relate your poem to Frost's feelings on nature and guide your thoughts as you think he did.
• Do you feel Frost would make it in the literary world today using the same skill and type of writing he used in his era?
• Do you agree with Robert Frost's views on nature and his literary analysis of nature?
• What are his writing techniques?  Does his writing technique interest you, stimulate you?
• Why do you think Brooks defines Frost by using the passage from Psalm 8?  Do you feel this is a justifiable definition of Frost?
• How do you feel knowing the background of his family life (his daughter), and do you feel that had any type of impact on his writing or the subjects he wrote about?
• How do you think his work was received by his peers, and do you think people still view his work the same way?

• Brooks,Cleanth.  Community, Religion, and Literature.  University of Missouri Press, 1995.
• Baym, Nina, et al.  The Norton Anthology of American Literature.  New York: Norton and Company, 1995.
• Pritchard, William H.  Frost A Literary Life Reconsidered.  New York, Oxford University Press, 1984.
• John, Evangelist W.  Into My Own The English Years of Robert Frost 1912-1915.  Grove Press, 1988.

 

© Mark Canada, 1997

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