Considered as America's Poet Laureate, American writer Robert Frost is one of the best of rural New England's poets. He was best known for his collection New Hampshire and A Witness Tree, both Pulitzer Prize winners.
Early Life of Robert Frost
Robert Lee Frost was born on March 26, 1874 in San Francisco, California. Following the death of his father, his family moved from San Francisco to Massachusetts when he was 11-years-old. He completed his education in New England, attending both Dartmouth College and Harvard University but without graduating. For more than ten years, he held various jobs while running a farm.
When he was 21, in 1895, Frost married a former schoolmate. They had four children.
Poetry and England
In 1912, Frost sold his farm and took his family to England, devoting himself entirely to poetry. His first book of verse, A Boy's Will, was published when he was 39. North of Boston followed a year later.
He was greatly influenced by the nature poems of English poets but although he shared the same interest in nature and natural themes, his work showed a down-to-earth appreciation. He was more practical in the sense that he pictured a harsh natural world full of hardship and difficulty but which is mastered by ordinary people who are greatly aware of their environment.
Back to Homeland
Frost returned to the United States in 1915 and settled on a farm in New Hampshire. He continued writing by supplementing his income with teaching and lecturing.
His adaptation of blank verse styles to the rhythms and vocabulary of New England won him four Pulitzer Prizes between 1924, for his collection New Hampshire, and 1943, for A Witness Tree.
Frost also composed a poem, "The Gift Outright," for the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy after his election in 1960. Frost died in Boston, Massachusetts on January 29, 1963, at the age of 88.
"That day she put our heads together, Fate had her imagination about her, Your head so much concerned with outer, Mine with inner, weather." ~Robert Frost, Tree at My Window
Works By Robert Frost
- A Boy's Will, 1913
- North of Boston, 1914
- Mountain Interval, 1916
- New Hampshire, 1923
- West-Running Brook, 1928
- Collected Poems, 1930
- A Further Range, 1936
- A Witness Tree, 1942
- A Masque of Mercy, 1947
- Steeple Bush, 1947
- In the Clearing, 1962
Sources:
- Goring, Rosemary, Ed. Larousse Dictionary of Writers. New York: Larousse, 1994.
- McGovern, Una, Ed. Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Edinburgh: Chambers / Harrap Publishers, 2002.
- Ousby, Ian. The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
- Payne, Tom. The A-Z of Great Writers. London: Carlton, 1997.
Comments